Urban areas occupy just three per cent of the Earth’s land surface but house more than half of its people. Despite their steel and concrete, crowds and traffic, cities and towns are still ecosystems whose condition profoundly marks the quality of our lives.
Functioning urban ecosystems help clean our air and water, cool urban heat islands, and support our well-being by shielding us from hazards and providing opportunities for rest and play.
However, through a process of rapid and unplanned urbanization, humans keep on transforming the natural world and create new realities. Left unchecked, urbanization has devastating impacts on natural ecosystems, which in turn negatively affect the well-being of urban populations.
As cities grow, they take space from agricultural and industrial lands that then need to expand into other ecosystems. Adopting nature-based solutions at the urban level to protect, conserve and restore these degraded ecosystems, and mainstreaming the landscape scale in urban planning are key to reconnect cities with nature and mitigate the impact of climate change on urban communities.
UNEP, through its Generation Restoration project (2023-25), aims to implement a package of measures to address selected political, technical, financial challenges to promote restoration at scale, particularly in urban areas, as a contribution to the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration and the Global Biodiversity Framework.
The project is supporting 14 cities around the world to implement pilot projects to catalyse ecosystem restoration in urban areas:
- Douala in Cameroun is restoring mangroves and setting up of governance structures with the community to ensure their participation in the restoration and preservation of ecosystems.
- In Senegal, Dakar-Plateau & Thies are creating a greenbelt and blue-green wedges around the metropolitan region, to allow for species movement between protected lands on the city's outskirts.
- Quezon City in Metro Manila, Philippines, is working with local communities and students to identify urban spaces to transform into restoration areas, and designing of ecological corridors, green spaces and pollinator gardens in the city.
- In India, the city of Kochi is undertaking a canal restoration to improve the water quality of the Vembanad Lake ecosystem, for the benefit of people and the entire basin.
- Sirajganj in Bangladesh is renaturing the city’s river coasts through the creation of a green corridor, which will rehabilitate, restore, and enhance biodiversity around the river.
- The Ecuadorian canton of Samborondon is restoring mangroves along the Daule and Babahoyo rivers. This activity will re-introduce local mangrove species, remove invasives, and restore natural habitats.
- The capital Mexico City is strengthening citizen participation in promoting ecological restoration, to help the Government bring nature back into the urban environment.
- The Amazonian city of Manaus in Brazil is promoting agroecology in urban and peri-urban agriculture as a nature-based solution to increase food security and reduce pressure on precious nearby forests.
- Mendoza in Argentina is leading environmental stewardship by restoring native arid ecosystems and empowering local communities by creating dynamic ecological corridors to combat climate change and promote biodiversity.
- Curitiba in Brazil is integrating biodiversity preservation with climate action by protecting natural habitats, enhancing urban green spaces, and implementing sustainable infrastructure solutions to create a resilient and sustainable urban environment.
- In Colombia, Barranquilla's Leon Creek Restoration project aims to improve water quality, promote biodiversity, protect natural resources, and foster community well-being through the preservation and recovery of the once-neglected Leon Creek.
- In Kenya, Kisumu County's project to restore the Auji River aims to improve livelihoods, prevent ecosystem degradation, and promote sustainable farming practices by restoring biodiversity hotspots and collaborating with local communities.
- In South Africa, the city of Overstrand's holistic watershed management approach aims to rehabilitate the Onrus River catchment corridor to safeguard water resources, prevent land degradation, and ensure long-term resilience against climate change.
- Istanbul in Türkiye is strengthening ecological corridors, engaging communities through public participation and volunteer programs, and raising awareness to support pollinators and foster sustainable urban development and ecosystem restoration.
The project is also relying on a growing number of Role Model cities to Strengthen Advocacy and Share Knowledge as Champions of restoration.
Learn more about our Generation Restoration cities.
