Global urbanisation has increased pressures on ecosystems located within city boundaries, resulting in loss and fragmentation of urban ecosystems. In September 2015, the United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development which includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 SDG targets. It made environmental sustainability a key component of the agenda, whose preamble recognises that social and economic development depends on the sustainable management of Earth's natural resources. Understanding the interlinkages between the broad and globally focused 2030 Agenda and components of the natural environment remain a practical challenge for both researchers and decision-makers in all disciplines. It is unclear how SDG targets relate to urban ecosystems and what evidence base supports these relationships. Here, we address what changes are required concerning urban ecosystem management and how management of urban ecosystems can reinforce or undermine action to deliver all 169 targets in the 2030 Agenda. We characterised 91 targets requiring action in relation to urban ecosystem management. These collectively emphasise the need to sustainably manage nature, provide equal rights to basic services, pursue sustainable economic growth, and strengthen governance and policy development at multiple scales. We identified 102 targets (99 synergies and 51 trade-offs) with published evidence of relationships with urban ecosystems, where decisions about urban ecosystems affect humanities ability to realise greater welfare and well-being, and build physical and social infrastructure. These findings highlight that sustainable management of urban ecosystems cannot be achieved without addressing other issues such as economic growth, equality or good governance. Translating these interlinkages into a strategy supported by all actors in society is important for achieving sustainable urban ecosystem management.

Epidemiological studies have established positive associations between urban nature, cognitive development and mental health. However, why specifically these health benefits are received remains unclear, especially in adolescents. We used longitudinal data in a cohort of 3,568 adolescents aged 9 to 15 years at 31 schools across London, UK to examine the associations between natural environment types and adolescent's cognitive development, mental health and overall well-being. We characterised natural environment types in three tiers, where natural space was distinguished into green and blue space, and green space was further distinguished into woodland and grassland. We show that, after adjusting for other confounding variables, higher daily exposure to woodland, but not grassland, was associated with higher scores for cognitive development and a lower risk of emotional and behavioural problems for adolescents. A similar but smaller effect was seen for green space, but not blue space, with higher scores for cognitive development. Our results suggest that urban planning decisions to optimise ecosystem benefits linked to cognitive development and mental health should carefully consider the type of natural environment included.

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Countries have made a range of international commitments to compile and use natural capital accounts. While processes and methods for compiling natural capital accounts are now well defined, mainstreaming natural capital accounting (NCA) across public sector decisionmaking remains a practical challenge. This raises the question: which domains of public sector decision-making are important for a phased introduction of NCA? Here, we address a subset of this evidence gap through systematic analysis of the policy-relevance of natural capital accounts in the United Kingdom (UK). We identify 85 UK public sector bodies whose activities can affect the extent or condition of natural capital assets, and 60 bodies whose policy objectives are qualitatively contingent on natural capital stocks or services. For each of these 60 public sector bodies natural capital management ( 1) is a core policy priority, (2) impacts on policy objectives by regulating natural hazards, or (3) provides ecosystem goods and services that support policy objectives concerning health and well-being. Our findings highlight the considerable cross-cutting relevance of natural capital for public sector decision-making, and the need to account for natural capital in policy domains beyond those focused narrowly on environmental policy and management, e.g through coordination structures that feature cross-departmental representation.

In 2002 the New Zealand wheat bug Nysius huttoni White was observed for the first time in the Netherlands and Belgium. The introduction of N. huttoni to these regions presumably occurred via overseas transport of apple and kiwi fruits from New Zealand. Laboratory experiments showed that both eggs and adults of N. huttoni were capable of surviving cold conditions similar to those in overseas transportation. Specimens were sampled in Belgium and the Netherlands, and a DNA sequence analysis indicated a 100% similarity with N. huttoni material collected in Christchurch, New Zealand. The distribution of the lygaeid in Belgium in 2008 was studied based on a systematic sampling at 105 locations. The bug had been able to spread over most of the Belgian territory, with the exception of the most southern and eastern provinces. Given the poor flight capacity of Belgian N. huttoni populations, other methods of dispersal may be involved. N. huttoni occurred primarily in ruderal habitats, and its weedy host plants belong to very common plant families. Several observations support N. huttoni not being a threat for agricultural crops in Belgium under the present conditions of climate and soil usage.

Life in urban areas is associated with adverse human health effects, including risks of developing cognitive problems and mental health issues. Many epidemiological studies have established associations between urban nature, cognitive development and mental health, but why specifically we receive these health benefits remains unclear, especially in children. Here, we used longitudinal data in a cohort of 3,568 children aged 9 to 15 years at 31 schools across London to develop a model and examine the associations between natural habitat type, and children’s cognitive development and mental health. We show that, after adjusting for other environmental, demographic and socioeconomic variables, higher daily exposure rates to natural habitat and particularly woodland were associated with enhanced cognitive development and mental health from late childhood to early adolescence. Our results suggest that optimising ecosystem services linked to cognitive development and mental health benefits should prioritise the type of natural habitat for sustainable urban planning decisions.

Government organisations and other public sector bodies are compiling standardised environmental accounts to encourage more sustainable land use choices and improve management of the natural environment and associated benefits. While the United Nations System of Environmental-Economic Accounting Experimental Ecosystem accounting (SEEA EEA) provides such as framework, practical challenges remain in particular decision-making contexts. In urban areas, natural ecosystems have unique challenges because of anthropogenic pressures, providing a mix of ecosystem services (ES) that may be valued differently compared to non-urban natural ecosystems due to peoples proximity to these. It is unknown whether existing publicly available data sources for urban areas are compatible with the SEEA EEA framework and if these sources are sufficient for the development of an inclusive natural capital accounts. Here, we explore whether an inclusive urban natural capital account that includes a broad range of ES can be compiled from publicly available data sources for Greater London between 2007 and 2018. We showed that it was not possible to compile an inclusive urban natural capital account for London per year consistent with the SEEA EEA framework because of issues with (1) temporal inconsistencies, (2) land cover classifications and (3) lack of public access to certain data sources. Greater collaboration between institutions and other organisations could support our understanding of linkages between ecosystem extent, condition and ES flows. Overall, our findings suggest the need for renewed efforts to develop a cohesive source of publicly available data, which could be supported by making interdisciplinary work standard practise.