Left unchecked, urbanization has devastating impacts on natural ecosystems, which in turn negatively affects the wellbeing of urban populations.
While cities only occupy 3% of the Earth's land surface, as they grow, they take space from agricultural and industrial lands that then expand into other ecosystems. Through the Generation Restoration project, UNEP supports a fourteen pilot cities around the world to catalyze ecosystem restoration in urban areas. Adopting nature-based solutions to protect, conserve and restore degraded ecosystems in urban and peri-urban environments is key to mitigate the impact of climate change and pollution on urban communities, while contributing to global environmental goals.
