Dr. Aaron Savio Lobo, Senior Technical Advisor of our Marine Programme, recently participated in a Policy Lab on "Integrating Equity and Reframing Urban Nature-based Solutions (NbS) in South Asian Cities.” held in Colombo on the 21-23 Aug. Participants came from major South Asian cities and included a diverse set of backgrounds including academics and practitioners from urban planners, architects, ecologists, govt. and NGO´s.
Dr. Lobo facilitated a group discussion to harness the principles and steps that should be considered when mainstreaming nature-based solutions into city plans using some of the case study examples provided by the participants. Working with these principles, cities can support a healthy biodiversity in a manner that is equitable while continuing to provision a whole range of nature´s benefits, including food, water security, flood protection etc.
Real-world examples from South Asian cities provided evidence that this is possible. These included the restoration of the once-degraded wetlands of Hatirjheel in Dhaka, Bangladesh using a combination of NbS and engineering infrastructure has significantly improved stormwater management and restored a thriving aquatic biodiversity.
A similar and even more ambitious plan is underway to restore approximately 200 wetlands by the Chennai Municipal Corporation as part of their Smart Cities Initiative and disaster mitigating efforts.
Using the Fishing cat as a Flagship species, a small wild carnivore that continues to persist in the shrinking wetlands of the fast-growing city of Colombo, the Urban Fishing Cat Conservation project in Colombo demonstrates how working with communities can not only help build coexistence with these predators (that sometimes steal their chickens and in some cases expensive koi carps!) but can play a larger role in safeguarding and highlighting the important role the cities wetlands play for biodiversity and community.
Most importantly, this policy lab highlighted the role of inter-sectoral collaboration while building bridges between policy, design, and community, paving the way for thriving, resilient cities.
The policy lab was organized by Transitions Research, Colombo Urban Lab, the Stockholm Environment Institute – Asia, the International Centre for Climate Change and Development and the People´s Alliance for Right to Land.