Niepołomice, a Polish city with almost 30,000 inhabitants, has received customised training on how to tackle challenges in their community with nature-based solutions. Marcela Gutierrez (University of Costa Rica), Natalia Burgos Cuevas and Doris Knoblauch (both Ecologic Institute) presented concrete options for the municipality to representatives of the city of Niepołomice in March 2024, after the city representatives had presented the urban challenges in December 2023.

As part of the Polish Climate Congress from 19 to 20 March 2024 in Warsaw, Ewa Iwaszuk, a Fellow at Ecologic Institute, took part in a panel discussion on implementing nature-based solutions in urban areas. She was joined on the panel by Joanna Kiernicka-Allavena (Climate-KIC), Anna Banaszczyk (World Bank), Marcin Sadura (Warsaw Municipal Sewage Company) and Robert Skowroński (Szczecin Marshal’s Office). The discussion was moderated by Mateusz Kowali (Polish Green Network).

As a proud partner of the Nature of Cities Festival 2024, we cordially invite you to be part of an extraordinary three-week event that focuses on the importance and beauty of urban nature. This multifaceted festival offers a wide range of activities both online and in person - from inspiring discussions to collaborative workshops that allow participants from all over the world to actively engage at any time.

The EU-funded INTERLACE project is organizing a conference on urban ecosystem restoration in Europe and Latin America. The event will focus on nature-based solutions, including urban ecosystem restoration, climate change, and pollution. It will include interactive sessions, workshops, expert inputs, and site visits to showcase successful implementations of these solutions. The conference aims to foster collaborative research and knowledge-creation.

Nature-based solutions (NbS) are widely recognized for their potential to transform urban spaces into sustainable and environmentally friendly environments. Yet open questions remain around how this can be done in practice, what role different stakeholders can play, and what key challenges and opportunities exist. These topics were explored in the science-policy symposium "Regreening Cities with Nature-based solutions in EU and China – Bridging Science, Policy, and Practice". Ecologic Institute's McKenna Davis presented insights from the INTERLACE project on a panel in the session "Enabling Transformation in Urban areas with Nature Based Solutions".

A Cities Talk Nature Global Engagement Event was organized as part of the INTERLACE project in Envigado, Colombia and streamed online on 23 and 24 November 2023 to explore these topics in more depth. Entitled ‘Rethinking urban-rural linkages for people and biodiversity’, the conference convened over 100 municipal actors and practitioners from Europe and Latin America interested in harnessing the potential of NBS in their cities and regions. Co-organised by UCLG, Humboldt Institute Colombia and Ecologic Institute, the event featured diverse formats, including field visits, practical workshops, and peer-to-peer discussions.

The INTERLACE Urban Governance Atlas was launched in 2023. It invites political decision-makers, urban planners, researchers, civil society organizations, and all interested parties to delve into the success stories of 250 political instruments from 41 countries. These instruments support nature-based solutions and tools for ecosystem restoration. The Atlas aims to showcase what has made them successful, the lessons learned in their design and implementation, and the governance approaches they employ. Developed by the Ecologic Institute, the infographic provides a clear overview of what the Urban Governance Atlas is and who can benefit from it.

At the occasion of the 10th Anniversary Edition of the European Urban Resilience Forum, Ecologic Institute's Doris Knoblauch gave two presentations, showcasing insights both of the CLEVER Cities project as well as the INTERLACE project.

As part of the Future Leaders' Global Policy Forum from 22 to 23 May 2023 in Milan, Benedict Bueb, Researcher at Ecologic Institute, took part in a panel discussion on tackling the climate crisis and its impacts. He was joined on the panel by Abla Abdel Latif, Director of the Egyptian Center for Economic Studies (ECES) and Nicola Monti, CEO of Edison. Keynote speeches by Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vera Songwe, Co-Chair of the High Level Panel on Climate Finance of the World Economic Forum (WEF) completed the panel.

Ecosystem restoration is gaining momentum in science and policy as a process that can jointly tackle biodiversity loss, climate change and other societal challenges. The human and social dimensions of restoration projects however, often insufficiently considered. The German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) hosted a hybrid workshop entitled Making people part of ecosystem restoration in Europe from 17 to 19 October 2023 to explore this topic. McKenna Davis, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, held a keynote presentation on "Creating enabling conditions for ecosystem restoration: Tools and guidelines for local impact".

Join us on 23-24 November 2023 in the city of Envigado (Colombia), for a special conference and engagement event, through which you will be able to learn in detail from Envigado's experience, as well as from the examples of other cities from the Cities Talk Nature community of practice, and the expertise of the INTERLACE project partners.

This paper focuses on co-creation for nature-based solutions, providing practical examples and guidance for local decision-makers. It sheds light on the effective utilization of co-governance approaches, encouraging participatory processes and collaborative creation in the realm of nature-based solutions.

On 7 June 2023, Malek Al Jebaie presented the findings of a joint research investigation conducted by Ecologic Institute, supervised by McKenna Davis, and the International Institute of Industrial Environmental Economics at Lund University at the Ecocity World Summit in London at the Barbican Centre. The presentation primarily focused on the key trends and patterns observed in 151 European cases from the Urban Governance Atlas, whose development was coordinated by Ecologic Institute within the INTERLACE project.

At the NetworkNature Annual Event held on 8 June 2023 at the Flagey Building in Brussels (Belgium) participants gathered to explore the transformative potential of Nature-based Solutions (NBS) across sectors and communities. One noteworthy panel discussion included Natalia Burgos, representing the INTERLACE project, alongside representatives from the European Commission, the European Environmental Bureau, and the German Environment Agency.

The INTERLACE Urban Governance Atlas was officially launched on 11 May 2023 at the INTERLACE Cities Talk Nature Conference in Chemnitz. The first of its kind, the online database showcases 250 policy instruments from 41 countries supporting nature-based solutions and ecosystem restoration. The interactive design invites policymakers, urban planners, researchers, civil society organizations, and others to explore and learn more about what made the instruments successful, lessons learned in their design and implementation, and their approaches to governance.