On World Environment Day 2021, the United Nations declared a Decade of Ecosystem Restoration. The key principles of Ecosystem Restoration are:

In July 2022, the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) published the World Cities Report - Envisaging the Future of Cities. The report stresses that building resilience must be at the heart of the cities of the future. The COVID-19 pandemic has occupied global attention since 2020 but as the report warns, this is not the only threat that cities may face.

SSC is looking forward to taking part in the annual Network Nature Event at the Museum of Natural Sciences in Brussels where experts will discuss the issue of upscaling nature-based solutions in policy and practice. 

The term “nature-based solutions” is used to mean working with the grain of nature to achieve a range of benefits, including enhanced biodiversity, flood alleviation, better livelihoods for local communities, and contributing to greenhouse gas reductions, either by storing carbon or by preventing its release.

The Second Edition of the UNEP International Good Practice Principles for Sustainable Infrastructure is now available. It sets out ten guiding principles that policymakers can follow to help integrate sustainability into infrastructure planning and delivery. The principles focus on integrated approaches and systems-level interventions that governments can make to create an enabling environment for sustainable infrastructure.

Mumbai is a coastal megacity, built on an archipelago of seven islands in the western part of India, in the state of Maharashtra. It is the second largest city in India (after Delhi) and the eighth largest on the megacity list with a population of around 20 million. We focus on Mumbai in this series as it is one of the most vulnerable port cities in the world to climate induced hazards such as sea-level rise, storm surge, flooding, and coastal erosion and this year (2022), a Climate Action Plan was announced for the city. 

The 2021 UN Climate Change Annual Report is out. The report highlights the work of the secretariat undertaken during the difficult circumstances of the pandemic and explains the outcomes of #COP26 in Glasgow, which set the scene for full #ParisAgreement implementation.You can download the report here:

At the weekend, Silent Spring Consultants visited the city of Sittard, located in the municipality of Sittard-Geleen in the Netherlands – a city that has won the title of Greenest City in the Netherlands for several years running. Sittard is one of the oldest cities in the Netherlands and you can discover its history by enjoying a stroll amongst the ancient architecture, its churches and monasteries, the city wall and the city gardens and park.

Urban NBS Day 2022: Co-Finance and Digitalisation for Nature-Based Solutions

This week we are visiting Europe and today we were in Antwerp the second largest city in Belgium to discuss one of our projects and see examples of nature-based solutions. It is late May 2022, the sun was shining and the temperature was just right for wandering about the city. The key climate challenges it faces are flooding, poor air quality and heat stress. To combat these, the city has been a low emission zone (LEZ) since 2017 and plans to become greener.

The first in the Silent Spring City Focus Series is Middlesbrough on Teesside in North East England. Middlesbrough is arguably best known for its industrial roots and heavy industries but times are changing. Teesside Freeport will be the largest freeport in the UK and Middlesbrough/Teesside is now gaining a reputation for its growing green economy and in particular the development of net zero technologies such as carbon capture, hydrogen, offshore wind and waste to energy. In the autumn of 2022, Teesside will host alongside the UK Government Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy a Green Trade and Investment Expo. Combining environmental and economic interests, the International Trade Secretary said, the financial case for green trade is very clear. The global market for low-carbon exports is growing rapidly. By 2030, it’s projected to be worth almost £2 trillion’.

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