Restoration, Conservation

Best Practices and Lessons Learned on the Pathways to Sustainability: Urban Park Rangers

The importance of conservation units in urban areas lies in the fact that they are mitigating elements of environmental impact. We must make every effort to ensure effective environmental management and nature conservation. As cities are not isolated or disconnected from the natural world, the challenge they must face now is how to give nature its rightful place at the center of urban life.
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Best Practices and Lessons Learned on the Pathways to Sustainability: Banco San Miguel Ecological Reserve Cleaning Brigade

"Banco San Miguel y Bahía de Asunción” Ecological Reserve is the city’s largest green area. Spreading over 300 hectares, this unique ecosystem is recognized worldwide as a conservation site for shore and migratory birds. However, the reserve has also a growing number of irregular dumpsites and is home to numerous families living in vulnerable conditions. Waste management has become both a social and environmental challenge in the area.
 
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Conserving the Past as a Foundation for the Future: China-World Bank Partnership on Cultural Heritage Conservation

The rich cultural heritage of China is an essential touchstone of its collective identity. The country's archaeological sites, historic architecture, expressive arts, cultural landscapes, and ethnic diversity also are treasured around the world. Despite their importance, China's cultural assets are under tremendous pressure due to the country's rapid development, particularly its rapid urbanization.
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Cultural Heritage, Sustainable Tourism and Urban Regeneration: Capturing Lessons and Experience from Japan with a Focus on Kyoto

The World Bank Group (WBG) has long recognized that the restoration and preservationof cultural heritage, urban regeneration, and sustainable tourism can play a vital role in developing countries’ efforts to promote local economic development, accelerate social integration, and alleviate poverty.
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Culture in City Reconstruction and Recovery

As urban growth and development continue at a breathtaking pace across the world, cities are increasingly bearing the brunt of conflicts, crises and disasters, which themselves are growing in number, magnitude and complexity. The convergence of these two trends – increasing urbanization and growing crises – demands an enhanced approach to city reconstruction and recovery, one that puts culture at its heart.
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Operationalizing the Urban NEXUS: Towards resource-efficient and integrated cities and metropolitan regions

The study “Operationalizing the Urban NEXUS” is founded on pioneering experiences from cities all over the world that have recognized the crucial interlinkages between sectors such as water, energy and food – now commonly understood as the “Water-Energy-Food security NEXUS” .

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Land degradation and cities: The essential role of local and regional governments

Global concern for the challenges posed by land degradation has been affirmed by target 15.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which is aimed at halting and reversing land degradation. Engaging with the challenges posed by land degradation in the 21st century requires a systematic approach that recognizes urban activities as a meta-underlying driver and includes the existing and potential contributions of local and regional governments as part of the solution. 

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Mapping Social Landscapes: A Guide to Identifying the Networks, Priorities, and Values of Restoration Actors

The guidebook takes a new approach to environmental governance by focusing on identifying the social capital of actors within the landscapes. It centers on two main approaches: 1) mapping actors’ resource flows and 2) mapping actors’ priorities and values. Co-written by WRI international offices, this methodology has been tested in Brazil, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, and Rwanda. The guidebook focuses primarily on restoration, but the same methodologies can be adapted to broader analysis of natural resource governance.

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Financial Returns from Restoration

The annual economic benefits of restoring degraded and deforested land globally are an estimated $84 billion. As the economy surrounding landscape restoration – the New Restoration Economy – continues to develop, prospective investors are intrigued by the financial returns restoration projects can deliver.

See the full infographic here. 

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Ending Tropical Deforestation: REDD+: Lessons from National and Subnational Implementation

REDD+—which stands for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests, and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries—debuted on the global stage more than a decade ago. The idea prompted high expectations that an approach that featured results-based incentives for reducing tropical deforestation and degradation could rapidly succeed where other approaches had failed.

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