A consortium of partners made history in Marseille by organising the very first IUCN Congress venue dedicated to urban dimensions of nature conservation. The Urban Planet Pavilion ran from 4 to 9 September, providing a dynamic space for networking, knowledge exchange and debate.
It is ultimately in cities that IUCN’s vision of “a just world that values and conserves nature” will flourish or flounder. They account for the lion’s share of natural resource consumption and contribute disproportionately to climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution. Their ecological impacts are felt almost everywhere, even in the remotest remnants of wilderness.
Re-naturing cities and curbing their ecological footprints are conservation imperatives of the highest order. The prize is a more beautiful, liveable, resilient, and sustainable future for humanity. In pursuit of that future, the Urban Planet Pavilion provided a venue in the IUCN Forum to learn from leading urban experts and engage in lively debates, share and amplify success stories from cities across the world, and forge partnerships for urban action.
The Urban Planet Pavilion was historically significant, being the first ever IUCN Congress venue dedicated to cities. It was organised by the IUCN Urban Alliance with the support of 10 investing partners, namely, Arcadia – a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin, Google Urban Ecology Program, National Geographic Society, Parks Canada, PBL – Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, SwedBio, Naturvation (Durham University), Lund University, UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre, and The Nature Conservancy.
Owing to travel restrictions very few of the investing partners were able to travel to Marseille. Hence, pavilion slots were made available to non-investing partners. From 4 to 9 September 2021, 10 events were organised, as outlined in the table below.
| Date | Session title | Organiser(s) | Description |
| 4 Sep. | African cities and urban forests | AIMF & ERAIFT | A range of urban forestry initiatives in African cities, with links to urban planning and the circular economy. Panellists included the Mayors of Tunis and Ouagadougou. |
| 5 Sep. | Nature-based solutions in rapidly urbanising African cities: concrete examples of non-concrete solutions | KDI, ICLEI & CCI | NbS in sub-Saharan African cities. Insights on the enabling conditions for uptake of NBS. Evidence through implementation, monitoring and evaluation of NBS projects in informal neighbourhoods. |
| 5 Sep. | Driving elephants | A Rocha International | A Rocha’s conservation work in the cities of Kampala, London, and Bangalore. Screening of 30 mins film, ‘Driving Elephants,’ by Kirsty Wells and A Rocha India, concerning management of human-wildlife conflict in Bangalore. |
| 6 Sep. | Urban Nature and Environmental Human Rights | University of Cambridge, IUCN Urban Alliance | Mexican political scientist Inés Hernández presented findings of research on the potential to enhance urban nature through a rights-based approach. |
| 6 Sep. | Emerging Urban Leaders | SGS & WUP | Introduction to Emerging Urban Leaders, a network-based program supporting talented professionals to fulfil their leadership potential. |
| 7 Sep. | Parks for the Planet | SGS | Introduction to Parks for the Planet, a multi-year program to reconnect people and nature in an urbanized world. |
| 7 Sep. | Open discussion time: Coordination among groups working on equity and Urban NBS | TNC | Drop-in networking session and discussion on the social equity dimension of urban NbS. |
| 7 Sep. | ICLEI & WWF ambitious city actions for nature and restoring eco-systems | ICLEI & WWF | Presentation of CitiesWithNature and new WWF report on urban NbS with case studies from around the world. |
| 8-9 Sep. | National Park Cities | NPC Foundation & SGS | Overview of National Park City movement, aiming to make cities greener, healthier, and wilder. |
Despite considerable challenges relating to the global pandemic, the Urban Planet Pavilion staged at least one event every day and provided a valuable networking space for advancing the sustainable cities agenda. IUCN Urban Alliance is grateful to all the partners who made the pavilion possible.
