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[Home page of Cities and Protected Areas Specialist Group] [Working Group on Cities and Conservation]
Cities in Nature, Nature in Cities
A global initiative on CITIES AND CONSERVATION led by IUCN with local and international partners
Note: This is a draft brief summary of next steps (mid-2009 to mid-2010) in advancing an IUCN initiative on cities and conservation, on which work began in 2002. The initiative was authorized by IUCN Resolution WCC 3.063.
Some elements of this initiative lend themselves to a linear, step-by-step approach; others call for an integrative or exploratory process. This Web page will be updated and augmented periodically to reflect progress toward objectives, as well as new opportunities to work with organizations with intersecting goals.
SUMMARY
Conservationists must take cities and the people who live in them much more seriously. Unless they do so, they will struggle for relevance over the coming decades.
The world is urbanizing fast, and city dwellers have less and less contact with nature. This has important consequences for the global conservation movement, which depends on urban people for political and financial support. It has important consequences for urban people, whose lives and livelihoods depend on natural resources from surrounding regions, and who need contact with nature for their well-being.
This interconnectedness is not widely appreciated. With very few exceptions, separate sets of people and institutions work on urban and conservation issues.
The goal of this initiative is improving the lives of city dwellers while strengthening protection of nature – broadly defined – within cities and in larger ecosystems. Global in scope, it focuses for some purposes on several representative geographic areas.
The initiative is conducted through a Cities Specialist Group within IUCN's World Commission on Protected Areas, working closely with the IUCN Secretariat, member organizations, and elements of other IUCN commissions, along with local and international partners. Building on work that began in 2002, the objectives and major outputs of the second stage of the initiative (mid-2009 to mid-2010) are:
– Progress on the ground in a number of pilot urban areas, for its own sake and to test and demonstrate methods. This is being discussed in several countries, and with several global partners and potential partners.
– Broader awareness globally of the inter-connectedness of cities and nature, the need for urban dwellers to have access to nature, and the benefits of cooperation between conservation and urban leaders. Two books will be produced. Their key messages will be tailored for and publicized among different kinds of audiences, especially political and opinion leaders.
– Alliances between those who work on nature conservation and those concerned with the whole range of issues facing cities, from poverty and education to health and waste management. Several such alliances are being formed at the global level or are being discussed. Local efforts will be assisted through examples, tools, training, and direct exchanges.
– Improved methods, and wider use of tested methods, for connecting urban people, cities, and nature. Outputs will include a handbook on managing urban and peri-urban protected areas; one or more “toolboxes” for local action; videos; and learning from training, direct exchanges, and activities in pilot cities.
– Better international communication and cooperation, including greater attention to cities in IUCN as a whole.
Global in scope, this initiative will focus for some purposes on several representative geographic areas (to be announced), as well as key international arenas.
9/2009
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