Home

26th – 27th March 2019 Manchester City Football Club, Manchester, UK

Green cities are healthy, liveable and resilient to climate and water risks. Investing in nature-based solutions helps cities to tackle flooding, heat stress, drought, poor air quality and unemployment, and helps biodiversity to flourish.

Despite increasing awareness of the many benefits of nature-based solutions, barriers to their implementation remain. Obtaining sufficient and long-term financing for their development and maintenance is often a major challenge for city governments.

This exciting conference, organised by GrowGreen, brings together city representatives, investors and business to connect, share experiences and find joint solutions for financing city greening. Interactive workshops offer participants in-depth capacity building on valuing natural assets and mobilising finance for nature-based solutions.

The event is targeting private investors, insurance companies, urban developers, government, urban planners and practitioners, civil society and experts from across Europe and beyond who are interested in accelerating the uptake of nature to increase the resilience of cities.

The first day (26th March) of the conference consists of training sessions, workshops, and plenary sessions taking place in parallel following an opening plenary session. The second day (27 March) of the conference consists of site visits to local nature-based solutions.

The conference programme for the 26th March is available here. For more information on the conference sessions, please click here. More information on the conference site visits on 27th March is available here.

To apply for registration, please click here. The conference is free to attend. You will receive a response to your application within a week. As places are limited, please do not book any travel or accommodation until you receive a confirmation for your participation in the conference. The deadline for applications is 12th March 2019.

European Regional Conservation Forum in Rotterdam 1-3 July 2019

The IUCN Regional Conservation Forum for Europe, North and Central Asia, will take place in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, from 1 to 3 July 2019, as part of Union-wide preparation for the IUCN Congress 2020.

IUCN is currently carrying out the EU-funded LIFE project – “Improving the performance of the Natura 2000 network through a Green Listing approach” - to determine the feasibility of applying the IUCN Green List Sustainability Standard to Natura 2000. As part of the project, participants have begun testing a set of indicators in different sites throughout the Natura 2000 network.

The French Ministry for the Ecological and Inclusive Transition and IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature, have signed an agreement to jointly organise the next IUCN World Conservation Congress, to be held in 2020 in Marseille.

The conservation of nature is essential for the future of humanity, which requires thriving biodiversity to support a healthy and habitable planet. Well-governed, well-designed and well-managed protected areas are our most effective tools for conserving nature, and these important natural spaces provide a wide range of ecological, socio-economic, cultural and spiritual benefits to our communities.