Nature Positive Cities Efforts to Advance the Tranistion Barranquilla 2025

Governance Policy and regulation Financing Challenges identified –Several central governments have concentrated environmental investment in rural areas or conservation areas outside the urban perimeter, relegating the nature agenda to the city. This lack of policy continuity limits the flow of resources and the institutional support needed to consolidate green infrastructure and ecological restoration projects in critical urban areas. –Managing environmental initiatives requires coordination among multiple government levels – national, regional and local – with responsibilities distributed across various teams and departments. This administrative fragmentation creates significant interinstitutional coordination challenges, making it difficult to monitor project progress comprehensively. Improvement areas –Promote institutional reforms or agreements that allow territorial entities to access repayable resources, such as international loans or climate financing, more directly and quickly. –Develop project proposals that clearly demonstrate the social, economic and environmental value of urban nature initiatives to attract national and international support. –Design and implement training programmes for public officials, urban planners and decision-makers on the approach and benefits of NbS. –Work in coordination with the national and local levels to adjust or create clear regulations that define technical standards, eligibility criteria and procedures for including NbS in infrastructure, territorial planning and land use projects.Challenges identified –Barranquilla is at a key stage in strengthening its political and regulatory framework for environmental sustainability. The city has the opportunity to further assess its natural environments, which will allow for more precise action plans and the definition of strategic improvement paths tailored to each ecosystem. –Urban action plans exist for conservation and environmental management; however, assessments of local ecosystems need to be more comprehensive to support the development of effective context-specific improvement strategies. –Although sustainable alternatives offer proven long-term environmental and economic benefits, traditional solutions are still often favoured because they are perceived as more immediately profitable and reliable. –A fragmented array of environmental management instruments prevents the region from defining clear municipal priorities and achieving coordinated, measurable progress toward sustainability and ecosystem recovery. Improvement areas –Assess the city’s strengths and weaknesses in each enabling factor to understand potential opportunities. –Strengthen education and public-sector understanding of the measurable economic and environmental benefits of NbS for cities. –Harmonize regional environmental management instruments into a single, goal-driven framework that favours nature and ecological restoration.Challenges identified –The current international financial architecture is country-centred, directing most development finance to national – rather than sub-national – governments. This limits cities’ direct access to capital and sidelines local priorities in funding decisions. –Municipal access to international finance is restricted by the need to align with national policies, loan conditions and timelines that rarely match local planning cycles. –Complex requirements – such as sovereign guarantees, compliance with sustainability standards and extensive bureaucratic procedures – further delay or block cities’ ability to secure affordable financing. –Cities are often perceived as high-risk borrowers due to political cycles, weak credit ratings and institutional limitations, resulting in higher interest rates, shorter loan tenors and limited investment in climate and sustainability projects. Improvement areas –Continue to strengthen partnerships with multilateral development banks, philanthropic organizations and private-sector entities that have a clear nature-positive mandate and can help the city achieve its nature-positive objectives. –Assess the feasibility of financing projects through green financing mechanisms such as green bonds, environmental impact fees, tax incentives and green revolving funds.Summary of challenges and improvement areas Nature Positive: Cities’ Efforts to Advance the Transition – Barranquilla 33