Motions are the mechanism by which IUCN Members influence third parties and guide the policy and programme of IUCN. As the only international conservation forum that brings governments, civil society and indigenous peoples’ organisations to the same table, the IUCN Members’ Assembly carries a powerful mandate. Members vote to approve motions, and once adopted, they become Resolutions and Recommendations, and therefore the body of IUCN’s general policy.
Between 7 and 21 October 2020, IUCN Members voted electronically on 109 motions, including 15 with amendments. One of the motions was of particular interest us. Entitled ‘Call for Nature in Cities Agendas and Strengthening the IUCN Urban Alliance’, Motion 081 was adopted by a large majority. It calls on governments to ramp up their efforts to deploy nature-based solutions in urban areas and urges IUCN to catalyse collaboration with cities, city networks such as ICLEI, and United Nations agencies such as UN-Habitat. The motion also on IUCN’s Director General to support and champion the IUCN Urban Alliance in developing the Urban Nature Index, setting science-based targets for cities, and documenting, sharing and scaling best practices. In summary, Motion 081 gives further impetus and direction to our future work.
We are grateful to all the IUCN Members for their votes of confidence, and especially to the following 11 organisations for having sponsored the motion in question:
- IUCN Council
- Association Les Eco Maires
- Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz und nukleare Sicherheit
- France Nature Environnement
- ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability
- Ministère de l’Environnement et du développement durable
- Ministère des Affaires étrangères et du Développement international
- Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica y el Reto Demográfico
- Ministry of Environment, Republic of Korea
- Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle
- Tour du Valat
The full text of the motion can viewed here and also below.
081 – Call for Nature in Cities agendas and Strengthening the IUCN Urban Alliance
RECALLING Resolution 6.029, Incorporating urban dimensions of conservation into the work of IUCN, which set out in detail the reasons for greater involvement in urban matters by IUCN;
RECALLING Resolution 6.064 Strengthening cross-sector partnerships to recognise the contributions of nature to health, well-being and quality of life (Hawai‘i, 2016) which recognises that places, including urban areas, that have a rich natural heritage improve physical and mental health, as well as spiritual well-being and may increase appreciation of nature, including for the elderly;
RECOGNISING that the New Urban Agenda approved by the United Nations in Habitat III (Quito, Ecuador, 2016) reaffirms the global commitment to sustainable urban development and a common ideal for a better and more sustainable future, in which all people enjoy equality of rights and access to the benefits and opportunities that cities can offer, and in which the international community reconsiders urban systems and the physical form of our urban spaces as means to achieving this;
RECOGNISING that well-designed green and blue infrastructure can profoundly enhance urban livability, resilience and sustainability, while reducing climate and disaster risks, contributing to public health and well-being, and supporting substantial components of native biodiversity and native geodiversity;
ALSO RECOGNISNG IUCN’s partnership with The Nature Conservancy and ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability in developing CitiesWithNature, a platform for local and sub-national governments to report on their commitments to the post-2020 global biodiversity framework;
RECALLING that further to Resolution 6.029 Incorporating urban dimensions of conservation into the work of IUCN (Hawai‘i, 2016), the IUCN Urban Alliance was launched in September 2018 as a coalition of IUCN constituents concerned with urban dimensions of nature conservation, chaired by an IUCN Councillor and including three IUCN Commission Chairs on its strategic board; and
NOTING that, in its initial phase of development, the IUCN Urban Alliance has focused on three priorities: creating a platform for knowledge exchange and debate, catalysing new projects and partnerships, and developing a new knowledge product – the Urban Nature Index – with the aim of helping cities to measure, value and conserve nature within and beyond their boundaries;The IUCN World Conservation Congress 2020, at its session in Marseille, France:
1. CALLS ON Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), other governments and stakeholders to recognise the critical importance of Nature in Cities in the development and implementation of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework;
2. URGES Parties to the CBD, other governments and stakeholders to develop Nature in Cities Agendas, mainstreaming of natural diversity, biodiversity and geodiversity, and natural heritage into urban planning and decision-making processes, promoting the implementation of the principles of ecological urbanism, strengthening urban resilience to climate change – including disaster risk reduction – through enhancing, establishing and effectively managing urban and near-urban protected and conserved areas and green infrastructure, and scaling up nature-based solutions providing favorable conditions for wildlife habitats, reducing the ecological footprint of cities, and fostering meaningful connections between people and nature, including urban protected areas, and taking advantage of urban natural heritage;
3. URGES IUCN and its constituent parts to scale up work with cities and city networks, such as ICLEI, as well as with United Nations peer agencies (UN-Habitat, World Health Organization) and strategies that work with cities (International Strategy for Disaster Reduction);
4. CALLS ON the Director General to champion the work and further development of a strong IUCN Urban Alliance through supporting its activities, including:
a. developing and promoting the Urban Nature Index knowledge product;
b. establishing science-based targets work to measure and understand the positive and negative impacts that cities have on ecosystems and natural, geological and biological diversity, around the world;
c. compiling and developing case studies of nature-based urban interventions and solutions that have resulted in tangible benefits to the health and well-being of urban people and nature and overall to resilient city management;
d. promoting research into ways of scaling up and extending the implementation of such case studies, and ensuring they are widely communicated through platforms such as #NatureForALL, Panorama Solutions and CitiesWithNature, as well as other communication and education alternatives and strategies, including to decision makers; and
e. reviewing and strengthening the governance arrangements of the IUCN Urban Alliance, including enabling the chair to be drawn from Members, Commissions or Council; and
5. ENCOURAGES research institutions to develop and deliver training; programmes and courses on urban nature (biodiversity, geodiversity, geological and biological heritage), to promote experiences in nature, seeking to reconnect human beings with nature, and to promote assessment and knowledge of the importance nature has in people’s lives and well-being, and FURTHER ENCOURAGES governmental authorities to take into account the need to restore and develop nature in cities in the programmes they manage.