Cities are home to more than half of the world's population and are responsible for more than 70% of greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, they have a fundamental role to play in halting and adapting to the twin crises of biodiversity loss and climate change. We are on time to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, but that will only be possible if we reduce our atmospheric emissions by 43% over the next seven years. Otherwise, we risk the consequences of floods and droughts, which are becoming more frequent and felt worldwide.
One way to make cities more sustainable and resilient is to incorporate nature into their management and design. These solutions protect, restore and manage the ecosystem sustainably, safeguard biodiversity, improve air quality and ensure greater food and water security. Nature-based solutions are diverse, ranging from urban greening to wetland and reef restoration to improving stormwater management. They are not only positive for the environment, but also for well-being and the economy. In fact, they have the potential to create more than 59 million jobs worldwide.
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Many cities are relying on innovative nature-based solutions. For example, in 2017, Guangzhou, China, embarked on a journey to become a sponge city to address environmental degradation. By applying this concept, Guangzhou and many other Chinese metropolises have reduced the risk of flooding and improved water management. Other cities, such as Toronto, Canada, have adopted a policy requiring new buildings to have green roofs, which can reduce the temperature and energy consumption of buildings, provide habitat for urban wildlife, and improve air quality. For its part, Medellín (Colombia) has created a 1.3-kilometer green corridor that offers the neighborhood easy access to green spaces.
Nature-based solutions can provide more than a third of the climate protection required by 2030. However, only 0.3% of the city's infrastructure spending is spent on this.
Large cities rely on their surroundings for access to natural resources such as water, energy and food and at the same time have a major influence on their ecosystem.
This year, World Metropolis Day, which is celebrated every year on October 7th, was all about the “power of nature”. This theme called on governments to work beyond the administrative boundaries of their cities and put nature at the heart of local action. More than 240 people, including political representatives, met in Istanbul (Türkiye) to exchange experiences on how to improve the resilience of their metropolitan regions. This global event, organized by the Union of Municipalities of Marmara, Metropolis and UN-Habitat, was followed by events in other cities such as Kinshasa, Austin, Barcelona, Aburrá Valley and Mexico City.
One of the big conclusions of the debates is that the challenges facing cities cannot only be solved at the local level. A city's boundaries no longer reflect the daily reality of its residents, so governments must look beyond traditional geographical and institutional boundaries. Life is built on a metropolitan scale. Consequently, it must be governed at the same level at which it is lived: it is an exercise of co-responsibility that makes it possible to reduce territorial inequality and thus overcome the binary narrative of territorial gains and losses.
Furthermore, the metropolitan perspective recognizes that cities are not fundamentally different from their surroundings. Nor do they contradict nature. Large cities rely on their surroundings for access to natural resources such as water, energy and food and at the same time have a major influence on their ecosystem. On a global scale, cities are important players in world affairs due to their size, size and cultural importance.
Laura Valdes She is the head of public policy at Metrópolis, a global network that brings together the world's major cities and metropolitan areas.
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