In celebration of International Day for Biological Diversity, CitiesWithNature – a global knowledge sharing platform launched by ICLEI, IUCN and The Nature Conservancy – has a new tool to help integrate nature into cities. The Nature Pathway on CitiesWithNature is a collection of guidance, tools and inspirational examples that help local and regional governments to share their work on nature and learn about best practices and tools.

The Nature Pathway guides cities on a journey of exploration and inspiration, where they can share with and learn from other cities. Along this journey, cities can show their commitments and ambitions towards incorporating nature’s benefits and nature-based solutions into city policy, planning and decision-making processes and implementation.

Local leaders are already stepping up. Ashok Sridharan, Mayor of ICLEI Member Bonn (Germany) and President of ICLEI is encouraging local leaders to join the movement: “The scientific evidence on the biodiversity crisis is alarming and taking action is an imperative. Local and regional governments understand best how biodiversity in our cities protects lives and livelihoods. They can and should play a major role in protecting and restoring our natural world. The CitiesWithNature platform provides the strongest way forward for cities to change our current trajectory, and that‘s why I’m asking my fellow city leaders to join the city of Bonn in becoming a part of CitiesWithNature.”

The CitiesWithNature online platform has been endorsed by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (SCBD) as the official mechanism to coordinate local and subnational ambitions and commitments towards global efforts in halting biodiversity loss and protecting our natural world.

CitiesWithNature also hosts UrbanByNature – a global capacity-building and expertise-sharing programme to empower local governments to harness the potential of nature for sustainable urban development – organised by ICLEI Europe and supported by the Connecting Nature project. The first phase of the programme has recently launched, and focuses on connecting Brazilian and European cities. After the first phase, cities in China, South Korea, and the Caucasus will participate in locally-tailored activities. The kick-off webinar is available to watch back in English and Portuguese, and more events are open for registration.

To stay updated, register to the UrbanByNature Programme.

For more information on CitiesByNature, click here.