Realising the urban opportunity: Cities and the post-2020 Biodiversity Governance

Resource type: 
Policy
EU project stamp: 
No
Main entity: 
PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency
Type of entity: 
Government
Key themes: 
Cities
Governance
Societal challenges: 
New Economic Opportunities & Green Jobs and Participatory Planning and Governance
Social Justice and Social Cohesion
Scope: 
Europe
Focus: 
Netherlands
Description: 

When it comes to ensuring a new deal for nature and people, cities have much to offer. Urban development and urban life are crucial in determining the nature and extent of biodiversity loss as well as shaping how the majority of the world’s population lives with nature. By restoring, conserving and thriving with nature, cities also have much to gain — from addressing climate change to improving the health and well-being of their communities. In 2021, negotiations in the context of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) will resume to decide on biodiversity action over the next decade at the 15th Conference of the Parties to the CBD, in Kunming (China). Now is the critical moment to seize the opportunity for embedding an urban perspective throughout the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.

This policy brief combines research by partners in the Horizon 2020 Sustainable Cities and Communities Programme NATURVATION project, led by Durham University (UK), as well as PBL research on the CBD post-2020 framework. It is part of a series of policy briefs in which PBL explores the potential of the Action Agenda for non-state action as one of the potential pillars of the post-2020 GBF. Earlier policy briefs explore the Opportunities for the Action Agenda for Nature and People and the role of business towards net positive impacts for biodiversity.

Date: 
2021
Language: 
EN