COVID-19 recovery provides an opportunity to future-proof economies: for cities to clear their air, green their open spaces, and embrace solutions that help decarbonize and drive down resource use and related impacts on ecosystems, while creating new jobs.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) advocates an integrated approach, connecting nature, climate, and land use in cities. UNEP is the implementing agency of the GEF-7 Sustainable Cities Impact Program, the global platform of the GEF's sustainable urban development facility.
Through this project, UNEP, together with C40 Cities, the World Resources Institute, and ICLEI- Local Governments for Sustainability, will work with a range of cities to push towards integrated approaches which also includes nature-based solutions.