Past events
Third Workshop on the Development of the City Biodiversity Index
The SCBD and the Government of Singapore, represented by its National Parks Board (NParks) hosted the Third Expert Workshop on the Development of the City Biodiversity Index, on 11 - 12 October 2011 in Singapore. The workshop was followed, on 13 October, by a meeting on the City Biodiversity Outlook 1 (CBO I).
The Expert workshop allowed participants to report on their experiences in using the Index and to work together on the finalisation of the tool. The CBO I meeting focussed on the production plan and content development, on the 10 key-messages and on how to integrate the Singapore index in the CBO 1 – synthesis.
The framework of the City Biodiversity Index was formulated by the participants at the First Expert Workshop on the Development of the City Biodiversity Index in February 2009. The Second Expert Workshop was held in July, 2010, where 32 experts on urban biodiversity conservation and planning, as well as representatives from 7 cities worldwide, shared the results of the test-bedding of the Index and discussed the further revision of the indicators. As the result of discussions at the Second Expert Workshop and the following thorough consideration to the revised set of indicators, the revised version of the
User’s Manual for the City Biodiversity Index has been developed.
Second Meeting on the Implementation of the Plan of Action on Sub-National Governments, Cities and Other Local Authorities on Biodiversity 2011-2010. Advisory Committee of Cities and the Global Partnership on Local and Sub-national Action for Biodiversity
The Second Meeting on the Implementation of the Plan of Action on Sub-National Governments, Cities and Other Local Authorities on Biodiversity took place in the Old Town Hall of the City of Bonn, Germany, on 5-6 September 2011. Representatives of the
Advisory Committee on Cities and of the Global Partnership on Local and Sub-national Action for Biodiversity discussed: opportunities for stakeholders to collaborate in the implementation of the Plan of Action; development of monitoring and assessment tools for the Plan, including the City Biodiversity Outlook 1, City Biodiversity Index or Singapore Index, and TEEB Study and Manual for Cities; road map and preparations towards the second summit on local authorities and biodiversity to be held in conjunction with the high level segment of the eleventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties in India in October 2012; outreach and communication, education and public awareness opportunities and examples, as well as decentralized cooperation.
Meeting documents
First Meeting on the Implementation of the Plan of Action on Sub-National Governments, Cities and Other Local Authorities on Biodiversity 2011-2020
The First Meeting on the Implementation of the Plan of Action on Sub-National Governments, Cities and Other Local Authorities on Biodiversity was held in Montpellier, France, on 17-19 January 2011, and was attended by 38 participants representing more than 2,100 cities and regions worldwide, as well as the governments of France, Brazil, Sweden, Portugal, Singapore and South Africa, and international agencies and other partner institutions. Participants were advised on the implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and the Plan of action on Cities, as well as on the preparations towards the second summit on local authorities and biodiversity to be held in conjunction with the high level segment of the eleventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties in India in October 2012, which shall also provide an assessment of the links and opportunities between urbanization and biodiversity (based on the third edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook).
The meeting report is now available on the
meeting's documents webpage. You can also view the meeting's
list of participants, the
Project factsheet provided in the meeting as well as pictures of
speakers and participants and of the
objectives, theme clouds and ideas market.
The presentations made during the meeting are available here:
City Biodiversity Summit 2010
The city summit was held in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan on 24 to 26 October 2010, with participation of more than 600 top executives including 240 mayors, governors, local government officials and heads of relevant organizations. The participants exchanged experiences on local biodiversity management and discussed the CBD plan of action on sub-national and local governments. Their message, adopted as the Aichi/Nagoya Declaration on Local Authorities and Biodiversity at the summit closing plenary, was announced by Mayor Kawamura of Nagoya and Governor Kanda of Aichi Prefecture at the high-level segment of COP 10 on October 28, 2010, to share their commitment of implementing local biodiversity management to prevent the continuation of biodiversity loss and express their support to the adoption and implementation of the CBD plan of action on sub-national and local governments. The city summit declaration is available in
English (original),
French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Chinese, and
Japanese versions. Additionally, you can check the presentations given at the city summit, by clicking
here.
Fore more information on the City Biodiversity Summit 2010, please go to the Aichi-Nagoya COP10 CBD Promotion Committee's
webpage.
Second Expert Workshop on the Development of the City Biodiversity Index (CBI)
The SCBD and the Government of Singapore which is represented by the National Parks Board (NParks) of Singapore, are organizing the Second Expert Workshop on the Development of the City Biodiversity Index, from 1st to 3rd July 2010 in Singapore.
With the successful first workshop held in February 2009 and the subsequent development of
the User’s Manual for the Singapore Index on Cities’ Biodiversity, more than 15 cities worldwide have been testing the index. The representatives from these cities and urban biodiversity experts will gather in Singapore again to review the test results with the view to improve and finalise the indicators of the CBI. Meeting documents are available
here
The workshop is organized in close consultation with the participants of the Global Partnership on Cities and Biodiversity, which is an open platform of cities, city networks, UN agencies and NGOs.
Launching events of the TEEB D2 report on 9 September 2010
On 9 September 2010, events to celebrate the release of TEEB D2 report (for Local administrators) will take place simultaneously in the following 4 cities worldwide: Ghent (Belgium), Curitiba (Brazil), Cape Town (South Africa) and New Delhi (India). A lot of simultaneous launch events and workshops will be held there. More information will follow soon.
TEEB study is a major international initiative to draw attention to the global economic benefits of biodiversity, to highlight the growing costs of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation, and to draw together economics and policy to enable practical actions moving forward. Its D2 report is for local and regional policymakers, administrators and managers. This report will explore and give practical guidance on how to deal with the challenge of biodiversity loss at a local and regional level. It will also examine what local governments can do with respect to natural resource use and management, maintaining and supporting biodiversity, local and regional urban and spatial design, as well as market-based approaches, such as Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES). Fore more information, click
here
European Capitals of Biodiversity
The project "European Capitals of Biodiversity“ honours and highlights the efforts made by European local authorities in protecting biodiversity and providing healthy and livable surroundings for their citizens.The project is lead by Deutsche Umwelthilfe e.V., a German NGO with over 20 years experience in environmental competitions for municipalities. With financial support from the LIFE programme of the European Commission and national ministries, the competitions in the five countries will be implemented by NatureParif (France), Lake Balaton Development Coordination Agency (Hungary), Fundación Biodiversidad (Spain) and the Regional Environmental Center Slovakia. The Countdown 2010 Initiative of IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) and ICLEI–International Training Centre are international partners of the project. The Secretariat of the CBD is part of the Advisory Board of the project.
Click
here to consult the 2nd Monitoring Report to the Advisory Board (reporting period 1st February 2010 until 28th February 2011) which includes the results of the competitions, best practice brochures, details on the capacity-building workshops, Monitoring of Biodiversity Indicators, information on communication of the project, and the way forward-Beyond 2011.
For more information visit the project's main website is
here
Second Curitiba Meeting on Cities and Biodiversity and Celebrations of the Start of International Year of Biodiversity
The Second Curitiba Meeting on Cities and Biodiversity has taken place in Curitiba, Brazil, 6-7 January 2010, followed on 8 January by Celebrations of the start of the
International year of Biodiversity. The meeting on cities and biodiversity was a major milestone for cities and local authorities in their preparations to the City Biodiversity Summit (tentative name) to take place in Nagoya, Japan, 24-26 October 2010. The event was organized in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment of Brazil and the City of Curitiba. For more information, you will find the meeting documents including the complete annotated agenda and report
here, and
as of 27 January 2010 the :
Draft plan of action on cities, local authorities and biodiversity 2011-2020, including a Draft CBD Decision for COP 10 on Cities, Local Authorities and Biodiversity .
In the meeting, the declaration
"Towards Aichi/Nagoya: Second Curitiba Declaration on Local Authorities and Biodiversity" was adopted. The declaration is also available in
Arabic,
Chinese,
French,
Spanish and
Russian.
The presentations made by the participants during the meeting are
here.
IMPORTANT INITIATIVES
The URBIS Partnership by UNESCO- The URBIS Designation process
The URBIS (The Urban Biosphere Initiative) Partnership is a designation process which promotes and recognizes efforts by urban areas to engage in participatory, inclusive, and comprehensive social and ecological approaches in urban planning for sustainability. Through this process, best management practices will be developed and then cataloged for sharing and dissemination as part of a global knowledge network.
Founded in 2003, the development of the URBIS Designation is a work in progress. This designation has evolved from discussions about applying the Man and the Biosphere concept in urban areas to its present status. The URBIS team is currently inviting experts in fields including but not limited to urban ecology, environmental education, and participatory planning to refine and finalize the process. For more information, please see
draft URBIS Partnership Concept Paper and
its poster that succinctly describe and illustrate this designation proposal. The development of this concept has been in the progress, and new versions will be available in due course.
To go to URBIS Partnership webpage, please click
here.
