A Coruña (Spain) played host to a three-day event, from 16-18 May 2018, on Nature Based Solutions (NBS) and green infrastructure, which brought to light the need for collaborative action to place NBS as a central element of the sustainable urban development agenda in Europe. The event also emphasised the need to upscale NBS across the continent.

The dialogue event, titled “Transforming cities, enhancing wellbeing: innovating with nature-based solutions”, a joint initiative by Connecting Nature and the Think Nature platform, focused on the benefits urban green has for cities and brought together all European projects on NBS funded by the H2020 programme.

ICLEI’s European and World Secretariats participated in the event, with Alice Reil, ICLEI Europe Officer, outlining what projects should keep in mind to make the collaboration between local governments and researchers more successful.

The dialogue also discussed the importance of strengthening the evidence base for NBS, alongside improving the market readiness of innovative solutions. The significance of generating viable business cases for the European market to make NBS ‘business as usual’ was also stressed.

Participants also looked beyond Europe - the EU-Brazil Sector Dialogue discussed the ongoing NBS activities in Brazil and their openness to collaborate to scale up NBS in South America.

A report will be published on the dialogue event and made available during the summer on the Connecting Nature website.

For more information about the Connecting Nature project, click here.