Page - 371 - in Biodiversity and Health in the Face of Climate Change

371 tal health problems  (see Box 16.2). Access to nature in urban environments can also provide benefits for physical and mental health and contribute to children’s cogni- tive, physical and social development (Russell et  al. 2013). Similarly, a recent study in New Zealand found that risk of cardiovascular disease was lower in neighbour- hoods with more than 15% green space than those without (Richardson et  al. 2013). Natural spaces present a cost-effective, high-return investment that provide direct benefits for public health and education, improve living conditions, and build resil- ience to climate and environmental change. Several major cities now have protected and conserved areas and even national parks within or directly adjacent to the metropolitan areas (IUCN 2014). These range from small wetland areas managed by an NGO in central London and  urban protected areas in central Sydney and Rio de Janeiro to the much larger Table Mountain National Park, which covers some 25,000 hectares in the centre of Cape Town, South Africa, which protects key habitats and Cape flora in the world’s small- est floral kingdom. These parks come under a range of governance types from NGOs to park agencies and municipal authorities, including co-management arrangements (IUCN 2014). They provide a range of services including conserva- tion, recreation, tourism, health benefits and water resource management, as well as providing opportunities for visitors to learn about biodiversity conservation and the impacts of climate change (see Box 16.3). Box 16.2: Addressing the Nature-Deficit Disorder Richard Louv (2005) coined the term ‘nature-deficit disorder’ to describe the range of behavioural problems, such as diminished use of the senses, attention difficulties, and higher rates of physical and emotional illnesses, that result from less time spent outdoors. Protected areas, urban parks and other green spaces are crucial gateways for connecting people with nature (IUCN, Canadian Parks Council 2017; IUCN 2014). Although towns and cities may have considerably lower species densities than surrounding rural areas, urban settings can be important for biodiversity conservation and provide natural environments that can contribute to human health and well-being in many ways (IUCN 2014). For example, the Golden Gates National Recreational Area in San Francisco, California, USA, is important for both nature and health. It contains a range of marine, coastal and terrestrial habitats that sup- port 1,300 animal and plant species, including 36 threatened species. It also includes an area of ancient redwood forest protected as a national monument. An institute of the non-profit cooperating association of the recreational area uses the park to pilot-test new ideas for using parks as solutions to wider social challenges. One of its projects aims to promote healthy and sustainable food choices in the park and to use the National Park Service’s purchasing power to influence the food supply chain to address obesity, type 2 diabetes and other health issues (IUCN 2014). 16 Nature-Based Solutions and  Protected Areas to  Improve Urban Biodiversity…