During the ICLEI World Congress in Montreal, Canada, three leading global organisations launched a unique initiative that recognises and values nature in and around cities worldwide. The global platform CitiesWithNature to engage cities and subnational governments, their communities and experts to connect, share and learn from each other in integrating nature into our cities, in a way that benefits the local economy, quality of life and environmental conservation.
South American cities within the ICLEI Network – such as Quito (Ecuador), Medellín (Colombia), Santa Fe (Argentina), Belo Horizonte (Brazil), Campinas (Brazil), and Londrina (Brazil) – expressed their commitment and interest in the initiative during the Plenary on Nature-Based Solutions at the World Congress.
This new initiative joins existing international programmes and significant experience and expertise from the founding partners – ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). CitiesWithNature is the newest exchange and knowledge-sharing sub-network with thematic focuses, much like others already available to the ICLEI Network – such as the CityFood Platform, on urban food systems, The Ecomobility Alliance, on sustainable transport, and the Global Network of Leading Cities for Sustainable Public Procurement, on sustainable public procurement.
The initiative is open to all cities and sub-national governments, regardless of size or level of progress in their work. Its operation is structured in such a way that participants can decide how involved they wish to be. The more actively they engage and contribute, the more benefits they will receive. There is no fee associated with joining CitiesWithNature. Initially, a commitment, along with the submission of basic information, is all that is required to register and begin participating.
Every city that joins CitiesWithNature will be invited and supported, via an online registration form, to share its policies, plans, commitments, actions, and outcomes related to nature and ecosystem services. This will become a powerful resource for cities to connect, share, learn from, and inspire each other to accelerate action and scale up ambition.
The CitiesWithNature Knowledge and Research Hub will be an online “meeting point” and resource library for professionals, researchers, and other (public and private) experts to engage with and contribute to emerging practices and scientific thinking related to nature in cities, metropolitan areas, and other urban spaces.
The CitiesWithNature Community Hub will be co-created via social media. It will be open and freely available for anyone from any city worldwide to share their experiences, photos, video clips and stories about nature in cities.
For more information and updates, please visit the website www.citieswithnature.org follow me on Twitter @CitiesWNature.
* News adapted from the press release originally published on the ICLEI World Congress 2018 website. Access the original English version.
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