Facing the decline of biodiversity worldwide, the conservation of the remaining natural and semi-natural areas is fundamental. To do so, the concept of green infrastructure has gained attention recently. This case study presents the method developed to identify the green infrastructure in a cross-border, urbanized territory between Switzerland and France in the area of influence of the city of Geneva. The first part of the methodology consists of calculating and mapping the inputs aggregated in four pillars: (i) the distribution of habitats as well as the predicted distribution of hundreds of plant and animal species, (ii) the supply of five ecosystem services, (iii) the functional connectivity for three animal species and the light pollution and (iv) five indices of landscape’s structure. These inputs are then used to run a prioritization model to identify the areas with the highest ecological interest according to these weighted inputs. The cross-border situation of this case study had impacts on the way the input data were gathered and weighted and on the way the output was created to consider the expectations of the three main local authorities involved, without creating any legal obligations on the implementation of the green infrastructure. As a positive sign of the usefulness of these results, the resulting maps were immediately transferred to the land use planners in charge of developing ambitious visions of the “Grand Genève” territory for 2050 in alignment with 10 objectives of ecological transition as recently agreed and signed by local authorities. The method presented in this article is flexible and includes a broad description of biodiversity, supporting a reliable network of areas with high ecological values for conservation purposes and human well-being.

Aim: Future species distributions were modelled to assess the distributional changes of 1692 plant species according to several scenarios. Species vulnerability was calculated according to their red list and native statuses using a new index to better understand the most vulnerable groups of species to future conditions and improve conservation actions. Location: Greater Geneva region between France and Switzerland. Time Period: From present to 2050. Major Taxa Studied: A total of 1692 species of plants from all major groups. Methods: Two different species distribution models were created to combine the effect of climate change at the continental scale and land‐use changes at the regional scale in 2050. Two scenarios of climate change were used (optimistic and pessimistic) and one business‐as‐usual land‐use–land‐cover scenario. Current and future distributions were compared using six spatial indicators combined to create a new vulnerability index to global changes. Results: More than one‐third of all species assessed showed at least a moderate vulnerability, and more than 10% showed a high vulnerability to global changes, mostly composed of native species. Most exotic species showed moderate benefits to global changes, and one‐third were associated with high benefits. Pessimistic scenarios of climate change exacerbated the trends identified under optimistic scenarios and were associated with higher vulnerability for native species and higher benefits for exotic ones. No clear pattern was found when comparing species vulnerability according to their red list status, questioning its ability to preserve species in the long term. Main Conclusions: Native species are more vulnerable to global changes, while exotic species benefit from them. Climate is the main driver of future distributional changes in the study area. Current levels of threat fail to inform us of species vulnerability to future conditions, questioning their relevance and supporting the assessments of similar studies to identify the most vulnerable species.

Biodiversity is declining globally principally because of land degradation and more because of climate change. Its effective conservation is vital for species and habitats, but also to maintain the related ecosystem services they provide for human well-being. In this context, evaluating the ability of Protected Areas (PAs) to cover species distribution under current and future environmental conditions is highly valuable. Considering the distributions of 1692 species of plants in the cross-border region of Grand Genève, located between France and Switzerland, the effectiveness of existing PAs in preserving plant diversity through local hotspots and priority areas for rare and vulnerable species was evaluated. The results show that PAs are moderately effective in conserving plant diversity, but are not expected to lose effectiveness in future conditions because important areas for plant diversity conservation will remain at similar locations. To address this gap, a spatial conservation network combining hotspots and priority areas was identified to cover 30% of the study area. It captures a significantly higher proportion of species distributions under both current and future conditions, and covers a greater representation of rare and ecologically important habitats, such as subalpine meadows and wetlands. The proposed solution aims to inform local stakeholders about areas of high ecological value that could be used to identify the Blue-Green Infrastructure, supporting the expansion of PAs and the improvement of conservation strategies in the face of environmental change.

Six new carnivorous plant cultivars are named and described: Sarracenia 'Mikasa Ackerman', Sarracenia 'Xǐ', Sarracenia 'Adye', Dionaea 'EEC Chalupacabra', Dionaea muscipula 'EEC Lava Guava', Pinguicula 'Mary Davis Treat'.