We humans have exploited the land and the oceans to such an extent that we naturally think, exploiting the physical resource of this planet is the only way to expand.
Today more than 75 % of the Earth's land areas are substantially degraded and if this trend continues, it is estimated that 95 % of the Earth’s land areas could be degraded by 2050 (IPBES). Land degradation is the leading cause of losses of ecosystem functions. Just the top one meter of soil is the basis of almost 85 percent of life on this planet, including ourselves.
Land degradation is mainly caused by agriculture, urbanization, and infrastructure development. Even though development projects contribute to the economic upturn, it is important to understand that it also causes major economic downturns due to land degradation. Recent estimates of the global loss of ecosystem services due to land degradation and desertification are between US$ 6.3 and 10.6 trillion annually (IUCN).
The fall and decline of many ancient civilizations have historically been related to their failure of maintaining fertile soil and biodiverse ecosystems.
There is no way to maintain the soil's richness and manage the biodiversity that exists in the soil, without constantly adding organic material to the soil. Today we humans are trying to manage our crops by adding fertilizer, but without having a substantial amount of green litter from the trees and the animal waste, there is no way we can revile this soil and protect our ecosystems from collapsing.
Now is the time to redesign buildings and cities to actively help restore biodiversity, soil fertility, and increase air and water quality. The potential of applying nature-based solutions in buildings & cities is much bigger than just expanding green spaces. By making nature and ecosystem services become a fundamental part of how buildings operate, we can transform our buildings & cities to have an ecological role in ecosystems.
By acknowledging and integrating the intelligence of the natural world we can find all kinds of solutions that we never before imagined possible. For the past decade, we have focused on innovating with nature to develop holistic solutions that allow buildings to operate as living organisms.
Today we offer Nature-Based solutions for architecture & construction that are affordable and applicable to both new and existing buildings. Nature-based solutions can help reduce the operating cost of buildings and transform buildings from harming the environment to nurturing and restoring ecosystems daily.
We are intimately interconnected with nature, whether we like it or not. If we don’t take care of nature, we can’t ensure the well-being of our future generations. And as we move towards a population of 10 billion people on this planet, we need to go into this future armed with nature as our strongest ally.
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