OPEN SPACE AND BIODIVERSITY 1

POLICY ANALYSIS: CLAREMONT’S SUSTAINABILITY CITY PLAN

Policy Analysis

Shirley Tam

Los Angeles Pacific University

PUBH 690: Culminating Experience

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ABSTRACT

According to Healthy People 2030 Community and Environmental Health objectives, one

of the focuses is the way a person’s community can help to build a better and healthier

community. A community has a major impact on health and well-being because the

environment is where people are exposed to their surroundings. Community organizations have

an important role in keeping its residents healthy by supporting the community settings to allow

for these opportunities. Claremont, a city east of Los Angeles known as being the “City of

Trees,” and is committed to “having ample open space to sustain nature’s services, protecting the

environment, improving quality of life, and promoting sustainability through drawing awareness

to best practices in attaining a sustainable city in the environment,” (City of Claremont, 2021).

As Claremont’s Sustainable City Plan (SCP) strives to achieve its vision of becoming a

sustainable city and to address UN Sustainable City and Communities goals, Claremont updated

its SCP this year in 2021 to include incentives and educational programs to help broaden

community outreach. The purpose of this analysis is to evaluate Claremont’s goal of open space

and biodiversity plan as part of their sustainability goal and how the city plans to instill the

public on the importance of land usage.

INTRODUCTION/ BACKGROUND

Claremont is celebrated as a community which recognizes its trees as one of the most

valuable public resources.  It is important to understand that areas of natural and constructed

open spaces provide so much more than just aesthetics for the community; it also allows for the

natural ecosystem for wildlife in the area, recreational benefits that provide physiological and

psychological benefits, and a decrease of adverse effects that come from natural disasters. “A

rise in non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is predominantly due to unhealthy urban living,”

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(WHO, 2021) and this is from the lack of the benefits in which natural habitats provide. As a

result of unhealthy environments, “more than 12 million people around the world die every year

because of where they live or work” (Pruss-Ustun, Wolf, Bos ,Neria, 2016). The services that

natural habitats include such benefits as capturing storm water, filtering and detention of

groundwater, absorbing air pollutants, pollinating, and much more. “Having more trees,

especially the right mature species planted in the right locations, can reduce particulate matter

and other forms of air pollution, which could reduce mortality and morbidity in our urban

centers” (Turner-Skoff, Cavender, 2019).

As we expand more and interweave natural lands with residential areas, there remains a

need to further understand and evaluate how to development these “green spaces” so that

existing natural open spaces remain protected by constructed areas and potential damage to the

natural biodiversity. This means that the constructed areas need to consider the natural resources

and consider plants that may be harmful to native plants and wildlife. It has been observed in the

past where plants were introduced into an area where these plants wipe out and spread invasive

species, which create a danger to wildlife as well as the function of ecosystems (Linders, et al,

2019). Ecosystems are threatened by so many drivers such as climate change, land-use change,

invasive species, which change the biodiversity and the way ecosystems function (Sala, et al.,

2000). There have been many experiments and studies recently that show that a loss of

biodiversity reduces the functioning; therefore, it is important to understand the different drivers

that affect these biodiversity changes (Giling et al, 2018).

In response to the Healthy People 2030 initiatives on improving health and the UN

Sustainable City and Communities goals, the SCP is designed so that a long-term commitment

maintains relevance with future advancements as there becomes a better understanding as

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progress is made. Some solutions in which could prove to be helpful in addressing challenges

include plant conservation, soil and soil science, and prevention of land degradation (Sharrock &

Jackson, 2017, Keesstra et al., 2016, Vlek, Khamzina, Lulseged, 2017).

The city of Claremont is addressing this issue by allowing the people with the open

spaces to “plant, maintain, and protect [their own] trees” (FAO, 2016). In fact, what better way

to make a change, by teaching biodiversity concepts to a community and having individuals take

part in that change. By learning the basics of the natural physiology of plants, trees and

understanding the way ecosystems work, we discover how to help care the natural land, resulting

in direct benefits for us, our family, and community. 

METHODOLOGY

The City of Claremont promotes an “diversity through through educational materials,

events, and demonstration gardens,” (City of Claremont, 2021) and holds informational booth

events such as Earth Day celebrations and other fairs. A methodology includes assessing

Claremont’s SCP on the way open spaces are constructed as well as keeping biodiversity.

Indicators for their goals include a baseline and a target. Metrics include the number of

demonstrations and inquiries for information about using native plants in private residential

landscaping, and number of groups engaged in maintaining constructed open spaces.

Bernard California Claremont Claremont Friends of Garden Sustainable

Field Botanic Hills Wildlands Claremont Club Claremont
Station Garden Wilderness Conservancy Hills
Park Wilderness
Park
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Groups 177 N/A 8 11 volunteers 22 N/A N/A

maintainin volunteers volunteers (hours volunteers
g open (660 hours (2000+ unknown) (165 hours
space from Jul hours/year) from Jul
2018-Jun 2018-Jun
2019) 2019)

Inquiries N/A 1000 N/A N/A N/A 100 10 (plants);

about (plants) 10 (trees)
plants ; 154
and/or tree visits to
care internet
tree
pages
Table 1: Metrics- Number of volunteers and hours spent on maintaining open spaces and community outreach

In addition, Claremont’s SCP dedicated a Task Force to enforce outreach and education

efforts is critical for the success of improving sustainability. This is also a way to increase the

number of volunteers and to foster a community which encourages them to guide decisions and

actions. Claremont has built partnerships with the local schools and organizations to update

curriculum to address sustainability issues and to use a variety of media to post activities within

the community. Surveys are used to evaluate progress, the effectiveness of education and

implementation programs, as well as to set realistic targets.

CONCLUSION/ VISIONARY STATEMENT

Claremont’s SCP has been successful in the sense that the community understands that

there needs to be more done within the community in terms of sustainability within outdoor

spaces and biodiversity. Not many communities are as far along as Claremont in the sense that

while Claremont has not only kept trees, but also they understand that the trees that have been in

existence and are natural to the area, which is crucial in maintaining the habitats in which the

local wildlife depend on. Claremont is forward-thinking because they understand the impact of

introducing new species and possibly harming what is currently in place. The goal is to maintain

and/or increase the biodiversity in the open spaces by planting more trees that are natural. Their

long-term goal is to be able to educate the people who live in the community because there is a
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vast amount of open space and land, and for obvious reasons of resources, there are not enough

volunteers to do the work. The hope would be to increase awareness and increase the chance

that residents would be able to attend an informational session workshop or demonstration by

increasing the efforts and exposure by hosting more events.

My culminating project reflects the following two competencies: 1) “Cultural &

Diversity Competency #7: Developing public health programs and strategies responsive to the

diverse cultural values and traditions of the communities being served” and 2) “Leadership &

Systems Thinking Competency #4: Promote high standards of personal and organizational

integrity, compassion, honesty and respect for all people” (ASPPH, 2014). It aligns with my

mission statement as I aim to identify the health issues in the urban setting where I live and look

into the programs in which my community has built overtime and evaluate how the “green

space” within community policy promotes better quality of life in its community. I plan to

evaluate this policy and to understand such benefits and sustaining efforts within the community.

Sustainability is more than just about the “environment.” This concept extends across

diverse human cultures and the appreciation for diversity as in individual’s differences.

Sustainability programs allow for the progression in society and innovative thinking. When

communities develop new ideas, they also allow for the space to teach “culture” and to

implement the standards to which we as a community want to live by. Sustainability in open

spaces and diversity means also caring for the world created for us and keeping it as how it was

built originally for us. Christian ethics is about knowing one’s attitudes, motives, and results for

the action, and not just considering the action itself. Being a Public Health Ambassador means

that with the awareness of the world around me and the tools taught to me. I have an obligation

and duty to protect the world. “The world is a body that must be carefully tended, that must be
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nurtured, protected, guided, loved, and befriended both as valuable in itself—for like us, it is an

expression of God—and as necessary to the continuation of life” (In Boulton, Kennedy, Verhey,

1994).
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References

City of Claremont. (2021). Sustainable City Plan. Accessed at:

https://www.ci.claremont.ca.us/home/showpublisheddocument/16287/637540783026300

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