How do you turn your own environment into a paradise for plants, animals and yourself?

Cities make way for nature. And that is badly needed, because out research last year it turned out that climate change increases the chance of heavy rainfall in the Netherlands and that this chance will only increase further. The intensity of the showers is also increasing due to climate change. “What we mainly worry about in cities is water drainage. Now that we are increasingly dealing with downpours, the water cannot drain properly due to petrification. The result is that cellars and streets fill up.”

You can counteract this problem with facade gardens and lawns. “People often fill the whole place with tiles, because it requires little maintenance. Remove all those tiles, put down a few plants and just see what comes next. Moreover, all those stones retain a lot of heat. Less stone provides more coolness in homes on hot days,” says Daalder.

Make your roof green

Older homes are often poorly insulated, causing frigid winters and sweltering indoor summers. Daalder has a solution for that: “Make your roof green. With some soil and simple plants you can come a long way, it produces many bumblebees and hoverflies. In addition, it is good for insulation and for the quality of your roofing. so you just have money.”

Urban Gardening is also completely hot and happening, says the former urban biologist. “Even with a balcony you can contribute to the biodiversity of the city. Put out some planters and choose native plants or lavender or rosemary. You can buy them for a euro at the supermarket and do very well on balconies. balcony a paradise: it attracts dragonflies and butterflies.”

Pond

There are also plenty of options on a roof terrace. “In addition to placing planters, you can think of a small garden here. With a little more soil, you can even plant shrubs and trees in a roof garden.”

According to Daalder, residents of North Holland with a garden would do well to build a pond. “I never understood that: then you have your own garden and you start asphalting everything. I live within the ring road of Amsterdam and have a pond of two square meters. There now live about fifty salamanders, various green and brown ones. frogs and dragonflies. Even in canal neighborhoods you get salamanders, so it’s very rewarding. It doesn’t really matter where you do this – a pond like that works wonders.”

Hanging nesting boxes is a nature-friendly way of controlling insects. “Tits are very handy, for example, because they stay close by and are good at catching insects that we don’t like. They check your windows for mosquitoes and spiders.”

Miracles in the city center

For a green neighbourhood, neighbors should visit each other much more often and start projects on their own initiative, advises Daalder. “They have already performed miracles here in the Pijp. A tree is usually surrounded by a bare piece of ground, called tree mirrors. Residents have adopted these tree mirrors and take care of them. They can arrange it completely according to their own needs, so that in the middle of the city ​​small gardens have emerged.”

With the decline in flora and fauna for years and heavy rain showers on the horizon, Daalder recommends just starting. “There are plenty of neighborhood initiatives to join, but you can also set up something yourself. There are all kinds of resources for that. If there is a school in the area, let your children participate. By doing it together as a neighborhood, you learn also know your neighbors in a different way. So go ahead: let’s all get started!”