Impact story: Supporting Local Action

In many of the UNA programme cities, municipal officials regularly express interest in implementing on-the-ground nature-related interventions that deliver tangible benefits for communities, while also serving as learning opportunities. In several areas, small-scale pilot projects are being implemented, often with the assistance of external funding.

What we found after extensive engagement with cities, however, is that there aren’t always clear links between these projects and key international agendas, such as the Paris Agreement, the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

By focusing on multi-level governance and awareness building, the UNA programme supported cities in strategically aligning nature-based interventions with global frameworks and designing scalable projects that deliver real value to local communities.