The proposal from the Campinas Metropolitan Region was the winner to participate in the INTERACT-Bio Project: Integrated Action for Biodiversity as a Model Region, alongside Londrina and Belo Horizonte, which will be partners in its implementation, announced the Executive Secretary of ICLEI South America, Rodrigo Perpétuo, last Tuesday (11th) in Campinas.

INTERACT-Bio, funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) through its International Climate Initiative (IKI), will be implemented in Brazil, India and Tanzania. The initiative aims to work with subnational governments in these countries to align their planning with National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs). It will also support metropolitan regions in understanding the potential of nature, especially in relation to providing essential services for the daily lives of cities, while at the same time improving biodiversity conservation, generating new or better economic opportunities.

For selected metropolitan regions, participating in the Project will be an opportunity to promote integrated regional development, drawing attention to the benefits of environmental services. The Campinas Metropolitan Region, selected as a model region, will begin the elaboration of its Integrated Urban Master Plan (PDUI). The region has already initiated a process with the Municipalities within the scope of the “Reconecta RMC” initiative, which has the adhesion of the 20 mayors to connect green areas through ecological corridors. “Campinas feels honoured. I believe that the encouragement and the will we feel to continue the work is redoubled with this recognition from ICLEI for the regional work we are developing,” thanked the Secretary of Environment of Campinas, Rogério Menezes.

The Londrina Metropolitan Region, which will also begin developing its PDUI, sees a great opportunity in working in a coordinated manner with other municipalities in the Region, in order to overcome “political barriers”, according to the Secretary of the Environment of the Paraná city, Roberta Queiroz. “We have factors of conflict to overcome, but we increasingly need to value the remaining forests, which are extremely relevant for the provision of ecosystem services in the region. We need to get everyone to discuss together,” she said. “It will be very important to demonstrate the relevance of these environmental services, whether for climate regulation, water supply, or protection of soil fertility, given that in our region the economic potential is for agricultural production.”.

“We need to stop talking about the environment only within our borders; we need to broaden the conversation to the metropolitan region itself, which is not yet a common practice,” highlighted Sérgio Gomes, Chief of Staff of the Belo Horizonte Environment Secretariat.

Managers recognised opportunities to leverage initiatives already underway in metropolitan municipalities and to establish urban development from a regional perspective. “We have other municipal-level plans with enormous potential to be developed jointly, such as the Mobility Plan, Drainage Plan, and the Atlantic Forest Municipal Plan,” stressed the Secretary of Londrina.

The link between biodiversity conservation and the maintenance of other ecosystem services, such as water supply, has been identified as a significant opportunity that the Project can also provide to metropolitan regions. “Recently, the region suffered from a water crisis, to the point of having to use the dead volume of reservoirs, and this is related to green areas. Therefore, ensuring water security for the development of a region that accounts for a representative share of the National GDP is very important economically and environmentally,” stated Menezes.

One of the main challenges, according to Gomes, will be to integrate the strengths of all stakeholders in the Metropolitan Region. “Not just the governmental area, which is relatively easy, it's a matter of having convergence of interests among the managers, but mainly the other stakeholders, organised civil society, the private sector, and others,” he concluded.

The selected metropolitan regions will receive project support to incorporate biodiversity and ecosystem services into their planning mechanisms. They will also benefit from technical training and the sharing of experiences and practices. “We understand the responsibility entrusted to us to produce content, systematise methods and guidelines, and be able to share them with other metropolitan regions that have registered and are interested in this agenda,” stated Menezes, Secretary of Environment for Campinas.

The call for participation in the Project's implementation was opened to ICLEI Network Members and received more than seven Expressions of Interest from metropolitan regions across Brazil. The results were obtained based on the tabulation of pre-established criteria, applied to the items in the expression of interest form and commitment letters, according to their relevance to the project's implementation.