Earth Hour 2020 goes digital in solidarity with people and the planet

Dr. Lena Chan, Senior Director, International Biodiversity Conservation Division, National Parks Board of Singapore

Learning from our past experiences, it is clear, that if we want to ensure that the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework will be a success, we must focus on its implementation right from the start.

How do we carry out effective implementation? Due to time constraint, I shall focus on 3 points:

(a) As several of you have articulated, we need to be all inclusive and comprehensive in the implementation process involving all levels. Every individual, local communities, etc. must partake in this journey. The most effective level that has administrative capacity to organise, monitor and report is the city level. This is particularly relevant and appropriate as there are more people living in cities than rural areas. Moreover, there is rich biodiversity in cities.

(b) The second point is that it is crucial that more efforts must be accorded to habitat restoration and enhancement, especially when UN has designated 2021 to 2030 as the Decade of Ecosystem Restoration. Species recovery can only succeed when habitats of these species are restored or enhanced. Connectivity improvement would inevitably strengthen with habitat restoration.

(c) The third point is the importance to carry out quantitative monitoring of biodiversity conservation efforts. If we do not measure, how can we manage more effectively? We should not reinvent the wheel. There are many existing monitoring tools that can be fine-tuned. These well-tested tools can be applied immediately as soon as we finalise the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, instead of developing indicators years after 2020!

In a nutshell, we should be committed to take positive and pragmatic actions immediately on the adoption of the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.

The United Nations World Wildlife Day is a global celebration of the beautiful and richly diverse forms of wild animals and plants on our planet. It is also an occasion to raise awareness of the multitude of benefits they provide to people and to drive discussions and work towards transformative change on the urgent threats facing them.

World Wildlife Day takes place annually on 3 March. This year, World Wildlife Day will be celebrated under the theme of “Sustaining all life on Earth”. The aim is to stress wild animal and plant species as an important component of biodiversity and their importance to people, especially those who live closest to nature and depend on them for their livelihoods. It also underlines the importance of sustainable use of biodiversity in view of reaching the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly Goal 14 (Life Below Water), 15 (Life On Land), 1 (No Poverty), and 12 (Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns). This year’s theme is part of what has been dubbed the ‘biodiversity super year’, which will see several major events placing biodiversity at the center of the global sustainable development agenda throughout 2020.

Wild species of animals and plants are an integral part of the world’s biological diversity, as are genes and ecosystems. The ecosystems where wildlife can be found, such as forests, wetlands, plains, grasslands, coral reefs and deserts, represent another aspect of biological diversity, together with genetic diversity. The vast array of interactions between all of these components over the course of nearly 3.5 billion years is precisely what has made our planet habitable to all species – including our own, which depends entirely on biodiversity for everything from food, energy, material for handicrafts and construction, to the very air we breathe. Unregulated or poorly managed human activities have severely impacted both local and global ecosystems, altering biodiversity and putting the very existence of many species under threat.

According to the 2019 IPBES Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, approximately 25% of species are already threatened with extinction and natural ecosystems have declined by 47% on average. This threatens to heavily impact our sources of food, fuel, medicines, housing and many more.

This year’s World Wildlife Day will thus not only seek to celebrate the vibrant diversity of the biosphere, but also highlight the stakes humankind has in conserving this diversity of life and ensuring its long-term survival through a move towards a more sustainable relationship with it.

Last week, Brazilian cities and states came together to formulate their contributions from the Brazilian perspective on key points related to the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. The event ended with the signing of a strong charter, the Carta de São Paulo, and all state capital cities committing to join CitiesWithNature.

BIO2020 – Brazilian Perspectives for the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, organized by ICLEI South America, the São Paulo State Government, Regions4, Expertise France, CETESB and Fundação Florestal, took place between 4 and 6 February 2020, at the Infrastructure and Environment Secretariat, in São Paulo, Brazil.

The event was attended by more than 200 delegates, including high level delegates such as Governors, Mayors and heads of institutions, representing different Brazilian territories, municipalities, states, metropolitan regions and biosphere reserves, as well as representatives from the private sector, academia and civil society, such as the youth and traditional communities.

BIO2020 was an important milestone on the global roadmap for local and subnational governments contributing to the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. Its aim was to formulate their contributions from the Brazilian perspective on key points related to the Post-2020 Framework.

During the closing plenary the Carta de São Paulo was signed by Marcos Penido, Secretary for Infrastructure and Environment, in the São Paulo State Government. Among other points, the Carta calls for reinforcing multilevel integration in the Post-2020 Framework. It also strongly recommends that Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity revise the Plan of Action on Subnational Governments, Cities and Other Local Authorities for Biodiversity, adopted in Nagoya in 2010, and improve the Action Plan by offering a specific mechanism for the engagement of subnational and local governments. The event and signing of the Carta de São Paulo are significant as they serve to communicate the voice of Brazilian local and subnational governments, on the implications of the Post- 2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, globally.

During the plenary event it was also announced that São Paulo State had signed up to CitiesWithNature, and that the Federal District plus all 26 state capital cities had committed to joining. At the time of the announcement 15 cities had already signed up to CitiesWithNature.

These include:

Niterói (Rio de Janeiro),
Rio Branco (Acre),
Curitiba (Paraná),
Palmas (Tocantins),
Vitória (Espírito Santo),
Fortaleza (Ceará),
Salvador (Bahia),
João Pessoa (Paraíba),
Campo Grande (Mato Grosso do Sul),
Recife (Pernambuco),
Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro),
São Paulo (São Paulo),
Goiânia (Goiás),
Belo Horizonte (Minas Gerais),
Porto Alegre (Rio Grande do Sul).

CitiesWithNature is a unique partnership initiative, founded by ICLEI, IUCN and The Nature Conservancy, that provides an online platform that connects cities and subnational governments, researchers, practitioners, partners, and urban communities to share, learn from and inspire each other.

It serves as a global platform to strengthen collective action to mainstream nature into cities and regions in support of the Post-2020 roadmap process. As such, CitiesWithNature is endorsed by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological as the official engagement platform for cities and subnational governments to share and report on their actions and commitments to the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.

The BIO2020 event was supported by CETESB, the Fundação Florestal, the Reserva da Biosfera da Mata Atlântica, da Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.

We now face a sixth mass extinction, in which an estimated one million species are predicted to disappear. Does it matter? We survived the dodo’s demise and, though tragic, will the imminent extinction of the northern rhino really affect our lives?

In fact, it will. All living things on our planet depend on healthy and diverse ecosystems for air, water, and nutritious food. These same ecosystems regulate the climate and provide the raw materials and resources on which our economies – and lives – depend. The annual global value of natural services each year is estimated to be $125 trillion.

Yet, biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse are among the biggest risks to economic prosperity and global development, according to the World Economic Forum. For many, it is a matter of life or death. For all of us, it is an existential threat as far-reaching, complex, and urgent as climate change.

The world’s failure to meet almost all of its biodiversity goals highlights how we’ve underestimated that threat. Humanity wonders at the natural world but fails to value it. We pollute ecosystems, exploit their resources with abandon, and make them inhospitable. Too often, we fixate on the threatened extinction of iconic species – the polar bears and koalas whose suffering makes headlines – while ignoring the vast range of organisms we may never see, but which are essential to sustaining the habitats that support and shelter all life, including us.

The most endangered ecosystems are wetlands, including freshwater rivers, lakes, paddies, marshes and peatlands, and saltwater estuaries, mangroves, coral reefs, seagrass beds, and lagoons. We have lost 87% of our wetlands in the past 300 years, and 35% since 1970. Today, they are disappearing faster than any other ecosystem – three times faster than even forests. As they vanish, so does the life within them. More than 25% of wetland plants and animals – which comprise up to 40% of all the world’s species – are at risk of extinction, and stocks of other remaining species are declining rapidly.

As the CitiesWithNature platform continues to grow, we encourage many more cities to join this global initiative aimed at protecting and enhancing nature, and building resilience in cities across the world.  

CitiesWithNature is a global platform for cities and other subnational governments, their communities and experts to connect, share and learn from each other in mainstreaming nature into our cities in ways that benefit both people and nature.

“I am delighted to see the growing interest of cities in urban biodiversity, an issue that plays a crucial role for resilient cities and the well-being of their citizens,” said Mayor Valérie Plante of the City of Montréal & ICLEI’s Global Ambassador for Local Biodiversity.

The first CitiesWithNature pathway, called the Nature Pathway, has been designed to guide cities through a series of twenty-seven steps, each dealing with a milestone in the process of mainstreaming nature and implementing nature-based solutions. It is based on an established methodology which has been refined and tested by ICLEI and others over many years. Through the pathway, cities are able to share their policies, plans, commitments, actions and results related to nature, and access a wide variety of practical resources and innovative tools, projects, services and information offered by leading global organizations and experts.

Recently, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) released a report that estimated that one million species are threatened with extinction and that extinction rates are only accelerating. The report found that the current global response is insufficient and transformative change is urgently needed.

Many cities are embracing their role as catalysts for this much-needed transformative change, and are sharing and showcasing their work through the CitiesWithNature platform.

London, who joined as the 100^th Pioneer City, is providing a leading example of concrete action towards conserving, restoring and living in harmony with nature in our cities:

• Through his work to make London a National Park City, Mayor Khan has engaged public agencies, businesses, and Londoners to join the efforts to green the city, while funding programmes through his £12million ($15.4million) Greener City Fund. So far, these programmes have resulted in the planting of over 175,000 trees and 200 green spaces being improved, covering 175 hectares across London, with more to come.
• Mayor Khan’s London Plan (due to be published in 2020) includes an ‘Urban Greening Factor’, which will require developers to include ‘urban greening measures’ in new building developments. They will be encouraged to include interventions such as street trees, green roofs, green walls, and rain gardens as integral parts of the design.
• The Urban Greening Factor approach will be aided by London’s Green Infrastructure Focus Map. A tool which help’s decision-makers identify where green infrastructure improvements and investments might be best targeted, and what kind of interventions might be most useful for the needs of a specific area.
• Through his Natural Capital Account, Mayor Khan has also identified the true economic value of London’s green spaces. This is informing and improving decision-making by framing public green spaces as economic assets, highlighting the range and value of the societal benefits they provide.

Keep up with what London is doing and sharing by viewing their city profile on CitiesWithNature, which is a summary of the city’s commitment and work in this area, and a celebration of its natural assets.

On World Cities Day, Dar es Salaam, another leading Pioneer City of the CitiesWithNature initiative, continues to demonstrate its commitment to protecting and mainstreaming nature through the development and launch of the Thematic Atlas of Nature’s Benefits to Dar es Salaam.

The Atlas comprises a collection of maps that showcase the city’s natural assets, their importance for the local economy and the wellbeing of its people. Produced as part of the INTERACT-Bio project, it will help urban planners make informed decisions. The Atlas highlights the social benefits of green open space and vegetated areas in the City. Each ‘theme’ in the atlas represents an urban challenge, such as rising urban heat, air pollution or flooding, and how urban nature can address these issues. An accompanying illustrated poster provides a beautiful snapshot of the city’s natural assets

CitiesWithNature was developed out of a need by cities and has a long history, building on previous international programs. The Partnership Initiative was founded by ICLEI, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), along with supporting bodies such as the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (SCBD) and a range of other global partners.

The platform has also been endorsed by the SCBD as the official vehicle through which cities and subnational governments can share and report on their biodiversity commitments and ambitions towards the Action Agenda for Nature and People and in shaping the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.

CitiesWithNature is open to all cities and subnational governments, regardless of size or level of progress in working with nature. It is structured in such a way that cities can decide how involved they want 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 some basic information, is all that is needed to register and start participating.

To join London, Dar es Salaam and many other leading cities on this journey, please visit https://www.citieswithnature.org/join/ and follow CitiesWithNature on Twitter @CitiesWNature.

Washington, D.C. (August 19, 2019) – Today, ICLEI–Local Governments for Sustainability USA (ICLEI) unveiled new guidance that enables U.S. cities and counties to include forests and trees within their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions accounting, a key activity to ensure representation of local forestry and land use consideration in climate action planning. Developed in partnership with the Woods Hole Research Center and World Resources Institute (WRI), and funded by Climate and Land Use Alliance (CLUA) and Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Forest and Land Use Appendix to ICLEI’s U.S. Community Protocol for Accounting and Reporting of Greenhouse Gas Emissions will help fill a critical gap in enabling communities to develop climate action related to land management at a local level.

Forests and trees sequester about a third of the greenhouse gas emissions that humans emit every year; however, a study conducted by ICLEI showed that 60 percent of U.S. community respondents did not include forests or trees in their greenhouse gas inventories due to a lack of guidance on how to do so.

“Failing to include forest and trees within U.S. climate action plans — which serve as such a critical component to meeting global climate mitigation goals — simply due to lack of available guidance was a huge missed opportunity,” said Angie Fyfe, Executive Director, ICLEI USA. “The U.S. has some of the best data on land use, we couldn’t let limited expertise on how to put these numbers together be the cause for inaction.”

More than 3,500 people have downloaded The U.S. Community Protocol since 2012. The Forest and Land Use Appendix of the Protocol provides, for the first time, guidance to U.S. communities for estimating the emissions and removals from forests. The Appendix also considers “trees outside forests”, including urban trees and trees in croplands, which are often overlooked in national assessments.

The protocol was piloted with Montgomery County, Maryland; Los Angeles County, California; and Whatcom County, Washington; representing the dramatic spectrum of climate and land cover across the country.

“Montgomery County jumped at the opportunity to explore the sequestration benefits associated with trees and forests,” said Marc Elrich, County Executive, Montgomery County, Maryland. “Given our aggressive GHG reduction goals of 80 percent by 2027 and carbon neutrality by 2035, increased sequestration must be in the mix of strategies we employ. The new protocol also has prompted us to think more deeply about natural climate solutions ranging from reducing the heat-island effect to increasing sequestration in the agricultural sector.”

“The protocol provides a baseline for communities to start acknowledging the climate benefits that come from leaving forests and trees standing, increasing tree canopy cover in cities and incorporating trees into agricultural landscapes,” said Nancy Harris, Forest Program Research Manager at World Resources Institute and co-author of the protocol. “Having this guidance at a sub-state level is critical, given most decisions around land use are made at a very local scale.”

ICLEI USA has revised its ClearPath GHG emissions management software tool with new calculators that will allow communities to develop GHG inventories with land use in mind from the outset and is encouraging its member communities to see the new guidance to consider how forests and trees can be integrated into climate action plans.

Download the U.S. Community Protocol for Accounting and Reporting of Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Mayor Valérie Plante of the City of Montréal will take up the role of ICLEI’s Global Ambassador for Local Biodiversity. The position will shine a spotlight on the role of cities to address the biodiversity extinction crisis and advocate for the protection of nature and biodiversity by local governments.

In May, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) released a report that estimated that globally one million species are threatened with extinction today and that extinction rates are accelerating.

With half of the global population living in cities and rapid urbanization exerting pressure on fresh water supplies and the living environment, cities and urban communities have a critical role to play in addressing the biodiversity extinction crisis.

Newly appointed ICLEI Global Ambassador for Local Biodiversity, Mayor Plante is calling on Mayors around the world to join her in igniting a global wave of action in cities, towns and regions to plan with, conserve and restore nature.

“Now is the time for urgent action. Nature underpins our very existence and livelihoods and is integral to the effective functioning and well-being of urban communities,” said Mayor Plante.

The 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP) for the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) will take place next year in China where national governments will set the course for multilateral action on nature and biodiversity. “Collective action at the local level is our best hope for seeing the change needed at a global scale. It is crucial that the voices of urban communities are heard in the negotiations on a new deal for nature” continued Mayor Plante.

Redefining nature in cities is more critical than ever. CitiesWithNature – a rapidly growing global partnership initiative founded by ICLEI, the IUCN, and The Nature Conservancy with support from a variety of other partners such as World Urban Parks, the Biophilic Cities Network, WWF and others– offers a platform for cities and regions to connect, learn, act and inspire one another to design, plan and work with nature while making commitments and taking local action to protect nature.

CitiesWithNature is endorsed by the Secretariat on the Convention on Biological Diversity (SCBD) as the official platform for cities and subnational governments to share and report on their ambitions and commitments to the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.

More than 70 cities from around the world including Melbourne, London, Manchester, Bonn, Kochi, Dar es Salaam, Cape Town, Barcelona, Fort Collins, and Londrina have already joined CitiesWithNature and are committed to embark on this ambitious journey alongside Mayor Plante.