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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.

Are these ancient ruins in Honduras the legendary 'White City'?

Deep in the northeastern Honduran rainforest, according to local lore, hides an ancient metropolis known as "La Ciudad Blanca," or "The White City." Its name alludes to imposing pillars of white stone that were allegedly glimpsed by Spanish colonizers and, later, Western explorers; the city is r ...

Artist unveils ambitious plans for a forest in central London

London's Somerset House, a well-known historical arts center in the middle of the capital, will soon be home to a forest of 400 trees.

As cities move forward on implementing the agenda under the Convention, they will show that they can lead the way in sustainably using biodiversity and the ecosystem services it underpins, as the basis for addressing water and food security, disaster risk reduction, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and other key issues.

As coronavirus forces lockdowns, parks lift spirits in cities

As the coronavirus outbreak shutters gyms, malls and swimming pools, residents from Los Angeles to Bangkok are heading to parks and open spaces during lockdowns, highlighting their vital role in protecting health and wellbeing, urban experts said.

Banking on nature: a Mexican city adapts to climate change

The Mexican city of Xalapa is surrounded by ecosystems that not only harbor stunning flora and fauna, but also provide crucial services to the city and its 580,000 people.

Bee population steady in Dutch cities thanks to pollinator strategy

Bee hotels, bee stops and a honey highway are some of the components of a national pollinator strategy that the Dutch are crediting with keeping their urban bee population steady in recent years, after a period of worrying decline.

Big brains or many babies: How birds can thrive in urban environments

A new study in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution suggests that birds have two alternative strategies for coping with the difficulties of humanity's increasingly chaotic cities - either by having large brains or through more frequent breeding.

Biocultural Diversity in Cities: Mainstreaming policies in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in the context of Olympics Games

This side event seeks to contribute to the debate on implementation and effectiveness of the international regime on biocultural diversity at the local level. Firstly, it focuses on the relationship between nature and culture in cities and the role of culture in sustainability, particularly rega ...

Biodiversity and the city

Within their Nature in the City Strategy, Hamilton City Council set themselves the ambitious target of moving from 1.8% to 10% native vegetation cover in Kirikiriroa by 2050. Across the city there are hundreds of patches of green that they could target for native regeneration. So where should th ...

Biodiversity in Urban Environments

Biodiversity has become ubiquitous in project descriptions as yet another mark of the design's environmental accomplishments. The increasing focus on sustainability, the standard inspired by the UN Sustainable Development Goals, prompts a deeper understanding of what biodiversity in urban enviro ...

Birds in cities

Birds have two alternative strategies for coping with the difficulties of humanity’s increasingly chaotic cities. They need to either have large brains or breed many times over their life in order to thrive in urban environments, according to a new study involving University College London (UCL).

Building Capacity for the Subnational Implementation of NBSAPs

Reference: SCBD/MPO/AF/AM/84790 (2015-075)
To: CBD National Focal Points

By 2050, an estimated 6.3 billion people will inhabit the world’s towns and cities – an increase of 3.5 billion from 2010.

Calgary named 1 of 4 bird-friendly cities by Nature Canada

Calgary has been named one of the country's four bird friendly cities by the group, Nature Canada. The designation came into effect in Calgary on May 7 — along with Toronto, Vancouver and London, Ont. — one day ahead of World Migratory Bird Day.

Call the cavalry! Horses ride to rescue of an inner city garden

It’s not often that the City of London’s police horses are asked to trample on someone’s garden. But when the request came, it wasn’t made by a spiteful neighbour but a group of community wildlife gardeners who wanted divots in their grass.

Can tiny forests breathe fresh air into our cities?

After gaining popularity across Asia, small, dense ecosystems are taking root in Europe's urban areas. Advocates say they improve biodiversity, air quality and even our well-being. But do they live up to the hype?

Choosing the right trees for a changing climate

In urban environments, trees are threatened by heatwaves and lack of rain, both predicted to increase in coming decades. Towns and cities are often home to a great diversity of trees, including those with a high tolerance of climate extremes, but species' selection criteria and climate-risk asse ...

Cities and Biodiversity.

Presentation of Japanese approach on urban biodiversity conservation through urban policy by the national government and local governments, for example developing city parks, conservation of green spaces and promotion of urban greenery with participation of communities to contribute to discussio ...

Cities and the United Nations pulling together for biodiversity: Global partnership meets in Bonn

Montreal, 15 September 2011— At an international strategic meeting, held in the Old Town Hall, Bonn, on 5-6 September 2011, Bonn Mayor Jürgen Nimptsch and Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Executive Secretary Ahmed Djoghlaf invited the members of the Global Partnership on Local and Sub-Na ...

Cities and their rising impacts on biodiversity - a global overview

Cities and their rising impacts on biodiversity versity. To gain a clearer picture of the situation, an international group of scientists, including Professor Andrew Gonzalez from McGill’s Biology Department, surveyed over 600 studies on the impacts of urban growth on biodiversity. They publishe ...

Cities are driving evolution at a rapid rate

In Montreal, red-backed salamanders sequestered in parks possess different genetic traits than those outside of the parks. In Tucson, house finches are developing longer and wider beaks to eat sunflower seeds from bird feeders, which are larger and harder to break than those found in nature.

Cities are shrinking wildlife globally but we can fix this

Cities are homes for billions of people. By 2050 around 70% of the global population is predicted to live in urban areas. Yet as our cities grow, most species have an increasingly hard time surviving on this planet. A new report titled Nature in the Urban Century highlights the scale of the cha ...

Cities can fight climate change and improve lives by finding new ways to be cool

Life has always been hotter in cities.

Cities can grow without wrecking reefs and oceans. Here’s how

“What happens if the water temperature rises by a few degrees?” is the 2018 International Year of the Reef leading question.

Cities can help migrating birds on their way by planting more trees and turning lights off at night

Millions of birds travel between their breeding and wintering grounds during spring and autumn migration, creating one of the greatest spectacles of the natural world. These journeys often span incredible distances. For example, the Blackpoll Warbler, which weighs less than half an ounce, may tr ...