Water should be a priority in the EU policies due to its importance for the economy, environment, and quality of life of the European citizens. ICLEI has created an alliance with 25 cities to prepare a framework for European cities with the objective of achieving a more coherent and thus more effective representation and visibility for water at the EU level. ICLEI aims to achieve this by supporting the implementation of the European Union water policy and the SDGs through sustainable water management at local level.

Local governments are leading the change to an integrated planning approach, in which protected areas are a fundamental component of both urban and rural landscapes. Innovative solutions at the local level are being applied to integrate local protected areas into municipal planning and territorial development strategies, as well as into local management systems. ICLEI is improving the conditions of local governments to conserve biodiversity through the effective and equitable management of protected areas and other area-based conservation measures. The project combines a multi-scale and programmatic approach, focusing on strengthening local level capacities and governance as well as the role of local governments in the effective management of protected areas and other area-based conservation measures within the four countries’ institutional and legal frameworks. Benefits and challenges are disseminated at the local, subnational, national and international level.

Urban Natural Assets for Africa (UNA), implemented from 2014 to present, in eight cities and six countries, seeks to improve human well-being, contribute to poverty alleviation and build climate resilience through integrating nature-based solutions into land use planning. UNA has three flagship projects; Urban Natural Assets for Africa (UNA Africa), Urban Natural Assets for Africa: Rivers for Life (UNA Rivers) and Urban Natural Assets for Africa: Coasts for Life (UNA Coasts). UNA Coasts cities in Mozambique receive support with improved knowledge and understanding of challenges and opportunities within urban coastal zones; using natural assets to offset these challenges and maximise opportunities; the development of a tailor-made coastal natural asset management plan; and identifying opportunities to enhance sustainable livelihoods. UNA Rivers supports cities to mainstream biodiversity and nature-based solutions into land use planning and decision-making processes; increase awareness of ecosystem services; improve co-ordination between key stakeholders; connect with local communities to encourage appreciation of nature and enhance human well-being; and implement community-based projects for restoration and revitalisation along urban rivers.

Through CitiesWithNature (CWN), local and regional governments are able to enhance the potential of nature to provide essential ecosystem services and solutions for the overall health of human habitats and urban areas. Through this platform, cities can engage, connect, learn, share, act, and inspire each other in the way of biodiversity and urban nature. ICLEI enables its local and regional constituency to access and influence global biodiversity processes and provides a one-stop-shop, or “big tent” under which projects, initiatives, and programs aimed at enhancing nature can be celebrated, shared, and promoted. ICLEI develops strategic global partnerships and the ongoing and continuous development of the various components of the CWN platform. CWN is recognized by the SCBD as the official vehicle for local and subnational governments to report their commitments and ambitions for the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.

ICLEI supports the sub-national governments’ initiative on achieving Aichi Biodiversity Targets. Aichi Prefecture called for a group of leading sub-national governments showing significant efforts for achieving the Aichi Targets. The initiative was established during CBD-COP13 in Cancun, Mexico in 2016 and joined by a significant number of sub-national governments. ICLEI supported its launch and is contributing to develop their joint activities toward COP14 and beyond.

The goal of this project is to mainstream biodiversity, nature-based solutions and ecosystem management, seek recognition for these as cross-sectoral tasks and integrated them in subnational Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans and sector plans in three model city-regions. ICLEI launched the four-year INTERACT-Bio project in three Global South countries: Brazil, India and Tanzania. ICLEI is using a co-creation and co-production approach to implement the project activities. Through the project, city-regions will align their planning with their National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans (NBSAPs), which are required by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Through strengthened cooperation between the different levels of government, subnational action in support of the NBSAPs is promoted and enabled. Such collaborative approaches will ultimately support nations to accelerate biodiversity goals.

Using empirical research, ICLEI is developing a framework and tools to assess changes in food-water-energy nexus, their related trade-offs and the building of innovative capabilities in cities for developing innovative solutions to the food, water and energy nexus and manage green and blue infrastructure at the urban level. ICLEI is supporting the development of frameworks and tools that guide urban governance on the food-water-energy nexus, delivering innovative solutions to mitigate climate change and biodiversity loss, while advancing development goals from food security to job creation across cities worldwide. The project assesses the changes in trade-offs of food-water-energy nexus (FWEN) in green and blue infrastructure (GBI) and their association with spatial planning and governance in eight cities using empirical cases. This will provide a better understanding of the barriers that hinder innovative and integrated FWEN approaches using GBI at different scales; and look for the common features of diverse interventions.

The 2019 European Mobility Week (EMW) project guides and aggregates volunteer local action for EcoMobility. This campaign in Korea accelerates sustainable mobiliy actions at the local level by voluntarily setting cities’ plan of weekly activities and permanent policy change. ICLEI’s one week campaign helps local governments to raise citizens’ awareness about sustainable mobility and its effects and linkage with climate change and contribution to sustainable development. Activities within the campaign include the creation of regional forums around sustainable mobility, educational programming, and car-free days for public offices. These activities often draw media attention, which can add to the civic awareness and participation.

ICLEI established a replicable framework that can be used by local governments throughout the country to attribute the observed changes in community GHG emissions inventories. Practitioners within cities and counties are now able to harness data to produce a more accurate depiction in changes to community-scale efficiency, communicate those trends more clearly, and use the data to evaluate the effectiveness of policies and programs. The project components are development of the Contribution Analysis methodology; application of the techniques of Contribution Analysis to a range of community types to illustrate the drivers of change in various communities; production of a “replication toolkit” which clearly describes the steps in the process, provides guidance and templates for additional communities to adopt and take forward; and distrbution of these new resources widely.

This workshop will provide an overview of global trends in environmental disclosure and reporting in 2019 in light of the recent announcement of CDP and ICLEI’s joint unified reporting system. Workshop participants will gain expanded knowledge of global city climate policy and new trends in reporting and measuring environmental impact, an overview of CDP and ICLEI’s unified reporting system, and a comprehensive briefing on the technical changes and guidance on the current questionnaires.