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Climate and Biodiversity News (May 2025)

May 15, 2025 by Jared Green

Waikiki area of Honolulu, Hawaii / istockphoto.com, Art Wager

This is the first edition of a new monthly feature in The Dirt, highlighting news on:

  • Landscape architecture projects that advance climate and biodiversity goals
  • Climate and biodiversity policies — from the global to local levels
  • Opportunities to take action
  • Developments among allied professions
  • Scientific studies

If you see a story of interest, please let us know at climate@asla.org.

Hawaii Lawmakers Raise Hotel Tax to Help the State Cope with Climate Change, CNN, May 3
Hawaii lawmakers passed legislation that adds a 0.75 percent tax on hotel rooms, timeshares, and other short-term accommodations, along with a 11 percent tax on cruise ship bills. The levy is expected to raise $100 million for environmental protection and climate resilience projects.

Illegal Wood from Colombia’s Rainforests Enters US and EU Supply Chains, Mongabay, May 6
The Environmental Investigation Agency found that 94 percent of flooring and decking wood exported by Colombia between 2020 and 2023 lacked certification. Approximately 20 percent of the wood was imported by the U.S., Canada, and European Union.

Before He Was Pope, Leo XIV Said It’s Time for Action on Climate Change, Earthbeat – National Catholic Reporter, May 9
“Dominion over nature — the task which God gave humanity — should not become ‘tyrannical.’ It must be a ‘relationship of reciprocity’ with the environment,” Pope Leo XIV said at a Vatican environmental event last year.

How Natural Solutions Can Help Islands Survive Sea Level Rise, Yale Environment 360, May 9
New research has found that the future of atoll islands depends on the health of their ecosystems and level of urbanization. To improve their ability to withstand sea level rise, scientists recommend nature-based solutions, such as restoring island forests and reefs.

How Redefining Just One Word Could Strip the Endangered Species Act’s Ability to Protect Vital Habitat, The Conservation, May 13
The Trump administration has proposed changes to the Endangered Species Act and is accepting public comments. They seek to update the definition of “harm” to species to exclude habitat destruction.

Germany on Track for 2030 Climate Goal, Future Targets at Risk, Government Advisers Say, Reuters, May 15
Germany’s Expert Council on Climate Issues expects the country to achieve its 2030 goal of cutting emissions by 65 percent from 1990 levels. Less clear is whether the European Union’s largest economy can meet its ambitious carbon-neutrality goals for 2045.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Landscape Architects Are Reimagining a 9-mile-long Tributary of the Los Angeles River

May 13, 2025 by Jared Green

Verdugo Wash, Glendale, California / Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates

After major floods devastated Glendale, California in the 1930s, much of the Verdugo Wash became a concrete channel — a boundary dividing communities. Now, landscape architecture firm Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates (MVVA) is leading the development of a new Verdugo Wash master plan, which will re-envision the 9.4-mile-long tributary of the Los Angeles River as a new linear park or trail system.

The three-year planning process will result in a toolkit of project options for the city to explore. The new plan will enable community connections to the wash and offer ways to restore its ecosystems, while preserving its ability to protect Glendale from floods. The effort is being funded by a California Department of Transportation grant.

“Bringing stormwater infrastructure, flood control, ecological restoration, urban connectivity, and park making together, the Verdugo Wash Master Plan is an incredible opportunity for the region,” said Paul Seck, PLA, partner and chief operating officer at MVVA.

MVVA has assembled a multidisciplinary team to “study the complex technical issues that would be associated with any changes to the wash,” said Ryoma Tominaga, PLA, project manager with MVVA. “We look forward to working with oversight agencies and local stakeholders, such as the Gabrielino/Tongva Nation, to craft feasible approaches.”

The diversity of the team MVVA assembled shows the complexity of the work. Landscape architects will be working with Kimley-Horn, Inter-Fluve, and Limnotech on hydrology and stream morphology; HR&A on market research, Dyson and Womack on public art; Gardiner & Theobald on cost estimates; and Chief Strategies on community engagement. And Schlaich Bergermann Partner will consult on walkways and bridges, Rock Design Associates on wildlife corridor planning, Rincon on biological resources, and Stratifyx on ecological design.

MVVA will start the ambitious planning effort by engaging the community, working with Chief Strategies to host a “range of community outreach events, such as workshops in different neighborhoods, site tours, and pop-up booths at city events,” the firm notes. This work builds on the Verdugo Wash visioning report from 2022, which was led by landscape architecture firm !melk and engineering firm BuroHappold.

The Verdugo Wash begins in the Crescenta Valley, passing between the Verdugo Mountains and the San Rafael Hills before joining with the Los Angeles River. Much of its natural elements have been replaced with a concrete flood control channel that ranges in width from 24 feet at its narrowest to 87 feet at its widest.

View of Verdugo Wash storm drain looking north between Glenoaks Blvd. and Royal Blvd., showing sections / U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Wikipedia, Public Domain

Through their planning process, MVVA and its team will explore the wash’s role in managing flooding, debris flows, and wildfires. “Although it is typically a low volume waterway, the wash provides an essential flood control function, managing high volumes during flash floods and debris flows,” Tominaga said. The new plan recommendations will need to “accommodate these extremes, while also identifying ways to expand public access and recreation and ecological improvements, including the potential for improved biodiversity.”

Verdugo Wash, Glendale, California / Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates

And “any projects recommended by the master plan will be phased in over time. It is possible the plan will identify some areas of the wash as unsuited for additional uses other than its current flood control function,” Tominaga said.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

More than Three-Fourths of Landscape Architecture Community Says Climate and Biodiversity Commitment Program Is Needed

May 7, 2025 by Jared Green

Climate Positive Design

Survey from the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) shows high demand for increased accountability

ASLA has released the results of a survey on landscape architects’ demand for a new Climate and Biodiversity Commitment Program. Over 230 landscape architects, designers, and landscape architecture educators responded to the survey in April 2025.

The survey found that 77 percent of respondents think a Climate and Biodiversity Commitment Program is needed for the landscape architecture community.

The architecture, engineering and construction industries have commitment programs, such as the AIA 2030 Commitment. These programs set clear climate goals, track project impacts, and issue public reports on progress.

“Real climate leadership listens first. Through the Climate Action Plan, we heard a clear call: our members want a meaningful way to commit and contribute to climate and biodiversity goals. ASLA is exploring how a potential commitment program could turn insight into impact,” said ASLA CEO Torey Carter-Conneen, Hon. ASLA.

“A commitment program will help build the credibility and relevance of landscape architects’ climate and biodiversity work among our peers in the architecture, engineering, and planning professions,” said Pamela Conrad, ASLA, inaugural ASLA Climate and Biodiversity Action Fellow and Founder, Climate Positive Design. “It will also help us better align with and advance industry standards on built environment data.”

A Climate and Biodiversity Commitment Program for landscape architects will help the community collectively:

  • Measure projects’ benefits and impacts
  • Increase accountability
  • Align with industry standards

A commitment program establishes goals that firms and organizations commit to. Firms typically submit project data, which is then validated, measured in aggregate, and then shared publicly in an annual report.

More than half of survey respondents said a commitment program would enable them to better show their commitment to clients with climate action plans. A majority said a program would support landscape architects’ alignment with other disciplines’ efforts. And a third thought a program would increase landscape architects’ competitive advantage.

Without a commitment program, a minority of landscape architects are consistently tracking their project benefits and impacts:

  • 36 percent are tracking water data
  • 22 percent are tracking biodiversity data
  • 21 percent are tracking carbon data
  • 16 percent are measuring heat reductions
  • 13 percent are measuring equity benefits

A minority of landscape architects are also now using tools to reduce project greenhouse gas emissions and increase carbon sequestration. 25 percent of survey respondents are using Climate Positive Design’s Pathfinder while 21 percent are using Sasaki’s Carbon Conscience.

Climate Positive Design’s Pathfinder / Climate Positive Design
Carbon Conscience / Sasaki

While the lack of a commitment program hinders efforts to measure project data using these tools, there are other obstacles identified by survey respondents:

  • Just 19 percent of respondents said they had the knowledge and resources to achieve the measurable goals of the ASLA Climate Action Plan. These include carbon and biodiversity improvements, water use reduction, canopy cover increases, and more.
  • Another third said they have the knowledge but lack the resources.
  • 16 percent said they don’t receive enough cooperation from clients, allied professions, and manufacturers to achieve the goals.
  • Only 23 percent of respondents have their own climate, sustainability or biodiversity action plan to guide progress; another 20 percent said a plan is in development.

But there is also significant progress. More than a third of respondents are now making investments of time and resources to meet ASLA Climate Action Plan goals. They are focusing on a few priorities: employee training and education and researching and specifying low-emission materials.

Ways to reduce project emissions via Carbon Conscience / Sasaki

A majority of respondents think the broad shift to more sustainable landscape architecture projects will impact how the profession designs projects and sources materials. And as the market continues to move towards more sustainable projects, 48 percent of respondents are highlighting or plan to highlight their expertise in climate and biodiversity work.

ASLA and its Climate and Biodiversity Action Committee provide education and resources to help landscape architects decarbonize their projects, including:

  • Decarbonizing Specifications: A Guide for Landscape Architects, Specifiers, and Industry Partners
  • Decarbonizing the Design Process: A Phase by Phase Approach for Landscape Architects
  • Navigating Environmental Product Data: A Guide for Landscape Architects, Specifiers, and Industry Partners
  • Biodiversity and Climate Action 101 for Landscape Architects, a webinar series free for ASLA members

ASLA and Climate Positive Design continue to explore the feasibility of a new commitment program. Fill out this brief form to get news and stay up-to-date.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Smart Landscape Architecture Strategies for Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions

April 25, 2025 by Jared Green

Heron Elementary School was designed to protect mature trees and incorporate native plants and a mix of low-carbon materials. Natomas, CA / Image courtesy of LPA Design Studios, Costea Photograph

“Small actions can lead to big change,” said Alejandra Hinojosa, Affil. ASLA, sustainability specialist with LPA Design Studios.

“You don’t need to feel defeated. You may not accomplish all your climate goals in a project, but that’s not a failure. You can make progress in your next project. Be empowered.”

Last year, Hinojosa and Mariana Ricker, ASLA, associate principal at SWA, published Decarbonizing the Design Process: A Phase by Phase Approach for Landscape Architects.

Decarbonizing the Design Process / ASLA

In an online discussion, Hinojosa said the guide outlines how to make “intentional low-carbon design decisions, address broader environmental impacts, and advocate for better projects.”

“The guide is designed to helpful no matter what stage of the design process,” Ricker said.

The first step is to establish a decarbonization strategy for a landscape architecture project. “It’s best to do that at the beginning, but it’s not impossible to add it in at a later phase,” Hinojosa said.

For clients who may need extra persuading, landscape architects can frame the benefits of decarbonization in terms of “people, the planet, and profit.”

Hinojosa focused on the profit part. There is a clear return on investment for low-carbon projects: “They have lower operational costs.” And these projects offer many co-benefits in terms of healthier materials, more green space, and increased biodiversity.

As designers move into the schematic design phase, they should focus on three big ideas to reduce emissions:

1) Maximize the reuse of materials found on site
2) Incorporate low-impact design, such as green infrastructure
3) Choose low-carbon materials and create more space for soils, plants, and trees to sequester carbon

Overall, it’s also important to reduce materials as much as possible. For example, “reducing cement saves clients money and reduces embodied carbon. It’s a win-win,” Hinojosa said.

These approaches can also be “seamlessly woven” into a project. “What does low-carbon design mean? It’s just part of the vision for a project.”

Later stages of a landscape architecture project also provide opportunities to reduce emissions. Ricker said landscape architects will benefit from talking to product manufacturers about their product and material emissions.

Designers can collaborate with industry partners. They can ask for Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), which are third-party verified accounts of the environmental impacts of a product.

Ricker outlined some key strategies for decarbonizing design details:

  • Use local products and materials
  • Reduce cement use
  • Use as much wood as you can
  • Use recycled steel products only as needed
  • Use low-carbon aggregates and fills
  • Protect and reuse soils

Another session delved into how to decarbonize the design specifications that guide the construction of landscape architecture projects.

Last year, Chris Hardy, ASLA, senior associate at Sasaki and founder of Carbon Conscience, led the development of Decarbonizing Specifications: Guidelines for Landscape Architects, Specifiers, and Contractors.

Decarbonizing Specifications / ASLA

In another online discussion, Hardy said “every construction project, every material has a global warming impact.” Using the new guidelines can help cut those impacts.

The “guidelines aren’t technical standards; they can’t be copied and pasted into specifications,” but they can guide the revision of specifications.

Busy landscape architects can start with updating their specifications for concrete, which can account for more than 50 percent of the emissions of a project. Hardy said Sasaki recently updated its concrete specifications, resulting in significant emissions cuts.

The guidelines also offer ways to reduce emissions by specifying low-carbon products, materials, and construction practices in other areas, like unit masonry, stone, metals, carpentry, base courses and aggregates, lightweight fill, trees and plants, and more. And Decarbonizing Specifications also covers how to best reuse materials and reduce construction waste.

Material recovery and management. Ellinikon Park, Athens, Greece. / Image courtesy of Sasaki

Landscape architects can take a few approaches to updating their specifications:

  • Update office standards
  • Update specifications project by project
  • Edit specifications in SpecLink or MasterSpec
  • Educate external specification writers

The process is worth it: “We can buy less stuff, cut unnecessary embodied carbon, and save clients money.”

Filed Under: Uncategorized

The Landscape Architecture Community Will Push for Protecting and Restoring Ecosystems at the Convention on Biological Diversity

October 21, 2024 by Jared Green

Dr. Sohyun Park (left); MaFe Gonzales / BASE Landscape Architecture (right)

ASLA representatives will showcase projects that increase biodiversity at COP16 in Cali, Colombia

ASLA announced that Dr. Sohyun Park, ASLA, PhD, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture, University of Connecticut, and MaFe Gonzalez, ASLA, Landscape Designer and Botanist, BASE Landscape Architecture, will represent ASLA at the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Cali, Colombia, October 21-November 1.

ASLA and its 16,000 member landscape architects, designers, and educators support the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) and its key goals and targets. Landscape architects are committed to achieving the 2030 goals and targets, including protecting and restoring at least 30 percent of terrestrial, coastal, and marine ecosystems by 2030 (30 x 30). They also stand behind the Vision for 2050.

“We are advancing 30 x 30 through our projects, research, and advocacy. In our Climate Action Plan, we called for restoring ecosystems and increasing biodiversity on a global scale. This year in Colombia, we will show policymakers how to do it through the latest planning and design strategies,” said ASLA CEO Torey Carter-Conneen, Hon. ASLA.

“Landscape architects are key to translating policy into action and realizing real biodiversity gains in landscapes, particularly in cities,” said ASLA President Kona Gray, FASLA, PLA. “We are uniquely positioned to lead multidisciplinary teams of ecologists, biologists, engineers, and other disciplines to protect, restore, and enhance ecosystems worldwide.”

Landscape architects advance global biodiversity goals by:

  • Protecting and restoring ecosystems
  • Conserving habitat for species
  • Planting native trees and plants
  • Protecting and restoring soil health
  • Managing invasive species
  • Creating ecological corridors
  • Mitigating and adapting to climate change

They plan and design projects and conduct research at all scales in urban, suburban, and rural areas.

Dolores Pollinator Boulevard, San Franciso, California. BASE Landscape Architecture / Maria Duara
Dolores Pollinator Boulevard, San Franciso, California. BASE Landscape Architecture / Maria Duara

At the convention, Dr. Sohyun Park will present landscape architecture strategies to increase biodiversity at these events:

Biopolis 2024: Living Landscapes and Infrastructure for Healthy Communities, October 22-23, Green Zone. A keynote – Landscape Architecture Solutions to “Halt and Reverse” Biodiversity Loss – on October 22 at 8:50 AM COT.

Every Construction Project Is an Opportunity to Protect Biodiversity, October 26, 4-5 PM COT, Green Zone, Universidad ECCI Cali (Floor 7, Room 3). A session focused on “proven solutions to support nature that can be adopted at various scales of the built environment.”

MaFe Gonzalez will present these strategies at this event:

Cities to Blossom, October 25, 1 – 2.30 PM COT, Green Zone, Universidad ECCI Cali (Floor 1, Room 8). A workshop focused on “reconnecting children with urban biodiversity through the design of public spaces and educational institutions.”

Last month, ASLA released the results of its first national survey on landscape architects’ planning and design work focused on biodiversity. The survey found that 45 percent of landscape architects have prioritized biodiversity conservation and another 41 percent consider biodiversity part of their organization’s environmental ethos.

Earlier this year, the ASLA Fund released peer-reviewed research on landscape architecture solutions to the biodiversity crisis. The research, which Dr. Sohyun Park developed, reviewed nearly 70 peer-reviewed studies focused on planning and designing nature-based solutions to biodiversity loss published from 2000 to 2023. Explore the findings in an executive summary, which includes case studies and project examples, and a research study.

ASLA 2020 Professional General Design Honor Award. The Native Plant Garden at The New York Botanical Garden. Bronx, New York. OEHME, VAN SWEDEN | OvS / Ivo Vermeulen
ASLA 2020 Professional General Design Honor Award. The Native Plant Garden at The New York Botanical Garden. Bronx, New York. OEHME, VAN SWEDEN | OvS / Ivo Vermeulen

In 2022, ASLA urged world leaders to commit to ambitious global conservation and biodiversity goals, including 30 x 30. ASLA also joined 340 organizations worldwide in signing the Global Goal for Nature: Nature Positive by 2030.

Filed Under: Education

Climate Positive Design Expands Pathfinder to Include Biodiversity, Equity, and More

October 11, 2024 by Jared Green

Climate Positive Design

Buildings, landscapes, and infrastructure are responsible for more than 40 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions each year. Reducing the use of materials with high embodied carbon, like concrete, metals, and plastics, is key to bringing down those emissions.

Landscape architects who have used Climate Positive Design‘s Pathfinder know it’s a tool for calculating the carbon footprint of a landscape design. It then helps designers figure out ways to reduce emissions from materials and increase carbon sequestration faster.

The new version Pathfinder improves on those capabilities but also enables landscape architects and planners to do much more.

“We decided it’s time to deepen our carbon accounting and evaluate other factors — biodiversity, equity, cooling, and water conservation — with the same rigor,” said Pamela Conrad, ASLA, founder of Climate Positive Design and ASLA’s inaugural Biodiversity and Climate Action Fellow.

The new updates will help landscape architects achieve more of the resilience, equity, and biodiversity goals of the ASLA Climate Action Plan.

In terms of carbon, Pathfinder 3.0 “makes it easier to cut ‘business-as-usual’ emissions in half by 2040 and double sequestration,” Conrad said. This is because it now offers “more insights on lower-carbon materials and specific suggestions on how to improve your project’s impact.”

For biodiversity, the tool helps landscape architects track how well their design helps achieve the global 30 x 30 target. This refers to the target set by world leaders at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity COP last year that calls for all countries to protect 30 percent of land, coastal, and ocean ecosystems by 2030.

Pathfinder 3.0 helps landscape architects:

  • Identify the biome and eco-region of their project site
  • Determine how to best protect and enhance native species
  • Create designs that increase biodiversity by at least 10 percent

“Pathfinder is not just helping users visualize their options. It’s also supporting innovation and creativity in transformative design,” said Colleen Mercer Clarke, an interdisciplinary scientist and landscape architect, who is special envoy to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) at the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA).

Landscape architects can also now see how well their designs increase equitable outcomes by providing greater benefits to Justice 40 communities.

Pathfinder 3.0 aligns with the U.S. government’s Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST), which determines whether a project is in an underserved area. If the site is outside the U.S., a landscape architect can also identify the site as being in an underserved area based on CEJST criteria.

Curious to learn how much a design can cool a community? Pathfinder 3.0 shows how well a design reduces severe heat areas, which have been defined by the Trust for Public Land. It enables designers to see how much shade is created through different design strategies.

Climate Positive Design

In terms of water conservation, the tool now shows how to reduce water use through projects by 30 percent. It uses baseline data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s WaterSense.

Climate Positive Design undertook such an ambitious expansion because they see landscapes increasingly serving as critical infrastructure. With climate change and biodiversity loss, landscapes must do more for communities.

“Landscape architects are uniquely qualified to drawdown carbon, create healthier communities, and protect ecosystems through our projects,” Conrad said.

“We have an opportunity and responsibility to address all of these through our work. But we also need to be able to measure those strategies and impacts.”

To better measure impacts from a wider range of materials and their transportation to sites, the new Pathfinder aligns with the datasets of Carbon Conscience, a tool that can be used to cut emissions in the early concept phase. It also aligns with new industry standards being developed through the Embodied Carbon Harmonization and Optimization (ECHO) project.

Learn more about Pathfinder 3.0 and explore an updated user guide and methodology. Check out their design toolkit, which is based on the ASLA Climate Action Field Guide.

With Architecture 3030, Climate Positive Design also updated the 2030 Palette, a “visual database of sustainable design principles, strategies, tools and resources.”

There are new resources on:

  • Coastal seaforestration
  • Drawdown
  • Afforestation
  • Urban gardens
  • The 15-minute city
  • Regenerative peri-urban agriculture
  • Water-smart landscapes and systems

Also worth exploring: a comprehensive new guide to climate action planning and a decarbonization framework, which were also developed with Architecture 2030.

Decarbonization Framework for Planning, Landscape, and Infrastructure / Architecture 2030

Filed Under: Uncategorized

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