In preparation for the 15th Conference of Parties (COP15) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to adopt the Global Biodiversity Framework, UN-Habitat has prepared a white paper Cities and Nature: Planning for the Future, which highlights new principles and actions to improve the quality of urbanization, recognizing the importance of nature in cities and the preventative role of spatial planning.

It also offers a novel methodology to prioritize interventions along a preserve-conserve-restore-create spectrum that responds to varying states of natural habitat around and within cities. The goal is to help cities to make educated decisions about where and how to develop with minimal impact on nature and people. Urbanists and ecologists in policy and practice alike will benefit from its action-based approaches and catalogue of preventative practices.