In January 2021, the IUCN Urban Alliance selected UBHub to develop their new Urban Nature Index (UNI). The UBHub consultancy team, Pablo Arturo Lopez-Guijosa, Jennifer Rae Pierce, Michael Halder and Mika Tan, worked diligently and skillfully over the next few months to deliver this new and comprehensive index for urban nature which has been adopted into IUCN’s major goals for 2030.
The Urban Nature Index is a new digital product for cities to self-assess their ecological impact at the local, regional and global levels using a set of 30 indicators grouped under the six themes of Consumption Drivers, Human Pressures, Habitat Status, Species Status, Nature’s Contributions to People and Governance Responses. By completing their self-assessment through the use of the index, cities will not only better understand their impacts on nature but will help them set science-based targets to improve upon those indicators where they may be lacking and to continually monitor their progress accordingly. By doing so, the UNI will serve to enhance environmental transparency and accountability, facilitate goal setting and catalyze action. The index is intended to complement the Singapore Index on Cities’ Biodiversity and the work Science-based Target Network among others.
To develop the UNI, the UBHub consulting team undertook a literature review, deployed a broad consultation survey with cities around the world, and conducted pilot testing sessions with the cities of Saanich (Canada), Mexico City (Mexico), Curridabat (Costa Rica), Paris (France), Lagos (Nigeria), and Singapore.
At the September 2021 IUCN World Conservation Congress in Marseille, France, the UBHub team unveiled the UNI to an audience of delegates attending both in-person and virtually. At the conclusion of the WCC, the IUCN released the Marseille Manifesto which, among other action items, included a commitment by IUCN Members and partners to “... expand universal access to high-quality green spaces and to enhance urban biodiversity in 100 cities, representing around 100 million citizens by 2025, and assessing their impact according to the IUCN Urban Nature Index.”
Moreover, in her Statement for World Cities Day in 2021, Ms Elizabeth Mrema, Executive Secretary of the Convention of Biological Diversity acknowledged the Urban Nature Index: “We need effective metrics of impacts and dependencies such as […] the IUCN Urban Nature Index.” This is recognition of the quality of work of our team and we look forward to helping IUCN achieve this goal.
To know more about the Urban Nature Index, please visit the link below.
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