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It has become clearly evident that in the post-COVID world, we would have to evolve our understanding and perspective about cities and urban services. There should be no doubt that local governments as well as State and National Governments need to find robust and resilient developmental models through cross-learning from peers. The answer could be 

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Subhash Park in Kochi, Kerala, is set to create a buzz by opening a nature interpretation centre, a pollinator garden and a herbal garden soon. These new attractions in the city are pilot projects aimed at connecting the urban population with biodiversity, an initiative by ICLEI South Asia under the INTERACT-Bio project, which is funded by 

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Pittsburgh has become the poster child for how to transition from highly impacted industrial town to a healthy and vibrant community. A city that has gone from having air quality and smog so bad that they had to leave the streetlights on 24 hours a day, to an area that has created more cleantech and 

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The City of Cape Town in South Africa has always been a front-runner in taking action for urban sustainability and resilience. The City’s Executive Director of Spatial Planning and Environment, Mr Osman Asmal, appointed in July 2019, recalls ICLEI’s pivotal role in providing the international frameworks and best practices that still inform the City’s ongoing 

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“How we make and use products and how we produce food generates almost half of the emissions in our current economic system because the production of goods and infrastructure generates emissions all along value chains,” said Mayor Minna Arve of Turku, Finland, at ICLEI’s July Race-to-Zero dialogue, which brought together many levels of government to reflect on 

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Industrial legacy cities have been significantly impacted by the decline of manufacturing, which left them with soaring unemployment, rapid population loss and a legacy of environmental pollution. In the face of these challenges, city governments have been working to advance their economic and environmental transitions while embracing their industrial heritage and spearheading ambitious sustainability efforts. 

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The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the fragile economic, social and environmental underpinnings of our world today. Although we have access to advanced scientific and technological resources, as well as strategies for disaster preparedness, and despite repeated specific warnings about the risks of pandemics, the world was not ready when this virus struck. On 11 

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If there is anything to be learned from the ‘Gilets Jaunes’ protest in France, is that social innovation should accompany environmental policymaking. Policies will have little effect without the acceptance and understanding of the people directly affected by the changes. Much of the climate change discourse centers on wide-scale economic, social and cultural change – 

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How Rotterdam and Buenos Aires use procurement to contribute to the global clean energy transition You’ve heard the slogans: Time for Nature. Time for Transition. Cities around the world are taking action to regenerate biodiversity and to tackle the climate crisis. However, there has been a lack of focus on activating public procurement as a 

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From left to right: Shinjiro Koizumi, Minister of Environment of Japan; Minna Arve, Mayor of Turku, Finland; Ashok Sridharan, Mayor of Bonn, Germany, and ICLEI President. One of the toughest parts of fulfilling the Paris Agreement goals is understanding the path to success. What does it take to muster the political will and support to 

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Imagine being in nineteenth century Europe. Imagine walking on a city street and hearing people complain about the smell and dirty drinking water. Imagine coughing because of the dusty air. While we can only imagine that experience, German classical composer Ludwig van Beethoven saw the reality of pollution and environmental degradation by living, working and 

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Recalling the legacy of the UN Conference on Human Environment held in Stockholm in 1972, the UN Environment Programme takes the lead in the celebrations of the World Environment Day annually on 5 June. This year, the theme of WED2020 is biodiversity – under the hashtag #TimeForNature. Colombia is the global host with the support 

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Healthy and functioning natural ecosystems are critical for cities to thrive. Pressures from urbanization and climate change on the natural systems that sustain cities are increasing rapidly, making the protection of these urban natural assets all the more urgent. “The prosperity of cities critically relies on the ability of regional, city and municipal governments to 

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By Adel Strydom and Timothy Blatch During the global pandemic there are many unknowns, but in the midst of this uncertainty, city residents are reaffirming their need for nature. This World Biodiversity Day is a unique moment to reimagine nature-centric cities. In Durban a young mom walks along a brook that winds through an otherwise 

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By Himanshu Raj and Dana Vigran Have you ever thought about the entire journey of an item you order online or buy from a supermarket? Where it came from, how was it transported from the factory, what kind of vehicle was used, how many people were involved, how was it packaged, how many kilometers it 

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The City of Helsinki’s Palvelukeskus Helsinki (Helsinki Service Center) provides food for over 100,000 people every day. Schools, daycare centers and nursing homes in different parts of the city all receive food from the Service Center, which is responsible for both producing and delivering food. The largest production plant is in Pakkala, Vantaa, which delivers 

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The COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted normal life all over the world. While there are reports of rejuvenation of nature with minimal human interference ever since the lockdown has been initiated in different countries, there is also a major challenge of maintaining civic services while restricting human activities. The functioning of municipal governments all over 

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Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world: indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has. For anyone skeptical of the adage attributed to the anthropologist Margaret Mead, we might point to a 54-year-old war veteran in Wisconsin whose thoughtful engagement led him all the way to creating the 

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Nontsundu Ndonga in uMhlathuze, South Africa, is now requiring all applications to the planning department to be completed online to eliminate the need for in-person consultations. Chris Castro in Orlando, Florida, USA, has had to postpone all of the city’s in-person Earth Day activities. Lotte Suveri, in Turku, Finland, has put all their social media 

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Due to the COVID-19 crisis, many in-person events relating to local and regional governments and sustainability have been cancelled, postponed or in some way impacted. ICLEI is compiling a list of events affected by the pandemic that are relevant to our network. This list will be updated regularly based on the latest information available. UN 

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Women-owned and operated businesses are getting a new seal of approval in Buenos Aires. The goal of the Sello Empresa Mujer, or “Women Company Seal”, is to promote women’s economic autonomy, greater equity and economic development opportunities to benefit businesses and communities.  The Sustainable Public Procurement Area of the General Procurement and Contract Department, in 

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By Tu My Tran, Senior Officer, Sustainable Mobility, ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability Contributors: Yongseok Oh (Daegu Council for Sustainable Development), Heecheol Yun (Gwangju Council for Sustainable Development), Yoonjin Cho (ICLEI Korea office) Cycle to work, track your ride, earn points, and get a chance to win, all while fighting climate change. This is 

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Local and regional governments are not waiting for their national governments to take climate action. In Japan, local governments have been stepping forward to make ambitious commitments to zero carbon by 2050. For example, Tokyo has declared a “Climate Crisis Mobilization” as their commitment to respond to the climate emergency and through its Zero Emission 

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