Mapping the contribution of nature-based solutions to urban sustainability worldwide

The British Academy aims to develop an interactive digital global mapping of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) projects, bringing together the work of Professor Nathalie Seddon, Nature-based Solutions Initiative (NbSI), Oxford University and the Urban Nature Atlas, developed by a research team at CEU, led by Professor László Pintér with Dóra Almássy and Sara Maia Obradovic. The intention is to allow the public and policymakers worldwide to explore the many ways communities are working with nature to deal with the causes and consequences of global change, across a diversity of different urban and rural environments, ecosystems and socio-economic and governance contexts.

Overview:

Building on the existing infrastructure of the Urban Nature Atlas (UNA), the project will involve the identification of a suite of up to 80 urban or peri-urban NBS cases in non-European cities, highlighting, in particular, their connections to climate change mitigation and adaptation. These cases will be fully integrated into the infrastructure of the UNA and represent the first step in its global expansion. The Atlas will also include an updated user interface with a new advanced search function to highlight cases that focus on climate change and the contribution of the update funded by the British Academy to the COP26. An advanced analytical function will improve the filtering of cases based on user interest, and the recognition of patterns and evidence related to NBS attributes and impacts. Preliminary results will be made public at the COP 26 in Glasgow. Key lessons will be distilled in a final report, reflecting on what is being done on the ground, who is implementing and financing NBS, and what the costs and benefits of the projects are- both intangible and measurable.

CEU and NbSI work collaboratively to ensure consistency across platforms, metrics and methods.

With more than 1000 projects from European cities and beyond, the Urban Nature Atlas is the most comprehensive database of urban NBS to date. The Atlas was developed as an output of the Naturvation project in 2017 by CEU in cooperation with Ecologic Institute and with support from Durham University. All existing entries in the database were reviewed and updated between July to November 2020. With the completion of the Naturvation project in May 2021, the Urban Nature Atlas was moved from the Naturvation website to its new and permanent home. 

Link: https://una.city/