May 21, 2019 – News adapted from the ICLEI Global website.

Implementing nature-based solutions in urban planning helps reduce biodiversity loss in South America.

Launched in May of this year, the scientific report An international report published by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) warned of the serious impacts that will result from the unprecedented rate of biodiversity loss. The report estimates that one million species are threatened with extinction, and at an accelerated pace.

This is the first global assessment of the state of biodiversity since 2005. The “Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services” finds that the current global response is insufficient and that transformative change is needed.

“IPBES7 is the most important report the world needs to be aware of. We thank and salute the scientific community around the world that has worked for so many hours, weeks, months and even years to bring us this report, with a very clear warning,” said Kobie Brand, Global Director of the ICLEI Biodiversity Center.

The report was written by 145 experts – with contributions from over 300 – from 50 countries and took three years to create. It was based on a systematic review of approximately 15,000 scientific and governmental sources, as well as local and indigenous knowledge, and maps the observed changes in biodiversity over the last fifty years, showing the relationship between economic development and impacts on nature.

Sunandan Tiwari, Director of Global Implementation at ICLEI, represented the Network of Local Governments on the Stakeholder Day prior to the 7th Plenary Session of IPBES, where members adopted the report. “Urbanization is one of the main threats to biodiversity; we encourage IPBES members to engage local and regional governments in the second work program,” ICLEI argued in its intervention. The second work program is the next phase of activities to be carried out by the panel of scientists.

The report also presented a collection of actions in urban areas to protect biodiversity. These include implementing nature-based solutions, increasing access to urban services and a healthy urban environment for low-income communities, improving access to green spaces, sustainable production and consumption, and ecological connectivity in urban spaces, particularly with native species, as strategies to bring about the necessary changes.

In South America

More than 401,000 tons of Earth's biodiversity is located on the South American continent, as well as more than a quarter of its forests; the region is also home to the world's largest wetland (Pantanal), one of the most biodiverse biomes, the document highlights.“The State of Biodiversity in Latin America and the Caribbean”, from UNEP. Even with this highlight, the decline in species populations is especially pronounced in the tropics, with South and Central America suffering the most dramatic decline, a loss of 89% compared to 1970, according to the study “Living Planet 2018”, published by WWF last September.

In contrast, giving public spaces other functions, with activities promoting social interaction, culture, and leisure in a sustainable way, has been one of the ways that local governments in the region have invested in including Nature-Based Solutions in urban planning and mitigating this decline in biodiversity. This can be achieved through the reinterpretation of the environment, such as the ecological corridors in Belo Horizonte and the Capibaribe Park in Recife; or through programs that promote safer food, such as community gardens in Rosario and São Paulo, and the Participatory Urban Agriculture Program (AGRUPAR), which increases the income of the workers involved and improves ecosystem functions, in Quito, Ecuador.

Platform for sharing SbN

The new CitiesWithNature platform, founded by ICLEI, TNC, and IUCN, offers a shared space for cities and their partners to engage and connect, working with a shared commitment towards a more sustainable urban world. “It’s a transformative turning point for all cities and city regions – large and small – and their rapidly growing urban communities,” says Kobie Brand, Global Director of ICLEI’s Center for Cities Biodiversity. “If mayors, governors, and their communities commit to planning, living, developing, and thriving in harmony with nature, in and around our cities, collectively we can become the wave of change and inspiration the world needs now.” A new version of the CitiesWithNature online platform launches on May 22nd, World Biodiversity Day.

News adapted from the ICLEI Global website.