The Conama Foundation launches this pioneering initiative to collect successful examples of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) in cities in Spain in collaboration with IUCN-Med. The NbS Observatory aims to disseminate the NbS standard recently presented by IUCN and will promote its practical application.

Increasing city resilience through NbS in the face of climate change

The growing interest to apply the Nature-based Solutions concept, especially in the context of cities, makes it necessary to collect further case studies. The information from these cases is essential to continue developing this valuable instrument, expected to play a key role in the management of cities in the coming decades. After the launch of the standard last July and the creation of the IUCN Professorship for Nature Conservation, the inauguration of this Observatory with Conama Foundation marks a further step in the work of IUCN-Med to disseminate the concept with the support of some of the main actors in the field of conservation and urban planning

In Spain, the Conama Foundation is responsible for organizing the National Congress for Environment (CONAMA) - the biggest meeting of the environmental sector in Spain. Held every two years, the Conama Congress aims to reflect on important issues, as well as influencing the political agenda, making proposals from the collaboration between agents and providing visibility to replicable projects, to increase their impact.

This Observatory is the result of the Nature-based Solutions working group (WG-NbS) established between the two entities. It is intended to act as a platform for knowledge exchange between professionals, including tools such as a catalogued library of practical documents, a project database and a directory of professionals to facilitate the search for partnerships between users.

Nature-based Solutions continues to gain support in the Málaga region

In the city and province of Malaga, several organizations are showing interest in promoting NbS in the context of cities. As a result, last November IUCN-Med coordinated the workshop "Nature-based solutions: Experiences in the municipality of Málaga and its province" in partnership with the City Hall and Province Council of Málaga entitled .

The online webinar, which was attended by more than 70 experts from different institutions, presented and explored innovative projects striving to increase the resilience of cities and to enhance the connectivity of ecosystems throughout the Malaga territory..

For more information or for any project proposal related to NbS, please contact Andrés Alcántara.

Images © Maher Mahjoub