On the 12 and 13 May 2022, the INTERLACE project held the first Latin American Cities Talk Nature Engagement Event in San José, Costa Rica. The project is led by Ecologic Institute.

Cities Talk Nature is a community of practice dedicated to restoring degraded ecosystems in municipalities in Latin America through Nature-based Solutions. Cities Talk Nature is based on two pillars: A webinar series and Engagement Events which are hosted by INTERLACE municipalities.

The event started on 12 May 2022 with a visit to the Interurban Biological Corridor Maria Aguilar (CBIMA) close to San José and the Nature-based Solutions implemented in the area. The municipalities within this corridor (San José, Curridabat, Montes de Oca, Alajuelita and La Union) are part of the INTERLACE project.

On 13 May, the first Latin American Regional Event was held to present the INTERLACE project and its work to municipalities that attended the event. Sandra Naumann, project coordinator of INTERLACE and Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, introduced the project. McKenna Davis, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, presented the Urban Governance Atlas and invited the participants to contribute good practice instruments that enhance Nature-based Solutions in cities to this new online tool. During the event, the first 21 municipalities from Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Puerto Rico, Chile, Germany and Spain signed engagement letters, in which they commit themselves to enhance Nature-based Solutions in their cities.

The Regional Engagement Events of the INTERLACE project are promoted by the city networks that are part of the consortium: the United Union of Local Governments of Costa Rica (UNGL), Latin American Federation of Cities, Municipalities and Local Governments (FLACMA), United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) and Climate Alliance.