Botanical gardens: Core to urban human-nature harmony amid planetary crises
Date: March 18, 2026
Guangzhou, China: As global urbanization accelerates and humanity faces climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution, cities suffer from deficits in green space and ecological systems. A new commentary in Biological Diversity by Prof. Xiangying Wen (South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences), Prof. Timothy John Entwisle (Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria), and Prof. Hai Ren (South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences) identifies botanical gardens as pivotal to bridging urban human-nature disconnection, with China's urban population at 66% and developed nations over 80%.
Core Functions for Urban Sustainability
Modern botanical gardens (municipal, community, thematic, and more) deliver six core functions: conservation, scientific research, public education, resource utilization, recreation, and garden display. As a global network, they conserve 30% of the world's wild plants in ex situ banks, and lead climate action — e.g., Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria's "Landscape Succession Strategy" in 2016 spurred an international Climate Change Alliance. As urban ecological barriers, they mitigate heat islands, air pollution, and water scarcity, informing climate-adaptive infrastructure (drought-resistant green roofs, plant selection for sponge systems) to build low-maintenance, high-value urban habitats.
Ecological Services & Human Wellbeing
Botanical gardens support urban economic, social, cultural, and life services, providing greening, purification, biodiversification, and cultural engagement. Their economic/medicinal plant research boosts urban economies, while education programs elevate scientific and conservation literacy. The study outlines seven mechanisms for enhancing human quality of life: satisfying plant exploration curiosity, improving leisure quality, driving economic prosperity, cultivating scientific literacy, reducing stress, addressing ecoanxiety, and delivering therapeutic horticulture. Research confirms that greater biodiversity in green spaces correlates with stronger psychological benefits, making botanical gardens a low-cost, high-yield public health intervention.
Aligning with Global Biodiversity Goals
The study tracks three stages of botanical garden-city development: independent "botanical gardens in cities," integrated "cities in botanical gardens," and the ultimate "cities in nature" — aligning with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) and the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC 2023–2030). Botanical gardens lead GSPC Action 12 (urban green infrastructure), and the authors propose five key actions:
1. Strengthen conservation capabilities: deepening ex situ conservation and ecological restoration research;
2. Promote collaborative innovation: partner with planners and institutions to integrate gardens into urban
ecological networks;
3. Enhance service efficiency: build national conservation networks via public education and public engagement;
4. Urban Actions and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Goal 11 — Sustainable Cities and Communities — is
crucial for achieving urban sustainability;
5. Leaving no one in the cities behind: remove access barriers and partner with medical institutions to offer
therapeutic horticulture "green prescriptions."
Global botanical gardens already implement inclusive practices: "Plant Adoption" for vulnerable groups, centering immigrant and low-income communities in planning, and creating social connections to foster "spatial belonging."
Symbiosis: The Future of Gardens and Cities
The authors stress that the botanical garden-city relationship is rooted in symbiosis — gardens as urban ecological and cultural cornerstones, cities as the support for their development. Amid urbanization and conservation urgency, they call for elevating botanical gardens' institutional status, deepening ecological, economic, and social integration with cities, and pursuing "integrated city and garden, natural symbiosis."
"Ultimately, good and effective botanical gardens enhance human life," the authors conclude, positioning them as foundational to weaving human-nature connection into urban life for sustainable, livable cities.
Original Source:
Wen, Xiangying, Timothy J. Entwisle, and Hai Ren. 2026. "Botanical Gardens Can Play an Important Role in the Harmonious Coexistence of Humanity and Nature in Cities," Biological Diversity: 1–3.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/bod2.70019
Keywords: biodiversity, ecological service, reintroduction, urban action
About the Author:
Xiangying Wen: South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) China Office, dedicated to the construction and management of botanical gardens and the conservation of plant diversity.
Timothy John Entwisle: Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, specialist expertise in freshwater algae, horticulture, and biodiversity.
Hai Ren (Correspondence): South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, specializes in the research of conservation and reintroduction of rare and endangered plants in China.
About the Journal:
Biological Diversity (ISSN: 2994-4139) is a new open-access, high-impact, English-language journal devoted to advancing biodiversity conservation, enhancing ecosystem services, and promoting the sustainable use of resources under global change. It features innovative research addressing the global biodiversity crisis.
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Guangzhou, China: As global urbanization accelerates and humanity faces climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution, cities suffer from deficits in green space and ecological systems. A new commentary in Biological Diversity by Prof. Xiangying Wen (South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences), Prof. Timothy John Entwisle (Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria), and Prof. Hai Ren (South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences) identifies botanical gardens as pivotal to bridging urban human-nature disconnection, with China's urban population at 66% and developed nations over 80%.
Core Functions for Urban Sustainability
Modern botanical gardens (municipal, community, thematic, and more) deliver six core functions: conservation, scientific research, public education, resource utilization, recreation, and garden display. As a global network, they conserve 30% of the world's wild plants in ex situ banks, and lead climate action — e.g., Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria's "Landscape Succession Strategy" in 2016 spurred an international Climate Change Alliance. As urban ecological barriers, they mitigate heat islands, air pollution, and water scarcity, informing climate-adaptive infrastructure (drought-resistant green roofs, plant selection for sponge systems) to build low-maintenance, high-value urban habitats.
Ecological Services & Human Wellbeing
Botanical gardens support urban economic, social, cultural, and life services, providing greening, purification, biodiversification, and cultural engagement. Their economic/medicinal plant research boosts urban economies, while education programs elevate scientific and conservation literacy. The study outlines seven mechanisms for enhancing human quality of life: satisfying plant exploration curiosity, improving leisure quality, driving economic prosperity, cultivating scientific literacy, reducing stress, addressing ecoanxiety, and delivering therapeutic horticulture. Research confirms that greater biodiversity in green spaces correlates with stronger psychological benefits, making botanical gardens a low-cost, high-yield public health intervention.
Aligning with Global Biodiversity Goals
The study tracks three stages of botanical garden-city development: independent "botanical gardens in cities," integrated "cities in botanical gardens," and the ultimate "cities in nature" — aligning with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) and the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC 2023–2030). Botanical gardens lead GSPC Action 12 (urban green infrastructure), and the authors propose five key actions:
1. Strengthen conservation capabilities: deepening ex situ conservation and ecological restoration research;
2. Promote collaborative innovation: partner with planners and institutions to integrate gardens into urban
ecological networks;
3. Enhance service efficiency: build national conservation networks via public education and public engagement;
4. Urban Actions and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Goal 11 — Sustainable Cities and Communities — is
crucial for achieving urban sustainability;
5. Leaving no one in the cities behind: remove access barriers and partner with medical institutions to offer
therapeutic horticulture "green prescriptions."
Global botanical gardens already implement inclusive practices: "Plant Adoption" for vulnerable groups, centering immigrant and low-income communities in planning, and creating social connections to foster "spatial belonging."
Symbiosis: The Future of Gardens and Cities
The authors stress that the botanical garden-city relationship is rooted in symbiosis — gardens as urban ecological and cultural cornerstones, cities as the support for their development. Amid urbanization and conservation urgency, they call for elevating botanical gardens' institutional status, deepening ecological, economic, and social integration with cities, and pursuing "integrated city and garden, natural symbiosis."
"Ultimately, good and effective botanical gardens enhance human life," the authors conclude, positioning them as foundational to weaving human-nature connection into urban life for sustainable, livable cities.
Original Source:
Wen, Xiangying, Timothy J. Entwisle, and Hai Ren. 2026. "Botanical Gardens Can Play an Important Role in the Harmonious Coexistence of Humanity and Nature in Cities," Biological Diversity: 1–3.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/bod2.70019
Keywords: biodiversity, ecological service, reintroduction, urban action
About the Author:
Xiangying Wen: South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) China Office, dedicated to the construction and management of botanical gardens and the conservation of plant diversity.
Timothy John Entwisle: Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, specialist expertise in freshwater algae, horticulture, and biodiversity.
Hai Ren (Correspondence): South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, specializes in the research of conservation and reintroduction of rare and endangered plants in China.
About the Journal:
Biological Diversity (ISSN: 2994-4139) is a new open-access, high-impact, English-language journal devoted to advancing biodiversity conservation, enhancing ecosystem services, and promoting the sustainable use of resources under global change. It features innovative research addressing the global biodiversity crisis.
END