CitiesWithNature is a platform endorsed by the United Nations Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) as the official mechanism for local governments to engage in global processes on nature. 

Australian councils are invited to apply to be in a Pioneer Group to work with ICLEI to tailor a high-value support program for urban greening and biodiversity. The first steps are for pioneers to register on the global CitiesWithNature website and then participate in a needs assessment research project conducted in partnership with Swinburne University.

This comes at a time when the importance of nature and the outdoors has been highlighted during the COVID lockdown. “The links between ecosystem stability, the natural environment and human health have never been clearer”, Timothy Blatch, Program Coordinator of CitiesWithNature at ICLEI Cities Biodiversity Centre. 

The criticality of local leadership for nature in cities has been reinforced by Valérie Plante, Mayor of Montreal and ICLEI Global Ambassador for Local Biodiversity, who issued a letter calling for cities all over the world to join forces to protect biodiversity and ecosystems in the lead up to World Environment Day on 5 June 2020.

In other news, World Urban Parks (WUP) has recently signed a collaboration agreement with ICLEI CitiesWithNature to drive nature based solutions in cities. The signing of the collaboration agreement formalises a strong partnership between WUP and ICLEI. Read more about how cities are balancing parks and health under COVID-19.  

Please contact us at oceania@iclei.org if you would like further information about joining the Pioneer Group.

Read more: Why join CitiesWithNature?