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"Cities for Life: City & Subnational Biodiversity Summit" A Forum for Local and Subnational Governments in parallel with the 11th meeting of Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity 15-16 October 2012 - Hyderabad, India

Reference: SCBD/AM/OH/80589 (2012-117)
To: CBD National Focal Points and relevant organizations

"We need agriculture back in our cities and in our minds"

Our cities need to become part of our agricultural system. In recent decades it has become increasingly clear that the way we live and eat is a big threat to our health and the health of our ecosystem. Climate change is forcing us to rethink our way of life and to reconnect agriculture back into ...

'Sweet City': the Costa Rica suburb that gave citizenship to bees, plants and trees

“Pollinators were the key,” says Edgar Mora, reflecting on the decision to recognise every bee, bat, hummingbird and butterfly as a citizen of Curridabat during his 12-year spell as mayor.

'Sweet City': the Costa Rica suburb that gave citizenship to bees, plants and trees

“Pollinators were the key,” says Edgar Mora, reflecting on the decision to recognise every bee, bat, hummingbird and butterfly as a citizen of Curridabat during his 12-year spell as mayor.

'The bliss of a quiet period': lockdown is a unique chance to study the nature of cities

Empty streets and skies let the birds be heard and leave animals free to roam as well as allowing scientists to examine how humans change urban biodiversity.

'We are not alone' in fighting climate change, says Freetown mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr

Over 90 mayors of the world's biggest cities have signed a Global Green New Deal in Copenhagen this week.

10 of our favourite green buildings in the world

Against the stark concrete skyline of Sydney, Australia, one building’s cascading green gardens unfurl like a vertical oasis. Completed in late 2013, One Central Park (pictured, above) won a suite of high-profile awards in 2014 (including Best Tall Building in the World) thanks to its clever fea ...

10th World Wilderness Congress (WILD10)

4 - 10 October 2013, Salamanca, Spain

15 innovations bringing nature back into our cities

We live in an urban era, by 2050 cities will host nearly 70% of humanity. If cities don’t heal their relationship with nature, our species will face increasing threats. In this foreseeable future we might forget that cities are living systems where the positive relationship between the natural a ...

20+ Cities Call for Integrating Climate, Biodiversity Concerns into Urban Planning

More than 20 cities, including Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire), Dakar (Senegal), Helsinki (Finland), Paris (France), La Paz (Bolivia), Melaka (Malaysia) and São Paulo (Brazil), have endorsed a statement on urban development that integrates environmental considerations, including low-emission targets, lo ...

8 Cities Rewilding Their Urban Spaces

In the midst of a massive, global loss of nature, cities around the world are finding ways to protect and expand open spaces and "rewild" their communities.

A forest in a city: Maintaining Chandigarh’s green cover in the face of urbanisation

With Chandigarh’s growing reputation as nature’s paradise, every aspect of this man-made creation, originally spread over 47 blocks of 246 acres each, vindicates the visionary thinking of the early planners. Surely, Le Corbusier, Dr. M.S. Randhawa and others must be smiling at the evolution of C ...

A million trees planted - what next?

Trees for Cities recently planted our millionth tree. This of course is a huge achievement - but it also strikes a chord, and reminds us that there is much more to do.

A model city in Japan is helping Asian cities go green

Without dissolved oxygen, fish cannot survive. Healthy water normally contains between 7-8 mg/l of the gas.

A preliminary framework for better urban agroforestry

Today's cities don't have walls for protection like ancient ones, but they are separate from less urban and rural land. Most goods that city-dwellers purchase are brought in from rural farms and manufacturers. There is an active community of urban gardeners and landscape architects who are tryin ...

Abu Dhabi’s new urban biodiversity park enhances local microclimate

The name, which is Arabic for “The Shade Park,” is a nod to the park’s use of nature-based design solutions to reduce the area’s warming through trees and shrubs. According to the Abu Dhabi Department of Municipalities and Transport, it’s the first urban park in the UAE to use biodiversity to en ...

Accidental countryside: why nature thrives in unlikely places

With its trees still naked after winter, Lordship Road in the London borough of Hackney is an urban vista of asphalt, brick and concrete. Heading north, a pair of tower blocks loom from the horizon.

Accra wins award for Informal Waste Collection Expansion project

Ghana’s capital city, Accra, has been mentioned among the 2019 ‘World's Seven Best Climate Projects’ for its Informal Waste Collection Expansion project. The recognition puts Accra among this year’s seven short-listed cities of the ‘C40 Cities Bloomberg Philanthropies Awards.’

After the Renowned Vertical Forest in Milan, the Concept of Urban Forestry by Architect Stefano Boeri Spreads in Northern Europe, Starting From Eindhoven, Utrecht and Antwerp

Worldwide, cities produce about 70% of the CO2 present in the atmosphere, while forests and woods are able to absorb 40% of it. Increasing wooded areas within and around cities would multiply the resilience capacities of urban areas and would drastically reduce the production of CO2, thanks to p ...

Agreements reached on actions to integrate biodiversity in forestry, fisheries, agriculture, and tourism sectors and to achieve the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development

Air pollution-eating moss cleans hotspots in Europe

When 26-year-old Peter Sänger and 34-year-old Liang Wu got together, they realized right away that they had something in common.

All 98 municipalities are now competing in Denmark’s biodiversity competition

Last February, the Danish Minister of the Environment, Lea Wermelin, invited all of Denmark’s 98 municipalities to participate in the national competition, “Denmark’s Wildest Municipality”. 92 municipalities accepted the invitation and ramped up their efforts to promote biodiversity in their cities.

Allison Hanes: Montreal conference puts a new perspective on parks

Montreal’s parks are a source of pride for this dense, urban metropolis.

An urban wetland springs to life among Bogota’s high rises

An open plaza in Bogota’s northeastern business district has been radically transformed from a place of pure pavement to a vibrant urban wetland. Colombian architecture firm Obraestudio completed the project in 2016 in the Santa Barbara business center to revitalize the outdoor common space shar ...

Are cities Europe's new biodiversity hotspots?

While rummaging through part of Amsterdam's city park, citizen scientists discovered new insect species. Their aim was to show that even in Earth's busiest places, biodiversity is still underexplored.