This strategic partnership between UNESCO and the Stockholm Resilience Centre links science with policy and practice by addressing three major challenges to urban governance and ecosystem management: 1. Bridging the divide between science and practice through the creation of an international network of urban arenas that incorporates local knowledge and interdisciplinary science;
2. Developing innovative and adaptive systems of regional and local governance of urban landscapes that sustain ecosystem services; and
3. Creating platforms for urban resilience that foster equity, improved ecosystem functions and sustainable urban infrastructure.
For the moment, active sites in the network are Canberra (Australia),Cape Town and Stellenbosch (Johannesburg, South Africa), New Orleans and Istanbul. Other urban regions - Rome, Berlin, Phoenix and Bangalore (India) - have expressed interest.
Activities
URBIS was launched at the Urban Biodiversity and Design Conference URBIO Erfurt 24-26 May, and the 1st Mayors Conference on Local Action for Biodiversity, at the 9th Conference of the Parties to the CBD in Bonn, 26-28 May 2008.
The research agenda and methodology were presented to Mayors and local authorities and links were forged with scientists, local authorities, local government networks and international organizations working in the urban landscape. We are now working towards CBD COP 10 in Nagoya in October 2010 in partnership with the CBD coordinated Cities and Biodiversity task force.
Conferences and meetings: Linking science to policy and back
Initiating a dialogue between researchers, policy-makers and civil society is one of the core outcomes of the group´s work.
Members of the group have organized, participated and/or contributed to a series of events. Among upcoming ones can be mentioned workshops in Istanbul, November 2008; Cape Town, December 2008; Bangalore February 2009; World Water Forum, Istanbul October 2009; and Cape Town, October 2009.
Regular internal discussions take place via Marratech, a virtual meeting room. There is also a fruitful exchange of researchers over periods of two to five months at the time, so far between Stockholmand, India and vice versa, and between Stockholm and Cape Town.
