Post on 12-Oct-2020
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NBS/GI Policies on different levels
Claudia De Luca, University of
Bologna (UNIBO)
Juraj Jurik, Global Infrastructure
Basel Foundation (GIB)
Presentation Outline
• Juraj
• Global Policy Frameworks reflecting NBS
• focus on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
• EU Policy Frameworks reflecting NBS/G
• Link to the local level policies
• Claudia
• Urban agenda on Sustainable Land Use and NBS
• Example from local regulation and planning
• Governance scheme: bottom up and top down initiatives to boost NBS
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Challenges
Habitat Fragmentation Hambach Forest, Germany
4
Challenges
Biodiversity Loss
5
Challenges
Climate change - induced risks
Paris, heat stress
Copenhagen, flooding
6
Challenges
• Depression • Obesity • Diabetes • Little human to human interactions
Human Health and Wellbeing
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International Policies working with NBS
International Policies working with NBS
Note: There are 169 targets for the 17 goals. Each target has between 1 and 3 indicators used to measure progress toward reaching these targets. 17 SDGs 169 Targets 232 Indicators
?? How many SDGs and SDG targets (at least) could be catalysed by NBS ??
Question
Achieving SDGs through NBS:
Nature may have a role to play in achieving at least 12 SDGs and 41 targets focused directly on improving the environment and/or dimensions of human well-being.
Credit: Landscape News: https://news.globallandscapesforum.org/viewpoint/laying-road-map-nature-based-solutions-sdgs/
59%
41%
Achieving SDGs by NBS
1. With NBS
2. With other means
20%
80%
Achieving SDG Targets by NBS
1. With NBS
2. With other means
Results
Targets Indicator NBS
15.1 By 2030, ensure the conservation, restoration and sustainable use of terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystems and their services, in particular forests, wetlands, mountains and drylands, in line with obligations under international agreements
15.1.1 Forest area as a proportion of total land area
• Forest
15.1.2 Proportion of important sites for terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity that are covered by protected areas, by ecosystem type
• Wetlands • Freshwater
ecosystems • Alpine ecosystems
15.2 By 2020, promote the implementation of sustainable management of all types of forests, halt deforestation, restore degraded forests and substantially increase afforestation and reforestation globally
15.2.1 Progress towards sustainable forest management
• Forest
Tatra National Park, Slovakia National legislation: • National Park International designation: • Natura 2000 network • IUCN Management Category 2
Kokorinsko , Czech Republic National legislation: • Protected Landscape Area International designation: • Natura 2000 network • IUCN Management Category 5
Targets Indicator NBS
14.2 By 2030, sustainably manage and protect marine and coastal ecosystems to avoid significant adverse impacts, including by strengthening their resilience, and take action for their restoration in order to achieve healthy and productive oceans.
14.2.1 Proportion of national exclusive economic zones managed using ecosystem-based approaches
• Mangroves
Seychelles National Strategy and Plan of Action (NSAP) Initiative: Mangroves for the future
• Promoting investment in conserving coastal ecosystems as development “infrastructure”
• Fostering collaborative action through a partnership approach
• Addressing long-term threats to coastal ecosystems and livelihoods
• Securing future development in the Indian Ocean region
Seychelles, La Digue
Targets Indicator NBS
11.6 By 2030, reduce the adverse per capita environmental impact of cities, including by paying special attention to air quality and municipal and other waste management
11.6.2 Annual mean levels of fine particulate matter (e.g. PM2.5 and PM10) in cities (population weighted)
• Trees
11.7 By 2030, provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces, in particular for women and children, older persons and persons with disabilities
11.7.1 Average share of the built-up area of cities that is open space for public use for all, by sex, age and persons with disabilities
• Open green public spaces such as urban parks
Open & inclusive green public spaces
An inclusive and green urban fabric is a central part of healthy communities and contributes to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs; e.g. SDG 11 ‘Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable’).
Flicker: A Coruna
Human Health & Wellbeing
Utilisation of urban green
spaces
Increase
Targets Indicator NBS
6.3 By 2030, improve water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping and minimizing release of hazardous chemicals and materials, halving the proportion of untreated wastewater and substantially increasing recycling and safe reuse globally
6.3.2 Proportion of bodies of water with good ambient water quality
• Forests • Wetlands (e.g.
Reedbeds)
Credit: https://www.naturalinfrastructureforbusiness.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Veolia_NI4BizCase-Study_Aquisafe.pdf (WBCSD,2019)
Mitigation of contaminants to protect water resources
Excess levels of nitrates in water (from agriculture)
Closure of water plant
NBS treatment system
(constructed wetlands)
Complying with the regulatory requirements (less than 50
mg/L)
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EU Policies Policy Field EU Policy Instrument
Green Infrastructure Strategy (2013)
Biodiversity Habitat Directive (1992)
Bird Directive (2009)
Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 (2011)
Water Water Framework Directive (2000)
Floods Directive (2006)
Forestry Forest Strategy (2013)
Adaptation Adaptation Strategy (2013)
Agriculture and Regional Policy
Urban Agenda (2016)
Common Agriculture Policy (2013)
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EU PoliciesPolicy Field EU Policy Instrument
Green Infrastructure Strategy (2013)
Biodiversity Habitat Directive (1992)
Bird Directive (2009)
Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 (2011)
Water Water Framework Directive (2000)
Floods Directive (2006)
Forestry Forest Strategy (2013)
Adaptation Adaptation Strategy (2013)
Agriculture and Regional Policy
Urban Agenda (2016)
Common Agriculture Policy (2013)
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EU PoliciesPolicy Field EU Policy Instrument
Green Infrastructure Strategy (2013)
Biodiversity Habitat Directive (1992)
Bird Directive (2009)
Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 (2011)
Water Water Framework Directive (2000)
Floods Directive (2006)
Forestry Forest Strategy (2013)
Adaptation Adaptation Strategy (2013)
Agriculture and Regional Policy
Urban Agenda (2016)
Common Agriculture Policy (2013)
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EU PoliciesPolicy Field EU Policy Instrument
Green Infrastructure Strategy (2013)
Biodiversity Habitat Directive (1992)
Bird Directive (2009)
Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 (2011)
Water Water Framework Directive (2000)
Floods Directive (2006)
Forestry Forest Strategy (2013)
Adaptation Adaptation Strategy (2013)
Agriculture and Regional Policy
Urban Agenda (2016)
Common Agriculture Policy (2013)
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EU Policies
Timeline of EU policies to the concept of NBS / GI / ES
Credit: Bouwma, I. et all (2018), p. 217
Types of NBS
interventions by
sector in analysed
EU policies
Credit: NATURE-BASED SOLUTIONS IN EUROPEAN AND NATIONAL POLICY FRAMEWORKS (McKenna Davis, Katrina Abhold, Linda Mederake, Doris Knoblauch)
Nature based solutions in practice
Local regulation and Governance model
Claudia de Luca
Alma Mater Studiorum, Università di Bologna
THINKNATURE Summer School, Chania, 3rd September 2019
Urban Agenda on NBS and Sustainable Land Use
URBAN AGENDA for EU – Pact of Amsterdam
• May 30, 2016. 28 EU ministers responsible for urban policies sign the Pact of Amsterdam. This agreement establishes the Urban Agenda for the EU and lays down its fundamental principles.
• “The Urban Agenda for the EU is a new working method to ensure maximum utilization of the growth potential of cities and to successfully tackle social challenges. It aims to promote cooperation between Member States, cities, the European Commission and other stakeholders, in order to stimulate growth, livability and innovation in the cities of Europe”
URBAN AGENDA for EU
The heart of the Urban Agenda is the development of 12 partnerships related to 12 "urban challenges", thus allowing cities, Member States, EU institutions and stakeholders as NGOs and business partners, to work together to:
Better regulation - eliminate legislative barriers at local or national level
Better funding - ensure that funding actually reaches cities and funds are spent on their priorities; to talk more
about funding with the European Commission and with the Member States
Better knowledge base and knowledge exchange - make available the immense wealth of knowledge and
experience that each city develops.
URBAN AGENDA– 14 Priority Themes
From FUTURIUM platform: https://ec.europa.eu/futurium/en/urban-agenda
SUL and NBS Partnership: Members
• Urban Areas: Bologna (IT, Coordinator), Antwerp (BE), Cork (IE), Lille (FR), Águeda (PT), Stavanger (NO), Stuttgart (DE), Zagreb (HR)
• Member States: Poland (Coordinator), Cyprus, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Portugal, Slovenia
• Other participants and stakeholders: European Commission (DG REGIO, DG ENV, DG JRC, DG R&I), ICLEI,INCASÒL, European Investment Bank (EIB), EUROCITIES
• Observers: URBACT, The Netherlands, EEA, ISOCARP
SUL_NBS – objectives and vision
Inspiring principle • Ensure an efficient and sustainable use of land and natural resources, contribute to the development of
compact, liveable and inclusive European cities for all. General objectives • Promote a compact model of liveable city • Bring to the attention and spread the NBS as tools for the sustainability and liveability of urban spaces Priority focus • Land take/Land use • Under used urban area and brownfields • Functional Urban Areas - FUAs • Nature-based solutions - NBS
SUL-NBS: Action
Plan Work flow and process: • A year of participatory work, seven project meetings, definition of 9 ACTIONS → included in a most
exhaustive ACTION PLAN • For each action have been identified: obstacles → objectives → timeline → responsible partners in the
implementation → expected results
Action N. and name Field Action Leader
1 INCLUDING LAND TAKE IN IMPACT ASSESSMENT PROCEDURES Bologna e UNIBO
2 FINANCING MODELS FOR BROWNFIELD DEVELOPMENT Luxembourg
3 IDENTIFYING AND MANAGING UNDER-USED LAND URBACT
4 INDICATORS OF LAND TAKE Bologna e UNIBO
5 PROMOTING FUA COOPERATION AS A TOOL TO MITIGATE URBAN SPRAWL Poland
6 BETTER REGULATION TO BOOST NBS AT EU AND LOCAL LEVEL Bologna e UNIBO
7 BETTER FINANCING ON NATURE-BASED SOLUTIONS (7.1 & 7.2) Zagreb
8 AWARENESS RAISING ON NATURE-BASED SOLUTIONS AND URBAN SPRAWL Bologna
9 DEVELOPING COMMON STANDARDS AND INDICATORS Stavanger
Action 6: Objectives
EU level: Based on the review of EU instruments and legislation available, the Partnership believes that
there is a need to better integrate NBS within existing directives and other existing EU-level legislation and documents. Reference to the “urban environment” needs to be better investigated to understand how the urban dimension should be integrated into EU policies and strategies
Local level: National and regional authorities and cities of the partnership intend to better understand to
which extent NBS has already been included and integrated into their national or local strategies (climate adaptation, urban and master plans, resilience strategies, etc.) and to what extent the existing minimum legal requirements already take NBS benefits into consideration, or the need to further integrate NBS.
Action 6: Expected Outcomes
EU level: • Recommendations to the EU Commission on a better integration of NBS’ within existing
Directives and other EU-level documents (reference to Water and Flood directive) Local level: • an overview of existing strategies where NBS play or could play an important role in the cities
participating in the action; • an overview of existing minimum legal requirement on NBS in their urban plans and
building regulations; • Proposing better integration of NBS into existing strategies (in terms of potential target and
actions to achieve those) and into minimum legal requirements
Can minimum legal
requirements and planning
standards boost NBS
uptakes?
Action 6: Can minimum legal requirements and planning standards boost NBS uptakes? Some thoughts from Paris Forum session:
Yes:
we should set compulsory standards such as xx m² of green area per inhabitant Yes, if we use measurable “green factors” for projects
Yes but: Yes, if we reverse the way of setting rules. For example: instead of setting a minimum of parking spots per building/district, set a maximum -> maximum instead of minimum
No: in some countries, e.g. USA, minimums might not work. It’s better to have guidelines
Action 6: Can minimum legal requirements and planning standards boost NBS uptakes?
If not, what could boost this process at local level?
Raising the awareness of citizens. With well aware people, regulations won’t be necessary
Start with a strategy and push it (especially by the mayor), if you want to achieve something
Provide more data and inputs, through several models, before making plans.
Further examples and thoughts from THINKNATURE Paris forum
Main thoughts of the session: • Several good practices including NBS
requirement into legal planning mechanisms, most of them coming from Third countries or EU Northern countries (i.e. NL obligates to have water storage on rooftops, Bilbao imposed a minimum of green areas in its master plan)
• There are often conflicting regulations (EU directives, national directives, local directives) Sometimes conflicting rules apply within a same city.
Example from local regulation – top down
From the partnership: Bologna and Zagreb
Zagreb:
• The spatial plan of the city (2018) defines that new parks within urban areas will be shaped in accordance with the natural features of the area and equipped according to the needs of the inhabitants of the settlement and will normally provide 5 m2 of park area per inhabitant.
Bologna:
• Building urban code related with soil permeability; indeed the minimum permeability should be ensured through the calculation of a specific indicator of reduced building impact (RIE).
• Emilia Romagna region just released the new urban planning law (Regional law 24/2017) where the former quantitative minimum legal requirements for green areas has been implemented considering a wider and more qualitative point of view.
London and Toronto
Toronto:
• Green Roof By Law established that green Roofs are required on: New commercial, institutional and residential development with a minimum gross floor area of 2,000 m² New additions to commercial, institutional and residential development where the new gross floor area added is greater than 2,000 m² Industrial buildings greater than 2,000 m² gross floor area
London:
• Green roofs (living roofs) and green walls (living walls) have, over the last decade, become the most obvious manifestation of urban greening in London. This has been driven by the ambitious and pioneering Living Roofs and Walls Policy which was first introduced into the London Plan in 2008 following the publication in that year of a technical report, Living Roofs and Walls, supporting the policy.
Bristol The Bristol’s Park and Green Space strategy set the Green Space Standard composed by:
Quality standard – a level of quality which all spaces should attain
Distance standard - how far should people have to travel to reach a particular type of space.
Quantity standard - how much green space of different types there should be.
Planning NBS- overview of 2 case studies
Bologna
Barcelona
ECOSYSTEM SERVICES
HYBRID NSBs
ECOSYSTEM-BASED
NBSs and GREEN
INFRASTRUCTURES
Scale
Impact P
ha
se
Multiple Single
Small (building) Medium (district) Large (city, landscape)
Pla
nnnig
and
imple
menta
tion
Evalu
ation a
nd
assessm
ent
De Luca et al. 2018
Participatory approaches – bottom-up
Participatory processes: Bologna Bologna: participatory budgeting and neighbourhood labs
Participatory processes: Barcelona Bologna: Decidim process and platform
Conclusion
Conclusion - from theory to practice
• Normative and regulation are really strong
tool to support further implementation and
systematization of NBSs
• Need to change the approach and the
mentality within local authorities
• Regulation against guidelines
• Monitoring plan, strategies and criteria are fundamental to achieve the scope – very good plans and strategies are often ineffective
• Innovative governance and participatory methods can also boost NBS – there is an increasing request for greener and healthier cities from citizens