Overview

Local authorities represent the level of government closest to people thus their involvement in the implementation of the Convention and its 2010 target is of crucial importance. As land-use planners, policy-makers, and developers and managers of local infrastructure, they have a critical role to play in promoting sustainable development and its biodiversity components. As community leaders, they have a responsibility to raise public awareness about the importance of biodiversity. In addition, actions at the local level can have direct results that can convince others of the need to get involved, while sending a message to higher levels of governments.

Local authorities and COP decisions

The Convention’s comprehensive and integrated approach to biodiversity conservation and management acts as a framework within which Parties can define national policies, which are subsequently implemented at the national, regional and local level. It also acts as a framework within which local authorities can define local policies and regulations. Guiding for these policies lies notably in COP decisions. For example, decision V/6 presents the adopted Description, Principles, and Operational Guidelines for the Ecosystem Approach, a powerful tool for landscape-level planning. These elements were developed further in decision VII/11. At COP 9 in Bonn, Germany in May 2008, the Parties discussed the role of local authorities in the implementation of the Convention and for the first time ever adopted a decision on cities and biodiversity, Decision IX/28. This decision encourages the 191 Parties to the Convention to recognize the role of cities in national strategies and plans, and invites Parties to support and assist cities in implementing the Convention at local level.

Click here to view all COP decisions.

Share your experience

If you wish to share your unique experience regarding the implementation of the Convention, thus participating in the exchange of best practices and awareness raising of biodiversity issues, we invite you to send us a case study, which will be included on the Secretariat's website. We encourage you to look at the CASE STUDIES subsection to become familiar with the themes and the procedure for the submission of case studies.

Cities are celebrating IBD!

The United Nations proclaimed May 22 The International Day for Biological Diversity (IBD) to increase understanding and awareness of biodiversity issues. Every year, country Parties and their partners all over the world are taking part in IBD celebrations, including local governments.

2008's theme for the International Day for Biological Diversity, “Biodiversity and Agriculture”, seeks to highlight the importance of sustainable agriculture not only to preserve biodiversity, but also to ensure that we will be able to feed the world, maintain agricultural livelihoods, and enhance human well being into the 21st century and beyond. Bonn, amongst other cities, was the host of IDB celebrations during COP9.

In 2008, Curitiba launched the IBD celebrations under the Green Wave movement! For more information, click here!

In 2007, the following cities organized activities to commemorate the theme: "Biodiversity and Climate Change".

• Cape Town (South Africa)
• Kulyab City (Tajikistan)
• Mexico City (Mexico)
• Montreal (Canada)
• Nagoya (Japan)

Ideas for action

We invite you to consult the documents below.

Decision IX/28 on cities and biodiversity. This decision encourages the 191 Parties to the Convention to recognize the role of cities in national strategies and plans, and invites Parties to support and assist cities in implementing the Convention at local level.

Curitiba Declaration on Cities and Biodiversity- English, French and Spanish: This declaration was adopted by 70 participants at the end of the meeting on "Cities and Biodiversity: Achieving the 2010 Biodiversity Target"

Bonn Call for action of the Mayors Conference. Local governments stand for the well-being and the will of half of the world’s population. They offer their experience and their influence to strengthen and promote mplementation of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity within a global and multilevel partnership.

Areas of Collaboration: This document comprises the ideas that emerged from the discussions in Working Groups during the meeting on "Cities and Biodiversity: Achieving the 2010 Biodiversity Target".

Interesting events

You are invited to consult the CALENDAR OF EVENTS to learn more about interesting events which relate to the involvement of local authorities in the implementation of the CBD.

Upcoming events:

• IUCN World Conservation Congress 5-14 October 2008 Barcelona, Spain. Alliances workshop on Local and regional governments authorities in addition to the Sustainability Dialogue dedicated to the issue of local action.

• The Fourth session of the World Urban Forum, happened in Nanjing, China, in October 13-17, 2008, and is being organized around the theme “Harmonious Urbanization”. The forum is meant to examine one of the most pressing issues facing the world today: rapid urbanization and its impact on communities, cities, economies and policies. It is a biennial meeting open to a wide range of partners - from non-governmental organizations, community-based organizations, urban professionals, academics, to governments, local authorities and national and international associations of local governments - providing them with a common platform to discuss urban issues in formal and informal ways and come up with action-oriented proposals to create sustainable cities.

• City Biodiversity Index, Expert Workshop, Singapore, 2-3 February 2009. The “City Biodiversity Index” will assist cities in the benchmarking of cities'biodiversity conservation efforts over time. More information will be available on this site soon.

• Plan of Action on Cities and Biodiversity Workshop, Curitiba, 30-31 March 2009. The workshop aims to develop a Plan of Action on Cities and Biodiversity to be presented at COP10.

• UNEP Governing Council, May 2009

• UN-Habitat Governing Council, May 2009

• International Green Building/Green Cities Expo June 18-20 2009, China

• The World Expo 2010, which will take place in Shanghai, China, from May 1st to October 31st, 2010. Through out the long history of World Expositions, they have been sources of inspiration and innovation. Since the “Great Exhibition of Industries of All Nations, which was held in the “Crystal Palace” in London in 1851, World Expositions are platforms of economic, scientific, technological and cultural exchange, as they display historical experience and future possibilities. Expo Shanghai 2010 is being organized under the theme “Better City, Better Life” to celebrate the city as a crystallization of human civilization, and it will count with the contribution of 158 participants worldwide, including the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (SCBD).

Recent events:

• UN Officials Mark World Habitat Day Urging that Urbanization Should Not Come at Expense of Environment. 6 October 2008: Top UN officials marked World Habitat Day by drawing attention to the need to raise awareness of the problems of rapid urbanization, its impact on the environment and the challenges of rising urban poverty. The UN has designated the first Monday in October each year as World Habitat Day, to reflect on the state of towns and cities and the basic right to adequate shelter for all. This year, Luanda, Angola, led the observance of the celebration, which focused on the theme “Harmonious Cities.” Anna Tibaijuka, Executive Director, UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT), noted that “climate change is coming to the forefront of international debate at the same time, and at virtually the same pace, as the world becomes urbanized.” Underlining the amount of energy consumed and the greenhouse gases released by cities, she stressed the need for cities to be an integral part of any mitigation efforts. She added that reducing the carbon footprint of cities and increasing their resilience will also improve the living conditions of urban populations, including the most vulnerable. She emphasized the interlinkages between climate change and urban poverty and called for combining adaptation and mitigation efforts with improved land-use planning, more robust infrastructure and smarter construction. Also on the occasion, Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), underscored the role played by cities and local authorities in designing and implementing land-use and zoning planning tools, urban development and infrastructure guidelines, investment promotion, and consumer awareness campaigns. He added that these tools and measures have direct effects on biodiversity, and in particular on, inter alia, water, climate change, protected areas, agriculture and forests, and marine and coastal biodiversity. He explained that the CBD, in partnership with the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation and the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, launched The Green Wave, a global campaign aiming to educate children and youth on biodiversity and the need to reduce its loss and to enable young people to make a tangible contribution towards both biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation.* UN Press Release * Anna Tibaijuka’s speech * Ahmed Djoghlaf’s message

• The second LAB Workshop will be held from 8 – 10 September 2008 in Durban. As with the previous LAB workshop, 2 representatives (one of which the city mayor) from each LAB city were invited to attend and engage in 3 days of workshop sessions, discussions and site visits in the area. The LAB city mayors signed the Durban Commitment at this event.

• The World Cities Summit 2008: Liveable and Vibrant Cities, which will happened in Singapore, June 23-25, 2008, and was jointly organized by the Singapore Civil Service College, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and Ministry of National Development. Other partners are The World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Some of the questions addressed during the event were: How should we address the challenges of a rapidly urbanizing landscape? What are the strategies to balance economic progress and liveability of cities? How can cities develop both the hardware and software to succeed? Thus, it covered issues related to excellent urban infrastructure, clean environment, good quality of life and economic competitiveness.

• The Mayors Conference, held in Bonn, Germany, from May 26 to 29, 2008, and was co-organized by the City of Bonn, InWent and Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI). This conference welcomed leaders of local governments from all parts of the world that have committed themselves to protect biodiversity.

• The Erfurt Conference on Urban Biodiversity and Design: Implementing the Convention on Biological Diversity in towns and cities (Third Conference of the Competence Network Urban Ecology- CONTUREC), held in Erfurt, Germany, from May 21st to 24th, 2008. The conference reviewed for the first time in a global context current scientific and practical approaches of implementing the Convention on Biological Diversity in urban areas. It was intended to professionals of all disciplines involved in research, planning, design and management of the green urban environment including biologists, ecologists, landscape architects and planners, horticulturists, urban designers and local government administrators. The conference supported the Curitiba Declaration 2007 on “Cities and Biodiversity” and discussed ways of taking forward “Local Action for Biodiversity (LAB)” in urban areas. Both, Dr. Ahmed Djoghlaf – the Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity - and Dr. Herbert Sukopp – the Honorary President of the CONTUREC – are the patrons of the Erfurt Conference.

• Resilience 2008 - Resilience, Adaptation and Transformation in Turbulent Times (International Science and Policy Conference), held in Stockholm, Sweden, April 24-17, 2008. It was organized by the Resilience Alliance: Research on resilience in social-ecological systems, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and the International Council for Science (ICSU). The aim of “Resilience 2008” was to bring together scientists to present, discuss, and summarize the current understanding of resilience, adaptability and pathways of transformation in complex and interrelated social-ecological system.