Urban Nature Program Launched

19 September 2025 /
Blog

On December 2nd 2023, at the 28th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP28) in Dubai, the Urban Nature Program was launched at the event Nurturing Nature: Bringing Nature-Positive Cities to the Forefront of Urban Climate Action.
 
The Program is co-led by the World Bank through its Global Platform for Sustainable Cities supported by the GEF, the UN Environment Program (UNEP) as part of the UN Decade on Ecosystems Restoration, and ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability in partnership with the World Resources Institute, International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), C40 Cities, World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), European Commission, AFD and EBRD.
 
The Urban Nature Program will advance the call to action for Nature Positive Development in cities and regions by supporting Lighthouse Cities to accelerate policy development and investments in nature in urban areas.
 
i) Upstream Policy Support: coordination and exchange of information of various initiatives, supporting cities for policy engagement, peer-to-peer learning, and engaging global expertise.
ii) Midstream Project Preparation Support: targeted and bankable project preparation support by engaging a network of international and domestic financial institutions and private sector investors.
iii) Downstream Investment: supporting MDBs and financial institutions to mobilize investment in nature-positive development.
 
 
 
Useful links
Latest Knowledge resources
View all

Nature

Compendium for City Good Practice Series: How Paris Is Leveraging Nature For Climate Resilience

This report, as part of the Compendium for City Good Practice series, highlights Paris's innovative approach to climate resilience through the strategic integration of nature into urban environments. It offers a comprehensive overview of Paris's strategy on urban nature, showcasing how the city is integrating biodiversity into planning, leveraging green spaces, biodiversity corridors, and sustainable landscaping to mitigate the impacts of climate change. The report serves as a valuable resource for cities worldwide seeking to emulate Paris's successful model of

Report

Learn more

Inclusivity

Toward Developing a Mobility and Gender Index

Although the benefits of a gender-inclusive approach to mobility for transport decarbonization, access to jobs, and human capital advancement have been increasingly recognized globally, this topic has not received sufficient attention. The lack of attention to gendered mobility barriers is partly due to a limited understanding of the wider benefits of inclusive transport services for development, which is caused by the absence of sex-disaggregated mobility data highlighting gender inequalities. One of the obstacles to this gender-inclusive approach is the absence

Learn more