L.A. County's Wild Side: Why Biodiversity Matters
L.A. County’s Wild Side: Why Biodiversity Matters
As global leaders gather for the U.N. biodiversity conference, County experts explain how we’re protecting nature close to home.
Los Angeles County is one of the most populous and urbanized regions in the nation. It is also remarkably rich in plants, wildlife and ecosystems. This fall, that local story will connect to a much larger global conversation as representatives from around the world gather in Yerevan, Armenia, for COP17, the United Nations biodiversity conference.
Here we take a closer look at what makes Los Angeles County unusual, what the County is already doing to protect nature, and what local governments can contribute to a global effort to slow biodiversity loss.
Let’s start with the basics: What is biodiversity, and why does it matter to people who live in Los Angeles County?
Biodiversity is the variety of living things in our region, including plants, animals, fungi, microbes—and people. Here in L.A. County, we depend on living things around us in countless ways. Trees provide shade on hot days and help hold soil in place during storms. Insects pollinate crops. Decomposers such as fungi break down waste and recycle nutrients.
Plants and animals also help give Los Angeles its distinctive character. The scrubby green of chaparral hillsides, an early-morning coyote sighting or the sound of local birds in your backyard are all examples of the everyday experiences that connect us to the biodiversity around us.
Los Angeles County lies within the California Floristic Province, one of the world’s recognized biodiversity hotspots. What makes this region so biologically rich and unusual?
Every place has its own biodiversity profile, but Los Angeles sits in an especially remarkable location. Our climate and geography create an unusually wide range of habitats where specialized plants and animals can thrive. L.A. County includes mountains, deserts, beaches, wetlands, rivers, woodlands, forests and more, each supporting its own communities of plants and wildlife.
Our favorable climate also means that species from elsewhere in the world can sometimes survive and thrive here. Some are beneficial, while others can become invasive or disruptive to native ecosystems.
What makes L.A. especially interesting is that all of this biodiversity exists alongside nearly 10 million people. What are the particular challenges—and opportunities—of protecting nature in such a highly urbanized place?
Biodiversity is fundamentally about connections. In healthy ecosystems, different plants and animals depend on one another for food, shelter and other needs. More complex and connected ecosystems also tend to be more resilient to shocks and stressors. Urban development can break up those connections, isolating habitats and making ecosystems more vulnerable.
But people can also help restore those connections. That can mean major infrastructure projects, such as the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing at Liberty Canyon. It can also mean much smaller actions, such as planting native plants in a yard or community space. Native plants can support native pollinators, which in turn support many other species. In a region as urbanized as ours, even small patches of habitat can become part of a much larger ecological network.
What is Los Angeles County already doing to protect and restore biodiversity, and where do we need to do more?
The County has policies and programs operating at many different levels.
The Department of Regional Planning’s Significant Ecological Areas program, for example, identifies areas with irreplaceable biological resources and applies special requirements to development within those areas.
The Parks Needs Assessment Plus serves as L.A. County’s 30x30 framework, helping guide efforts to conserve 30% of land and water by 2030. The Community Forest Management Plan is focused on protecting and expanding tree canopy equitably across communities.
More recently, the Board of Supervisors adopted a sustainable landscaping policy that, among other provisions, requires the use of native plants at County-managed facilities.
The County is also partnering with the Santa Monica Mountains Resource Conservation District on a nature connectivity plan for southern Los Angeles County. That effort will identify opportunities and best practices for connecting habitat even in some of the most urbanized parts of the region.
There is still much more work to do, including expanding access to nature in communities with the greatest need and building broader public awareness of why biodiversity protection matters.
This month representatives from around the world will gather in Yerevan, Armenia, for COP17, the U.N. biodiversity conference. Why does a global gathering like this matter to Los Angeles County?
Like climate change, biodiversity loss is a global crisis shaped by local actions.
COP17 is an opportunity for governments and other leaders to assess progress toward the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, the international agreement adopted in 2022 that established 23 targets for 2030.
Because the United States is not a party to the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity, much of the American participation in global biodiversity conversations comes from state and local governments.
With input from the County’s Youth Climate Commission, the Board decided to pursue official observer status with the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity and membership in the California Global Biodiversity Alliance. Those steps can help give L.A. County both formal and informal opportunities to participate in conversations shaping biodiversity policy.
L.A. County faces an unusual challenge: protecting globally significant biodiversity in the middle of an enormous urban region. What lessons can we share with other cities and regions around the world?
One important lesson is that biodiversity and thriving human communities do not have to be mutually exclusive. When cities and regions make space for nature, there are many creative ways for people and ecosystems not merely to coexist but to support one another.
Creating space for nature in cities also does not mean sacrificing benefits for people. In many cases, it can improve quality of life by providing shade, cleaner air, access to green space and greater resilience to heat, flooding and other climate impacts.
The challenge is to treat nature not as something separate from the city, but as part of the infrastructure and identity of the city itself.
Biodiversity loss is a global problem, but most conservation ultimately happens somewhere specific. How important are local and regional governments such as L.A. County to achieving the world’s larger biodiversity goals?
Global progress is ultimately the result of many local actions, and that is especially true for biodiversity. A ton of carbon emissions has essentially the same climate impact wherever it is released. Biodiversity is different. Every region has its own species, habitats and ecological relationships, which means the problems—and the solutions—look different from place to place.
That makes local and regional governments especially important. We can learn from one another, but every jurisdiction still has to protect biodiversity in ways that reflect its own landscape and communities.
Organizations such as the California Global Biodiversity Alliance exist in part because state and local governments recognized that they needed a stronger voice in a global process that was not originally designed around them.
Looking ahead 20 or 30 years, what would success look like? What kind of Los Angeles County are we trying to preserve—or create—for the next generation?
Success would mean creating a virtuous cycle in which people experience more nature in their everyday lives, value it more deeply and, in turn, support continued efforts to protect it.
That could mean more native plants and habitat woven into urban neighborhoods, stronger connections between larger natural areas, healthier ecosystems and greater access to nature across all communities.
Over time, the goal is not simply to preserve isolated pockets of biodiversity, but to integrate nature more fully into the life of the region.
If we succeed, Los Angeles County’s extraordinary biodiversity—and our responsibility for stewarding it—can become an even greater source of pride for residents throughout the region.