Metropolitan areas phone for amplified expenditure to halt and reverse character decline

Montreal, 10 December 2022 – As the most significant biodiversity meeting in a decade kicked off in Montreal, mayors from 15 towns around the planet called for amplified immediate financing to let metropolitan areas to carry out bold greening and ecosystem restoration tasks.

With the world suffering from a decrease in mother nature at charges unparalleled in human record – and the most significant reduction of animal and plant species since the dinosaurs – metropolitan areas can engage in an critical purpose to deal with biodiversity decline.

“Cities have to be part of the remedy to the biodiversity disaster,” reported Sheila Aggarwal-Khan, Director of UNEP’s Economy Division. “We hope mayors’ get in touch with for amplified, immediate expense will not tumble on deaf ears so that they can unleash the electric power of mother nature in towns.”

Metropolitan areas are on the front line of the socio-financial impacts of climate modify and ecosystem loss, and by now getting formidable motion to protect and restore character.

“Cities all around the earth, like Barranquilla, are acting decidedly to safeguard their ecosystems, tackle the impacts of local weather improve, and improve the properly-getting of their citizens nevertheless, much more companions and means will be wanted to successfully scale financing nature in cities” said Jaime Pumarejo Heins, Mayor of Barranquilla, Colombia. “Today, we make a contact for increased funding for towns to get motion on mother nature. Let us do the job with each other, global local community and area authorities, hand-in-hand, to take this message forward to Davos subsequent month and unleash the electrical power of nature in cities and meet up with global biodiversity and sustainability aims.”

According to UNEP’s 2022 Condition of Finance for Mother nature, present finance flows to mother nature-centered alternatives must double by 2025 and triple by 2030 to halt biodiversity reduction, restrict climate improve to under 1.5 ˚C and obtain land degradation neutrality, and resilience to local weather impacts this kind of as heatwaves and flooding. These investments should really assist restoration endeavours by sub-nationwide governments.

“Investment in Character is the only way forward for creating climate resilient sustainable cities” commented Barrister Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh, Mayor, Dhaka South Metropolis Company in Bangladesh.

The contact at the 15th meeting of the United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP15) came from the Mayors of Athens, Austin, Barranquilla, Dhaka-South, Freetown, Kampala, Kigali, Quezon Town, Melbourne, Miami-Dade, Monterrey, Montreal, Paris, São Paulo and the Secretary of the Surroundings of the Governing administration of Mexico City.

It was backed by the UN Atmosphere Programme, ICLEI, C40, World Economic Discussion board, International Surroundings Facility, Local climate Coverage Initiative’s CCFLA, and the University of Pennsylvania.

The mayors known as on the finance group and national governments for reform of financial infrastructure and greater direct collaboration with the personal sector. This would equip cities to fund mother nature-based remedies, these types of as forests, eco-friendly belts, water streams, and parks in and all-around city areas.

Up right until now, funding for character infrastructure solutions has gone to national governments, which then distributes it to towns and areas.

Responding to the phone from Mayors, UNEP and associates introduced a new project to guidance metropolitan areas in using motion for character and add to the UN Ten years on Ecosystem Restoration. This challenge, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Financial Cooperation and Advancement, will run for a few many years (2023-2025) to inform, encourage, and help plan makers, practitioners, firms, and finance institutions to advertise ecosystem restoration in metropolitan areas.

NOTES TO EDITORS

Extra quotes

“It is critical that all amounts of authorities take urgent motion to mitigate local weather modify and to secure our setting. Below at the Metropolis of Melbourne we are very pleased and protecting of our biodiversity. We are investing $1 million per year to generate and enhance habitat for biodiversity, and reintroducing locally extinct species. We have a wide tree population, with 80,000 council-owned trees, worthy of more than $800 million. Our City Forest Fund accelerates greening throughout the town by giving matched financial support to new personal greening jobs, which includes green spaces, tree planting and biodiversity tasks. This also plays a vital function in cutting down the results of intense warmth in our city.” Sally Capp, Lord Mayor of Melbourne, Australia

“Communities all-around the entire world have a crucial function to participate in in reversing the impacts of weather alter. Miami-Dade County is fully commited to protecting our surroundings by way of mother nature-primarily based remedies. In the previous yr, we have planted 11,000 trees and dispersed 10,000 a lot more to inhabitants, and we have allocated $4.5 million for enhanced canopy protect, reforestation, and climate modify adaptation efforts. The county has also procured above 390 acres of wetlands, encouraging to mitigate the impacts of sea degree increase by absorbing floodwaters, cooling nearby ‘heat islands,’ and absorbing and storing the carbon air pollution that drives local climate modify. Each and every one stage we get would make a large variance.” Daniella Levine Cava, Mayor of Miami-Dade County, Florida, US

“We urgently need to have to reinvent metropolitan areas as a area for effectively-remaining, wealthy urban biodiversity, and weather resilience. For that reason, we are happy to be partnering with UNEP for the coming three several years to catalyze restoration and mother nature-centered methods in finance, employment and urban arranging and assist metropolitan areas to become champions of urban biodiversity and resilience in healthful social and planetary boundaries.“ Heike Henn, Director for Local climate, Vitality and Setting, Federal Ministry for Financial Cooperation and Enhancement (BMZ), Germany

“Cities are at the front line of using transformative and progressive motion for biodiversity, yet they do not have direct entry to proper finance instruments. Even with the obvious benefits, towns currently make investments significantly less than .3% of their infrastructure paying out on mother nature-dependent answers, which is equal to about $28 billion. The world-wide CitiesWithNature and RegionsWithNature initiatives offer important platforms for connecting and showcasing modern answers, but we need to have the finance and private sectors to just take hands with government to aid a shift toward a far more enabling ecosystem for expense in nature-based remedies, and to make it less complicated to entry investment decision at scale in towns.” Kobie Manufacturer, Deputy Secretary General of ICLEI, Worldwide Director of ICLEI’s Cities Biodiversity Centre

“Ecosystem restoration and mother nature-based mostly options are essential for metropolitan areas to address problems connected to climate change, biodiversity loss and human wellness. The Mayors’ Call is a testimony of political determination by metropolitan areas to act and develop into hubs for innovative, transformative remedies. The World wide Setting Facility is delighted to collaborate with cities globally to progress integrated ways that set mother nature at the core of sustainable urban expansion.” Aloke Barnwal, Coordinator – Sustainable Towns, World-wide Natural environment Facility (GEF)

NOTES TO EDITORS

About the UN Atmosphere Programme

The UN Setting Programme is the primary global voice on the setting. It delivers management and encourages partnership in caring for the setting by inspiring, informing and enabling nations and peoples to enhance their top quality of existence devoid of compromising that of potential generations.

For more facts, please make contact with:

Moses Osani, Media Officer, UN Environment Programme
Sophie Loran, Conversation Officer, UN Environment Programme