Held for the first time in Eastern Europe, the 11th edition of the World Urban Forum (WUF) took place from 26 to 30 June 2022 in the city of Katowice, Poland, with the theme “Transforming our cities for a better urban future”.
During the opening ceremony, Maimunah Mohd Sharif, Executive Director of the UN Human Settlements Program (UN-Habitat), emphasized the importance of climate and environment-related action in improving the future of our cities through the development of greener, more sustainable, and more inclusive infrastructure.
In the wake of the recent global health crisis and with the war in Ukraine across the border, the issue of reconstruction was at the heart of many discussions. There has been a shift at WUF over the past 15 years from a focus on technical solutions to a focus on discourse and dialogue that directly address crises.
The IUCN French Committee as well as youth IUCN members (members of commissions, organizations, and other experts) under 27 years of age brought the subject of urban nature to the forum through several different projects. The IUCN French Committee, together with the EcoMaires Association and the IUCN Urban Alliance, contributed to the French Partnership for Cities and Territories (PFVT)’s “Cities and Biodiversity” publication, in which it presented to the public its recommendations for sustainable urban development.
Representing the IUCN, I actively participated in various sessions on the multidimensional evaluation of sustainability with the Environment Europe Foundation; of particular importance was the topic of nature-based solutions for urban resilience, organized by the IUCN and Susanna Gionfra of the IUCN Regional Office for Europe.
The success of these events and the numerous conversations that took place during the WUF suggest that nature is gaining increasing attention beyond the usual spheres of conservation.
Read the whole article here: https://iucnurbanalliance.org/the-world-urban-forum-what-are-the-outcomes-for-nature/
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