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World Cities Day

31 October 2024, New York, United States of America

Statement by Astrid Schomaker, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, on the occasion of the World Habitat Day, 7 October 2024

Statement by Astrid Schomaker, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, on the occasion of the World Habitat Day, 7 October 2024

World Cities Day

31 October 2023, New York, United States of America

Statement by David Cooper, Acting Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, on the occasion of the World Cities Day, 31 October 2023

Statement by David Cooper, Acting Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, on the occasion of the World Cities Day, 31 October 2023

Statement by David Cooper, Acting Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, on the occasion of the World Habitat Day, 2 October 2023

Statement by David Cooper, Acting Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, on the occasion of the World Habitat Day, 2 October 2023

World Cities Day

31 October 2022, Nairobi, Kenya

Statement by Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity on the occasion of World Cities Day 2022, 31 October 2022

Statement by Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity on the occasion of World Cities Day 2022, 31 October 2022

World Tourism Day

27 September 2022, Madrid, Spain

International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies

7 September 2022, New York, United States of America

Do Cities Hold the Key to Protecting Biodiversity?

From the smallest organism to the largest, all living things play unique roles that keep the earth in balance. With numerous functions spanning insects and birds that pollinate flowers to bear fruits, plants absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and producing oxygen to purify the air and ...

Urban biodiversity: What is it, and why is it urgently needed?

Did you know that urban biodiversity makes you happier, increases sales at local businesses, and makes children develop their cognitive skills better, among other benefits? Urban restoration aims to renaturalize cities to make them compatible with lost nature, which is part of humanity. Why is i ...

Cities: how urban design can make people less likely to use public spaces

Urban beautification campaigns are usually sold to local residents as a way to improve their daily lives. Design elements—from lighting systems to signs, benches, bollards, fountains and planters, and sometimes even surveillance equipment—are used to refurbish and embellish public spaces.

Frog hotels: scientists build creative urban shelters to draw species back to Australian cities

Tadpoling is a thing of the past in many suburban creeks, as humans encroach on frogs’ territory. But there is a way to lure them back – frog hotels.

Here is a six-step decision framework to include nature-based solutions in city-planning

Cities are increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, and put at risk many of the life-sustaining ecosystems on which communities and livelihoods depend.

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 ...

Transforming Trees Into Skyscrapers

Brumunddal, a small municipality on the northeastern shore of Lake Mjøsa, in Norway, has for most of its history had little to recommend it to the passing visitor. There are no picturesque streets with cafés and boutiques, as there are in the ski resort of Lillehammer, some thirty miles to the n ...

How investing in green infrastructure helps cities manage the effects of the climate crisis and creates healthy communities

Setting ordinances to build more green roofs, planting trees and native plants, and designing community green spaces are just a few ways that many cities are investing in green infrastructure to solve climate-related problems and promote the health of residents.

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 ...

The people building edible cities

"I view urban agriculture as a wonderful Trojan horse," says Nicolas Brassier, owner of Peas&Love, an urban farm that has expanded to seven sites across France and Belgium in the past two years

Giving Nature a Home in Cities: Bricks for Bees' Nests

Humanity's relationship with insects is ancient and complex. While they can spread disease and wipe out crops, they are also vital to our survival on Planet Earth, as pollinators and recyclers. Edward Osborne Wilson, a leading American biologist, stated in one of his articles that “If insects we ...

Hiding in plain sight, ‘cryptic species’ may be all around us

On a warm evening in the spring of 2020, Jeremy Feinberg stood at the edge of a moonlit pond. He was on the Delmarva Peninsula, on the east side of Chesapeake Bay, an estuary in the eastern United States. “Chuck!” Feinberg called across the water. “Chuck! Chuck!” He cupped his hands behind his e ...

Why the Dutch embrace floating homes

Faced with worsening floods and a shortage of housing, the Netherlands is seeing growing interest in floating homes. These floating communities are inspiring more ambitious Dutch-led projects in flood-prone nations, from French Polynesia to the Maldives.

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.

Hearts, cells and mud: How biology helps humans reimagine our cities in vexed times

Biological metaphors for the city abound in daily use. You may live close to an "arterial" road or in the "heart" of a metropolis. You may work in one of the city's "nerve centers" or exercise in a park described as the city's "lungs."

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 ...

Snakes in Bengaluru city

“Sun’s out, snakes out!” exclaimed Shuayb Ahmed, and Yatin Kalki as they jumped to action. Ahmed, an independent snake rescuer, had received a frantic call from a woman who spotted a snake – claimed to be a juvenile spectacled cobra – in her house in Bengaluru.

Earth Observations Toolkit for Sustainable Cities and Human Settlements

Cities around the world face numerous environmental hazards, such as extreme heat events, landslides, pollution, and flooding. Cities must monitor and address these hazards to reduce risks to, and enhance resilience of, their residents to climate change impacts.

Message to mayors: cities need nature

My home town of New Delhi is battling with air pollution, contaminated water supplies and heatwaves. Just last November, schools were shut for more than a week because of untenable air quality.

Kazakh people are fighting to preserve the natural lakes of Nur‑Sultan

For two years now, residents and experts have been fighting to preserve the Taldykol natural lakes system in the new city centre of Nur-Sultan, the capital of Kazakhstan, that city authorities are filling up to build urban housing estates.

Why are San Jose's trees disappearing? City loses hundreds of acres each year

San Jose's trees are slowly vanishing. Despite boasting, the nation's 10th largest city is in the midst of an environmental crisis as the tree canopy that shades it has dwindled by 1.82% between 2012 and 2018.

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 ...

Penny wise and pound foolish? NYC budget needs to consider the interconnectedness of the city's infrastructure

It has been four months since rain from Hurricane Ida flooded the streets and homes of New York. The subway stations and basements in all boroughs that were flash flooded made the news for a couple of weeks, but may soon be forgotten.

Toward a more inclusive definition of green infrastructure

Green infrastructure has been embraced as a tool to help cities achieve sustainability and resilience goals while improving the lives of urban residents. How green infrastructure is defined guides the types of projects that cities implement, with enduring impacts to people and the urban environment.

The Critical Need for Smart Agriculture for Truly Smarter Cities

Smart cities are developing all over the world, marketing themselves as helping us innovate and become more technologically advanced as a mostly-urban species.

Sadiq Khan leads ambitious plans to rewild Hyde Park

London mayor releases £600,000 funding to help create green rooftops and reintroduce lost species

In the Pantanal, Bolivia leads environmental preservation

Concerned about the environmental impacts of the paving of the highway that crosses the region, residents of a city on the agricultural frontier pressured the city hall to create an integral conservation unit 45% of the municipality’s territory, including the most fertile land.

How Durham University turned itself green

Institution jumps 66 places on People and Planet’s annual university sustainability league.

This urban forest in Kolkata is a haven for bird watchers

More than five years ago, HIDCO had set up the Pakhibitan at Eco Park with the help of an NGO. Now, the park, which has two water bodies and mature indigenous trees of several species, has developed a beautiful ecosystem and turned into a safe haven for several species of birds, insects, mammals ...

Meet an Ecologist Who Works for God (and Against Lawns)

A Long Island couple says fighting climate change and protecting biodiversity starts at home. Or rather, right outside their suburban house.

New York City Becomes 200th City to Join Global CitiesWithNature Initiative

New York City has become the 200th city to join CitiesWithNature, a global partnership initiative that strengthens collective action and impact to protect biodiversity and reconnect urban communities with nature. New York is taking up this leading position alongside London, Los Angeles, São Paul ...

Living walls can reduce heat lost from buildings by over 30%

Retrofitting an existing masonry cavity walled building with a green or living wall can reduce the amount of heat lost through its structure by more than 30%, according to new research.

The Guardian view on urban rewilding: when nature takes over

The news that Derby has approved what promises to be Britain’s largest urban rewilding project so far is very welcome. The 320-acre Allestree Park will, subject to detailed consultation, be given over to a range of habitats and perhaps even see the reintroduction of species such as dormice and r ...

New York City Is Building a Wall of Oysters to Fend Off Floods

Thousands of acres of undersea reefs once protected the city’s shoreline. Now an army of volunteers is bringing the bivalves back, one shell at a time.

Global Environment for Cities - GEO for Cities: Towards green and just cities

Summary for city-level decision makers It is clear from the analysis provided in this second edition of GEO for Cities that cities have the potential to drive progress towards the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals. To achieve this, cities must be designed or redesigned to use re ...

Urbanization does not always decrease food diversity

Over half of the globe’s population currently lives in urban areas, a figure which will increase to 68 percent by 2050. According to scientists, increased urbanization drives changes in climate, land use, biodiversity, and human diet. A new study published in the journal One Earth has found that ...

How can cities accelerate climate action to meet COP26 goals?

Last weekend, international negotiators approved the United Nations Glasgow Climate Pact at the 26th Conference of the Parties. Ashish Sharma, the Illinois research climatologist at the Illinois State Water Survey, spoke with News Bureau physical sciences editor Lois Yoksoulian about the takeawa ...

US cities working to reduce emissions in the absence of bold action in Washington

After the Cop26 conference ended in Glasgow, many activists and climate scientists felt the agreement didn’t go far enough and that the US government was among those who had not backed strong words with enough actual deeds.

Electric cars alone won't save the planet. We'll need to design cities so people can walk and cycle safely

At the COP26 climate summit, world politicians patted themselves on their backs for coming to a last-minute agreement. Humanity now waits with bated breath to see if countries implement the commitments they made, and if those commitments help the planet.

Honey bees find food more easily in cities, thanks to abundant urban gardens

Despite living in a concrete jungle, London’s urban bees fly shorter distances to feast on nectar-rich flowers than their neighbors in the countryside—a counterintuitive discovery explained by the many lush gardens in the city, researchers reported recently in the Journal of Applied Ecology.

World Cities Day

31 October 2021, New York, United States of America

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 ...

Statement by Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, Executive Secretary, Convention on Biological Diversity, on the occasion of World Cities Day

Most of the world now lives in cities. But even for those living in rural areas, the lifestyle and modes of production and consumption are critically affected by urban needs and requirements for goods and services.

The belly of the beast

Environmentalism is often experienced as a desire to return to rural nature: from the pastoral sunlit uplands to the ancient forest. Yet more than half of the world human population lives in cities today.

Cities' Answer to Sprawl? Go Wild.

In a neighborhood of right-angled stone, stucco and brick buildings not far from Milan’s central train station, two thin towers stand out. Green and shaggy-edged, they look like they’re made of trees. In fact, they’re merely covered in trees — hundreds of them, growing up from the towers’ stagge ...

Is the boom in green roofs and living walls good for sustainability?

With living walls on skyscrapers and offices sprouting rooftop forests, green buildings have never been so popular. Will Ing examines whether this is the future of sustainable design or just PR greenwash

Feature: Enlightening next generation to protect butterflies, trees for cities

Butterflies flit among flowers and excited kids run trying to catch the elusive, gorgeously clad beauties in a garden located on the outskirts of Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka.

Natural habitats of 30 cities around the world at risk due to ‘coastal hardening’, study suggests

Artificial structures have replaced more than half of the coastline of 30 cities around the world, according to new research suggesting coastal infrastructure will have a significant ecological impact if not well managed.

How to address Asia Pacific’s biodiversity crisis and encourage nature-positive growth

The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) report on global warming reaffirms that accelerated efforts to fight the climate emergency are vital. We must leverage this momentum to address the intertwined crises of climate change, biodiversity loss and land degradation. This threa ...

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 ...

The US city that has raised $100m to climate-proof its buildings

When Fred Schoeps bought a 150-year-old building in downtown Ithaca, New York, a decade ago, he was one of only a handful of building owners dedicated to ending their reliance on fossil fuels and reducing their carbon footprint.

Why we should build for wildlife as well as people

Every time we build something, another patch of ground that could have been a home to wildlife disappears. But Dusty Gedge argues that, in many cases, we can return that patch of ground to nature – up on the roof.

Prague: The circular European capital you haven’t heard about yet

Lying at the heart of Europe is a city otherwise known as the City of a Hundred Spires, renowned for its abundance of gothic architecture and UNESCO world heritage stamp. But one thing you may not know about the Czech capital of Prague is that it has fast become a trailblazer in establishing a l ...

It takes more than words and ambition: here’s why your city isn’t a lush, green oasis yet

The idea of transforming cities from concrete jungles to urban forests is a popular one, and there have been some truly inspiring, exemplar projects in recent years. The transformation of a Seoul freeway to Cheonggyecheon parkland, exposing the historical river that once flowed there, is one cel ...

Urban gardens boost biodiversity, make cities more sustainable

In building cities, we have created some of the harshest habitats on Earth—and then chosen to live in them.Temperatures in cities are typically 2-3 C warmer than those of the surrounding landscape. Pollution levels and noise can reach levels seen few other places on Earth.

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.

Why seagulls are making their homes in our cities

Their cries are most commonly associated with the seaside, but as their natural homes come under threat, will gulls increasingly move inland to take up residence in our cities?

How cities can make urban forests accessible

Many people have developed stronger relationships with urban nature during the pandemic. Some have enjoyed views of nearby trees and gardens during periods of isolation, taken walks after Zoom-filled days or socialized at a distance with friends in local parks.

Trees, Plants and Soil Could Help Cities Cut Their Carbon Footprints — When Used Smartly

Newswise — Cities and nations around the globe are shooting for carbon neutrality, with some experts already talking about the need to ultimately reach carbon negativity. Carbon footprint declarations are used to ease product selection for low carbon building, but these standards don’t yet exist ...

Don’t feed the ducks: royal parks warn of bullying bird behaviour after lockdown

London’s royal parks are urging visitors to stop feeding bread to ducks because it is causing overcrowding and bullying among birds, the Guardian can reveal.

How to reimagine our cities as hubs for biodiversity, conservation and climate resilience

Biodiversity – all living organisms, including plants, animals and microorganisms – is essential for human existence. Yet when we think about biodiversity, we rarely picture a city in our minds. Nature has often been associated as purely a feature of rural landscapes, when in fact urban areas ar ...

Urban life is not to everyone's taste

Habitat change, for example through urbanisation, is one of the most important causes of biodiversity decline. By 2050, settlements and cities across the globe are predicted to increase by two to three million square kilometres - about half the size of Greenland. Natural and semi-natural habitat ...

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 ...

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?

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 ...

Wild boar surround woman near Rome and steal food shopping

A herd of wild boar surrounded a woman who had just come out of a supermarket near Rome and stole her shopping, rekindling a debate about the presence of the animal in Italian towns and cities.

EFFEKT to present 'naturbyen' nature village at the venice architecture biennale 2021

Copenhagen-based studio EFFEKT has presented plans for a residential development that forms part of its contribution to the upcoming venice architecture biennale. Titled ‘naturbyen’, a name that translates as ‘nature village’, the project will see a field in denmark transformed into a completely ...

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.

Malmö, Sweden: A testing ground for integrated sustainable solutions

The former industrial shipyard Western Harbour boasts a heavy concentration of green roofs and a heat pump plant that provides residents with heating and cooling. The neighbourhood of Augustenborg is known for its focus on climate adaptation and social and green regeneration initiatives.

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 ...

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.

Singapore leads green architecture and sustainable building design in Asia - here's why

Kermit the Frog once lamented that it wasn't easy being green. Large-scale developers who for years have been trying to reconcile their economic and environmental concerns would agree.

Helsinki invests in the protection of biodiversity

The city’s Biodiversity Action Plan will safeguard plants, species and their habitats. One of Helsinki’s greatest attractions is its beautiful and diverse nature. According to the municipality, over a third of the city’s area consists of forests, meadows, and parks. What is more, it is also well ...

Explore nature and help Cape Town win the City Nature Challenge — here's how

The City of Cape Town will open several of its nature reserves to the public and has arranged free guided walks between April 30 and May 3. Residents have been urged to get out and explore nature to capture as many wild plants and animals as possible and help the city win this year's City Nature ...

Costa Rica’s Environmental Commitment Awarded by Unesco

Costa Rica’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed that the United Nations Organization for Science, Education and Culture (Unesco) has awarded the city of San José the Netexplo Linking Cities 2021 Award, in the category ‘Zero Carbon Objective’.

Rewilding our cities: beauty, biodiversity and the biophilic cities movement

Our cities are dominated by glass-faced edifices that overheat like greenhouses then guzzle energy to cool down. Instead, we could have buildings that are intimately connected to the living systems that have evolved with us, that celebrate the human-nature connection that is central to our wellb ...

How Mexico City Is Embracing Biodiversity

Wildlife and greenery aren’t Mexico City’s calling cards. But while the world’s fifth-largest metropolis is home to more than 21 million people, it’s also grounds for nearly 4,000 species of flora and fauna, and some 15 percent of its total area consists of national parks and other protected areas.

What urban nature really means for insect biodiversity

Parks and green spaces in cities provide health and wellness benefits to human inhabitants, but they’re not necessarily beneficial for other urban dwellers – like insects. Researchers are investigating urban biodiversity with approaches such as ‘bee hotels’ to see how cities can better foster in ...

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.

World Wildlife day: "Forests and Livelihoods: Sustaining People and Planet" (14:00-17:30 CET)

3 March 2021, Virtual

‘It's radical’: the Ugandan city built on solar, shea butter and people power

The village of Okere Mom-Kok was in ruins by the end of more than a decade of war in northern Uganda.Now, just outside Ojok Okello’s living-room door, final-year pupils at the early childhood centre are noisily breaking for recess and a market is clattering into life, as is the local craft brewe ...

More oxygen, cleaner air for Chennai as civic body plans to set up 1,000 urban forests

The residents of Chennai will now breathe in cleaner air as the municipal corporation is mulling the setting up of 1,000 urban forests. The Greater Chennai Corporation commissioner G Prakash said that the government will set up more forests in vacant places across the city.

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 ...

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.

South Africa: Veld Circles Are Creating Custodians of Cape Town's Biodiversity

Dr Caitlin von Witt's message is clear: 'If you want to support the most biodiversity, you should support local biodiversity.' Through the FundaFynbos project, she is educating Capetonians about indigenous plants and encouraging them to plant them at home.

Paris halves street parking and asks residents what they want to do with the space

Paris is set to remove half of its 140,000 on-street car parking spaces as it seeks to make the city greener and more people friendly.