Background

Birmingham is the first city in the UK to develop a tool to highlight the inequalities in accessing green space alongside other key measures and produce an Environmental Justice Map which considers access to green space, health inequalities (through excess years of life lost), flood risk, urban heat island effect and the indices of multiple deprivation.The OFCP identifies the wards covered by its vision for the heart of the city and although not all the wards are “red” wards as far as environmental justice recognises, Bordesley and Highgate ward is important both in the City of Nature vision for OFCP and has been identified as a red ward by the Naturally Birmingham Project. The OFCP has a key theme around a City of Nature, and our delivery framework will help this vision to be realised.

To address these inequalities and the significant challenges posed by climate change and further highlighted by Covid-19, the city needs to put in place new ways of working across the organisation. Climate change adaptation and addressing environmental justice will require new leadership and governance and action across the whole organisation. This will need to be backed by a new funding model based around developing sustainable funding from a range of sources.

A partnership approach with external organisations is also critical and underpinning this will be the adoption of new ways to support communities to be more engaged through the Birmingham City of Nature Alliance.

Through the implementation of the City of Nature vision , we seek to reduce inequalities employing a long-term co-ordinated plan of action that improves environmental quality and the health and wellbeing of residents across Birmingham.