Nature Positive Financing the Tranisition in Cities

Mainstreaming nature within existing processes, policies and structures offers cities a unique opportunity to enhance environmental resilience, improve public health, and promote community well- being. By recognizing the intrinsic value of natural ecosystems and their services – such as air and water purification, climate regulation and biodiversity preservation – city officials can advocate for more targeted nature-related criteria when it comes to planning, designing and deploying urban development projects. Mainstreaming nature is ensuring that urban governance holistically incorporates water, land, air, ocean and biodiversity considerations, and that regulations and policies are designed with nature in mind. Embedding nature into government processes and policies also improves public advocacy and engagement on nature- related initiatives and promotes nature stewardship. Opportunities for cities Cities can strengthen their understanding of their nature dependencies and introduce nature considerations throughout their governance and processes by: –Conducting a systematic review of current policies, processes and frameworks to assess opportunities to improve cities’ relationships with nature. –Introducing interdepartmental collaborations to ensure nature management is not isolated, and all relevant departments maintain ownership over their nature realm (e.g. freshwater, land, ocean and biodiversity). –Introducing nature-positive policies that both encourage and incentivize direct investment in nature in cities, but also disincentivize harmful investments. –Implementing a method to regularly track and evaluate progress against city nature objectives.5.2 Assessing opportunities to mainstream nature within existing processes and policies Nature Positive: Financing the Transition in Cities 34