Following a stringent selection process, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has officially selected 19 cities to join the Generation Restoration project.
The restoration projects will contribute to filling the gap in Urban Ecosystems under the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration to achieve the Paris Agreement and the Global Biodiversity Framework.
Eight of the cities will implement pilot projects for ecosystem restoration in urban areas with financial support from UNEP and technical assistance from ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, while 11 cities and mayors will act as restoration champions given their successful track-records in implementing nature-based solutions (NbS).
Urban areas occupy less than one per cent of the Earth’s land surface but house more than half its people. Yet, left unchecked, urbanization has devastating impacts on natural ecosystems, well beyond their geographic footprint and negatively affects the well-being of urban populations and their prospective resilience to climate impacts.
Adopting NbS at the urban level to protect, conserve and restore these degraded ecosystems, and mainstreaming greenery in urban planning is key to reconnecting cities with nature and mitigating the impact of climate change on urban communities.
“Embracing greener urban landscapes is a commitment to a more sustainable and resilient future for both citizens and the urban areas they occupy,” said Mirey Atallah, Head, Nature for Climate Branch, Ecosystems Division, UNEP. “Generation Restoration is the beacon guiding cities towards harmony with nature. A number of model cities have demonstrated this. Resilient, thriving societies that coexist with the environment need to become the norm for a chance to achieve our collective targets,” she added.
Of the 250 applications from all over the world, Generation Restoration selected eight cities that will each receive grants of up to US$100,000 for restoration work and to promote urban NbS.
- Douala in Cameroon will restore mangroves and set up governance structures with local communities to ensure their participation in the restoration and preservation of ecosystems.
- In Senegal, Dakar-Plateau and Thies will create a greenbelt and blue-green wedges around the metropolitan region to allow for species’ movement between protected areas in the city's outskirts.
- Quezon City in Metro Manila, Philippines, will work with local communities and students to identify urban spaces in need of restoration, transform them, and design ecological corridors, green spaces and pollinator gardens.
- In India, the city of Kochi will undertake canal restoration to improve the water quality of the Vembanad Lake ecosystem, for the benefit of people and the entire basin.
- Sirajganj in Bangladesh will renature the city’s riverbanks by creating a green corridor that will rehabilitate, restore and enhance biodiversity around the river.
- The Ecuadorian canton of Samborondon will restore mangroves along the Daule and Babahoyo rivers. This activity will re-introduce local mangrove species, remove invasives, and restore natural habitats.
- Mexico City will strengthen citizen participation in promoting ecological restoration to help bring nature back into the urban environment.
- The Amazonian city of Manaus in Brazil will promote agroecology in urban and peri-urban areas to increase food security and reduce pressure on precious nearby forests.
“The city of Manaus is at the heart of the world’s largest rainforest and, like many other developing cities, faces several challenges brought about by urban growth and, for this reason, the chance to carry out a project to restore urban ecosystems in partnership with UNEP is a landmark for improving some of the city's sanitation issues, boosting tree-planting to connect urban forest fragments and protect endangered endemic species, as well as preparing the city to tackle climate change”, said Mr. Pereira de Almeida, Mayor of the City of Manaus, Brazil.
These pilot cities will be followed and supported at every step of the way by Generation Restoration’s Champions of restoration: 11 Role Model cities across the globe, which are already leaders in preserving and enhancing natural ecosystems.
These Champions are Cape Town in South Africa, Iloilo in the Philippines, Kanawaza in Japan, Yangzhou in China, Curitiba in Brazil, Barranquilla in Colombia, Toronto in Canada, Seattle in the USA, Glasgow in Scotland, Istanbul in Türkiye and Paris in France.
These cities are at the front line of the socioeconomic impacts of climate change and ecosystem loss and have already taken ambitious action to protect and restore nature. They have shown that with adequate financing, planning and collaboration, restoring nature within cities is possible, and can lead to improvements in the quality of life, including mental health.
"Following the concept of green development, Yangzhou City practiced ecosystem conservation and restoration, cultivated ecological industries, constructed park-city, advocated low-carbon lifestyle, and strived to achieve a win-win situation among ecological, economic and social benefits”, said Mr. Guoqiang Pan, Major of Yangzhou City, China.
Notes to Editors
About the Generation Restoration project
UNEP’s Generation Restoration project will run for three years, from 2023 until 2025, and aims to implement a package of measures to address selected political, technical and financial challenges to promote restoration at scale, particularly in urban areas.
This project focuses on two main components:
- Encourage and advocate in favour of public and private investment in ecosystem restoration and decent work creation through Nature-based Solutions (NbS).
- Empower city stakeholders (governments, private sector, CBOs/NGOs at all levels) across the globe to replicate and upscale ecosystem restoration initiatives.
This project is financed by the Federal German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by UNEP with the support of and in coordination with the UN Decade Secretariat and ICLEI’s Global Biodiversity Center.
About the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration
The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030) is a rallying call for the protection and revival of ecosystems all around the world, for the benefit of people and nature. Co-led by UNEP and FAO, the Decade aims to halt the degradation of ecosystems and restore them to achieve global goals. It ends in 2030, the deadline for the SDGs and the timeline scientists identified as the last chance to prevent catastrophic climate change.
For more information, please contact:
Sharon Gil, Programme Management Officer, Cities Unit, UNEP, at sharon.gil@un.org and
Irene Fagotto, Project Manager, Generation Restoration, UNEP, at irene.fagotto@un.org
