On 25 and 26 September 2024, McKenna Davis and Natalia Burgos of Ecologic Institute contributed to two landmark nature-based solutions (NbS) events in Brussels, focusing on advancing NbS through collaborative efforts.

The podcast "Polski Kongres Klimatyczny 2024" features highlights from the discussion that took place at the Polish Climate Congress in March 2024. In the podcast, Ewa Iwaszuk, Fellow at Ecologic Institute, discusses the importance of "green synergy" in municipal cooperation and emphasizes the role of nature-based solutions (NbS) in the development of sustainable cities. Ewa Iwaszuk highlighted how the work of Ecologic Institute and its partners supports cities to effectively integrate these approaches into their infrastructure projects in order to tackle climate change and improve quality of life.

At the occasion of the 16th NESS – Nordic Environmental Social Science Conference in Turku (Finland), from 4 to 6 June 2024, Ecologic Institute's Doris Knoblauch presented the findings of two projects in a workshop dealing with "Governing urban climate transformations: Towards climate neutrality and resilience".

From 15 to 17 May 2024, Barcelona hosted the CONEXUS Conference, a flagship event bringing together over 100 experts from Europe and Latin America to discuss nature-based solutions (NbS) for climate-resilient cities. This conference was a melting pot of ideas and innovations, fostering exchange on the economic, social, environmental, and political facets of NBS implementation. Among the key sessions were "Governance, Politics, and Planning" and "Economics, Values, and Work," where Ecologic experts Dr. Ulf Stein, McKenna Davis, and Jenny Tröltzsch shared their research and insights.

As part of the Polish Climate Congress from 19 to 20 March 2024 in Warsaw, Ewa Iwaszuk, a Fellow at Ecologic Institute, took part in a panel discussion on implementing nature-based solutions in urban areas. She was joined on the panel by Joanna Kiernicka-Allavena (Climate-KIC), Anna Banaszczyk (World Bank), Marcin Sadura (Warsaw Municipal Sewage Company) and Robert Skowroński (Szczecin Marshal’s Office). The discussion was moderated by Mateusz Kowali (Polish Green Network).

Doris Knoblauch, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute and Coordinator for Urban and Spatial Governance, gave a presentation on 23 February 2024 at the event "Climate Protection through Nature-based Solutions", organized by Verbraucherzentrale Sachsen. She gave an introduction to the effects of climate change in Germany and Leipzig and presented the concept of "nature-based solutions". She also showed which nature-based solutions can help to adapt to which climate change challenge. Finally, Doris Knoblauch presented examples from Leipzig.

McKenna Davis, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute and Coordinator of Nature-based Solutions, held a keynote at the online webinar ‘Engaging the public in GBGI projects’, where she spoke about inclusive governance and how to learn from real world policy practices to support co-governance in practice. She also presented the Urban Governance Atlas.

Nature-based solutions (NbS) are widely recognized for their potential to transform urban spaces into sustainable and environmentally friendly environments. Yet open questions remain around how this can be done in practice, what role different stakeholders can play, and what key challenges and opportunities exist. These topics were explored in the science-policy symposium "Regreening Cities with Nature-based solutions in EU and China – Bridging Science, Policy, and Practice". Ecologic Institute's McKenna Davis presented insights from the INTERLACE project on a panel in the session "Enabling Transformation in Urban areas with Nature Based Solutions".

A Cities Talk Nature Global Engagement Event was organized as part of the INTERLACE project in Envigado, Colombia and streamed online on 23 and 24 November 2023 to explore these topics in more depth. Entitled ‘Rethinking urban-rural linkages for people and biodiversity’, the conference convened over 100 municipal actors and practitioners from Europe and Latin America interested in harnessing the potential of NBS in their cities and regions. Co-organised by UCLG, Humboldt Institute Colombia and Ecologic Institute, the event featured diverse formats, including field visits, practical workshops, and peer-to-peer discussions.

At the occasion of the 10th Anniversary Edition of the European Urban Resilience Forum, Ecologic Institute's Doris Knoblauch gave two presentations, showcasing insights both of the CLEVER Cities project as well as the INTERLACE project.

The CLEVER Cities project's final conference "Nature in the City – Advancing social impact through nature-based solutions (NBS)" was held on 26 and 27 September 2023. McKenna Davis, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, moderated the session "Putting Theory into Practice: Mainstreaming Nature-based Solutions into Policy". The session explored the fundamental question: How can we integrate NBS into the fabric of urban policy and governance to bridge the gap between theory and action?

At the NetworkNature Annual Event held on 8 June 2023 at the Flagey Building in Brussels (Belgium) participants gathered to explore the transformative potential of Nature-based Solutions (NBS) across sectors and communities. One noteworthy panel discussion included Natalia Burgos, representing the INTERLACE project, alongside representatives from the European Commission, the European Environmental Bureau, and the German Environment Agency.

Doris Knoblauch moderated the networking meeting of innovative climate protection projects in the framework of the National Climate Initiative (NKI) for Ecologic Institute on 7 and 8 June 2023.

On 7 June 2023, Malek Al Jebaie presented the findings of a joint research investigation conducted by Ecologic Institute, supervised by McKenna Davis, and the International Institute of Industrial Environmental Economics at Lund University at the Ecocity World Summit in London at the Barbican Centre. The presentation primarily focused on the key trends and patterns observed in 151 European cases from the Urban Governance Atlas, whose development was coordinated by Ecologic Institute within the INTERLACE project.

As part of the Future Leaders' Global Policy Forum from 22 to 23 May 2023 in Milan, Benedict Bueb, Researcher at Ecologic Institute, took part in a panel discussion on tackling the climate crisis and its impacts. He was joined on the panel by Abla Abdel Latif, Director of the Egyptian Center for Economic Studies (ECES) and Nicola Monti, CEO of Edison. Keynote speeches by Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vera Songwe, Co-Chair of the High Level Panel on Climate Finance of the World Economic Forum (WEF) completed the panel.

McKenna Davis, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, was one of 8 experts speaking on the topic of 'strategies for urban biodiversity' during the Digital Blue Green Event hosted by the Scandinavian Green Roof Institute on 14 March 2023. She began by outlining key challenges facing urban water management, including an increasing frequency and intensity of heavy rainfall events, urban surface sealing and combined sewer overflow events. McKenna then introduced the NICHES project and its aim to rethink the status quo by deploying nature-based solutions and approaching the urban water system as a holistic Social-Ecological-Technical-System (SETS).

On 15 January 2023 Ewa Iwaszuk gave a lecture to the students of Intercollegiate Academy of Climate, a post-graduate diploma course jointly run by three universities in Poland. Ewa’s lecture presented key steps and elements that need to be considered by local governments when developing climate mitigation and adaptation strategies. It also presented a landscape of local governance instruments that can be developed and implemented to support integrated planning, cross-sectoral cooperation, participation of citizens and sustainable implementation of such strategies.

Climate adaptation and climate protection are among the most important challenges of our time and have therefore become a major policy responsibility. The same applies to protecting biodiversity and ensuring the availability of water. Nature-based solutions (NBS) can play an essential role in addressing these challenges, as they are multifunctional and can generate high synergy effects. But what exactly are NBS, what do they have to do with climate adaptation, and can they be implemented? Sandra Naumann, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, answered these questions in an interview with adelphi. The interview was published in the fifth issue of the Center for Climate Adaptation's Newsletter.

From 7 to 19 December 2022, the international community is scheduled to come together to discuss the future of the Convention on Biological Diversity. One of the key items that will be negotiated at the upcoming COP15 is the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. In the light of these upcoming negotiations on 2 November 2022, the Guarini Center on Environmental, Energy and Land Use Law at New York University School of Law and the German Consulate General in New York organized an event with experts from New York City and Berlin to discuss the role of local governments in implementing global biodiversity targets, including the ways in which cities can support urban biodiversity. Sandra Naumann, Senior Fellow at the Ecologic Institute, presented Berlin's strategy to promote urban biodiversity and participated in the final panel.

From 21 to 22 September 2022, the INTERLACE project held the first European Cities Talk Nature Engagement Event in Kraków (Poland). Sandra Naumann, Coordinator of the INTERLACE project and Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, opened the conference by presenting the INTERLACE project and its work on the ground to the audience.

On 16 and 17 August 2022, the 3rd International Forum on Urbanism – Portoviejo Vision 2035, for urban development and design of cities on a human scale with a focus on climate change, was held in the Las Vegas Park in the city of Portoviejo. Natalia Burgos Cuevas, Researcher at Ecologic Institute, was invited as keynote speaker to talk about on the promotion of nature-based solutions in Latin America drawing on the insights gathered from the Urban Governance Atlas, developed in INTERLACE.

In an interview with Sinan Reçber of the Berlin daily Der Tagesspiegel, Rodrigo Vidaurre and Benedict Bueb of Ecologic Institute discussed what measures can be taken in various sectors to lessen the impact of droughts in Germany. In addition to water-sensitive urban development, which increasingly relies on nature-based solutions to store water during dry periods, this includes the cultivation of drought-resistant agricultural varieties as well as the rewetting of peatlands.

Concrete and asphalt make cities up to 10 degrees hotter than the rural areas. In Poland, however, there is a persistent impression that greenspace is a nuisance that is best gotten rid of, says Ewa Iwaszuk of the Ecologic Institute in Berlin. She points out that the situation in Germany is better because nature has been considered an indispensable part of the city since the 1990s. She talks about innovative nature-based solutions that can mitigate climate change in cities and explains the introduction of blue-green infrastructure. Monika Sędzierska from the COSMO editorial office moderated the conversation.

On 4 July 2022, McKenna Davis from the Ecologic Institute spoke to the 2nd step of this methodology: EXPLORING existing urban greening policies, plans and regulations to identify gaps and understand local needs. Representing the CLEVER Cities project, she provided insights on how to ensure coherent and coordinated policymaking and align objectives across sectors and policies. She also highlighted relevant EU policies and initiatives supporting nature-based solutions to contextualise local action towards NBS mainstreaming.

How can European citizens become architects of the cities of tomorrow? The New European Bauhaus is an initiative to make our living spaces and experiences more beautiful, sustainable and inclusive. Nature-based solutions are seen as a key element to achieve this vision. To this end, the hybrid conference 'LIFE in the New European Bauhaus' was held from 15 until 17 November 2021. Sandra Naumann from the Ecologic Institute was invited as an expert to share insights from the H2020 INTERLACE project.

The climate crisis is impacting cities and communities across the globe. As extreme weather events become increasingly frequent, cities must work together to find effective nature-based solutions (NBS) to adapt to their changing climates. As lead partner in the BEGIN project, the Dutch city of Dodrecht welcomed cities, practitioners, researchers and citizens to join the conversation on the future of livable cities. To this end, the NEXT LEVEL 2021 conference was held as a hybrid event on the 20th of October 2021. Ecologic Institute's McKenna Davis was invited as an expert to present on NBS governance and policy.

Ecologic Institute together with the ICLEI African Secretariat and Durham University co-organized a session 'Urban Action Towards a New Deal for Nature' at the IUCN World Conservation Congress on 7 September 2021. The session, moderated by Ecologic Institute's McKenna Davis, demonstrated the success of urban action for biodiversity through evidence and experiences from around the world.

The Urban Agenda for the EU recognizes the importance of nature-based solutions as tools for sustainable recovery and development. Yet implementation and mainstreaming at city level remain limited. Can the European Green Deal support these efforts? What role can European research projects play? To answer these questions, McKenna Davis was invited as an expert to contribute to the European Urban Knowledge Network’s (EUKN) Policy Lab on 'The Urban Agenda for the EU, its 'green' actions and the European Green Deal'. The 18 March 2021 event aimed to unravel the 'green' actions of the Urban Agenda for the EU and develop concrete messages for the ministers under Slovenia's Presidency on how to support cities dealing with regulatory obstacles when trying to reach environmental goals.

Invited by the Indian Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), McKenna Davis (Ecologic Institute) joined the "International Knowledge Conclave on Green Infrastructure" and presented on 'Policy instruments to promote urban nature-based solutions in Europe'. She focused on the range of policy, planning and financial instruments relevant for nature-based solution design, implementation and maintenance within a European context. Her presentation slides and a guidance document she co-authored are available for download.

With around 75% of EU population living in urban areas, cites will play a key role in curbing greenhouse gas emissions, reducing vulnerability to impacts of climate change and building resilience. Multifunctional nature-based solutions can be a powerful tool to jointly address climate change mitigation and adaptation in urban areas. A number of innovative pilot projects introduced in Berlin in the last 20 years were able to demonstrate in practice how cities can save energy, cool down buildings, reduce urban heat island effect and sequester and store carbon by working with natural climate solutions.

How to increase regional food production and consumption for and in cities? That was the guiding question for the panel discussion with Stephanie Wunder, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, Wolfram Günther, Saxon Minister of Agriculture, Valentin Thurn, film director and chairman of the Cologne Food Policy Council and Jörg Naumann, farmer and representative of the alliance "Land schafft Verbindung" on 9 September 2020 at the German Hygiene Museum in Dresden.

The Barcelona Centre for International Affairs (CIDOB) and the Àerea Metropolitanade Barcelona (AMB) invited Doris Knoblauch from Ecologic Institute to speak at the workshop "Metropolitan Challenges in the post 2020 European Union" in Barcelona (Spain), on 10 March 2020. In her presentation, the expert discussed the substantive and organisational importance of the European Green Deal for cities and metropolitan areas.

With future climate neutrality in view green activists from Berlin's city districts discussed local climate action at the "#FromVisionToAction!" conference. In her introductory keynote, Dr. Camilla Bausch elaborated on the current global political trends as well as the meaning of "climate neutrality", and discussed options for local action in the subsequent panel discussion with Regine Günther (Berlin Senator), Sascha Müller-Kraenner (DUH), and Clara Herrmann (District Councilor).

On 20 November 2019, Doris Knoblauch of Ecologic Institute was invited as an expert to a hearing on "Climate Protection in the Pankow District" at the Pankow District Assembly in Berlin. The expert's presentation dealt with possible climate protection measures in terms of content (e.g. how the change in mobility or nutrition can succeed), but focused on organisational aspects, such as how climate protection can be anchored as a cross-sectional task in the district administration and within the population.

Hannes Schritt hold a presentation concerning water in Berlin and Virtual Water at the BUNDjugend German-Egyptian Youth Exchange in Berlin. As part of the presentation he explained the water cycle of Berlin: Treated waste water is reused as drinking water to ensure water availability. In addition, Berlin gets drinking water by river bank filtration from Havel, Spree and Dahme. As a result of both, Berlin's drinking water quality depends on good water quality of the effluent of the waste water treatment plants and the rivers crossing the city. After presenting primarily technical aspects Hannes Schritt talked about political conflicts and inititiatives concerning water in Berlin and the concept of Virtual Water. The presentation slides are available for download.

At the 2019 European Urban Green Infrastructure Conference (EUGIC), Ecologic Institute's McKenna Davis chaired a session looking at the role of Horizon 2020 funding for nature-based solutions (NBS) and co-organized a side session to present insights from the NATURVATION project. The conference took place from 10 to 11 April 2019 in London (England). Approximately 350 urban green infrastructure experts, practitioners, policy makers, designers and implementers came together to share and celebrate nature-based solutions for climate-adapted, resilient, healthy cities.

What role can nature-based solutions (NBS) play in climate change adaptation and mitigation? How can NBS be applied in order to achieve integrated risk management and resilience? These questions were addressed at the 'Paris Forum on NBS'. Sandra Naumann, Senior Researcher at Ecologic Institute, presented in the plenary session insights from city initiatives in Europe to demonstrate the potential of nature-based solution and to highlight remaining challenges needing to be addressed.

"More organic, more regional food, fit for the future – Transition of food systems through urban-rural cooperation" was the motto of this year's STADTLANDBIO Congress. Stephanie Wunder presented the policy recommendations of the research project "Rural Urban Nexus". She focused on the relevance of secure access to land for regional food producers.

Dr. Camilla Bausch of Ecologic Institute spoke on the evolving role of cities in the context of the UN climate regime at a seminar organised by the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs (CIDOB) in Spain. This seminar on "The place and role of cities in global governance" brought together representatives of leading international think tanks that study cities. In her presentation on "The Evolving Role of Cities as Non-state Actors in the International Climate Regime", Dr. Bausch outlined the evolution of the role of cities and city networks in the international climate regime over the last three decades.

In July 2018, Sandra Naumann from the Ecologic Institute joined the 2nd International Seminar on nature-based solutions in Brasilia (Brazil) to discuss the state of knowledge, experiences and challenges to implement nature-based solutions (NBS). She presented an overview of the almost 1000 NBS contained within the Urban Nature Atlas as well as results from the EU and national policy review conducted as part of the EU-funded NATURVATION project. Attendees included over 100 representatives of Brazilian and European cities, national and local authorities and decision makers, research, business and international organisations. The presentation slides are available online.

From 26 to 28 April 2018, the Global Forum on Urban Resilience and Adaptation took place in Bonn (Germany), just after the March Cities IPCC Conference, a few days ahead of the midyear Bonn climate talks and a few months before nations review SDG 11 on cities and human settlements. For the INNOVA project, Dr. Grit Martinez of Ecologic Institute presented INNOVA's approach to risk assessment in the session "Assessing urban risk and vulnerability and prioritizing action." The presentation slides are available for download.

On 4 December 2017, Matthias Duwe presented insights on national climate laws to inform Spanish debate gained from a joint research effort on long-term climate frameworks at a roundtable discussion organized by the renowned thing tank Elcano Royal Institute. He joined Valvanera Ulargui, head of the Spanish Climate Change Office at the national Environment Ministry and Jesús Fidel González Rouco from the Geosciences Institute (IGEO) of the Complutense University of Madrid and a contributor to the IPCC.

Nature-based solutions (NBS) are increasingly recognised for their potential to contribute to a range of urban challenges and policy objectives. But, to what extent do current policy frameworks support or hinder their implementation? At the international conference on "Nature-based solutions: From Innovation to Common-Use", Ecologic Institute's McKenna Davis addressed this question in a session on 'Blue-green infrasturcture in smart cities'. Held in Tallinn (Estonia) from the 24 to 26 October 2017, the flagship conference was part of the Presidency of the Estonian Republic of the Council of the European Union.

The World Resources Forum 2017 entitled "Accelerating the Resource Revolution" was held in Geneva from 24 to 25 October 2017. Ecologic Institute's Mandy Hinzmann presented the TRAFIS project with a lecture on "Transforming infrastructures towards sustainability - lessons learnt from ICT-based peer-to-peer carsharing service Drivy in Germany". The presentation slides are available for download.

Green infrastructure (GI) and nature-based solutions (NBS) are increasingly recognised for their potential to contribute to a range of urban challenges and policy objectives. But, how can they be mainstreamed in practice and to what extent do current policy frame-works support their implementation? At the international conference on "Urban Green In-frastructure - Connecting People and Nature for Sustainable Cities", Ecologic Institute's McKenna Davis and Sandra Naumann addressed these and other issues in targeted ses-sions. The conference, held in Malmö (Sweden) from 20 to 21 September 2017, was the final conference of the EU-funded GreenSurge project.

Ecologic Institute's Brendan O'Donnell was invited to deliver a keynote address on the topic of community participation in large-scale urban transformation projects in Marseille (France), as part of the EUCANET project.

On 17 August 2016, McKenna Davis, Fellow at Ecologic Institute, held a presentation on "Barriers and Success Factors for cooperation under Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA)" for the German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ) in Bonn. The results presented came from a study commissioned by the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN). Both the presentation and original study are available for download.

At the International Symposium on COP21, Susanne Langsdorf spoke about the role non-state actors can play in international climate negotiations, with a focus on cities. While by definition non-state actors cannot be subject of international law; the Lima-Paris Action Agenda, the "Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action" and activities such as the "non-state actor zone for climate action" provide new options for non-state actors to play a role in the climate negotiations. The presentation "Cities and Climate Change in the context of COP21" is available for download.

On 18 November 2015, McKenna Davis, Fellow at Ecologic Institute, gave a presentation at the European Conference on Biodiversity and Climate Change on Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems. The biennial conference, organized by the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) and the European Network of Heads of Nature Conservation Agencies (ENCA), focused on "Nature-based solutions to climate change in urban areas and their rural surroundings: Linkages between science, policy and practice." The presentation slides are available for download.

On 6 June 2015 around 30 representatives and citizens of the municipality of Ahrensfelde joined the Workshop on the Future of Ahrensfelde. The municipality on the periphery of Berlin successfully participated in the "City of the Future" contest funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research and is one of 52 German cities that will build a vision of its future this year. The Ecologic Institute and the University of Applied Sciences in Eberswalde are supporting the vision building process and a potentially following reality lab. Doris Knoblauch moderated the kick-off workshop.

Invited by BfN (Federal Agency for Nature Conservation) and ENCA (European Network of Heads of Nature Conservation Agencies), Sandra Naumann, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, gave a presentation titled "Nature-Based Solutions – The Case of Sustainable Urbanization". Drawing on the outcomes from the Horizon 2020 Expert Group on Nature-Based Solutions and Re-Naturing Cities commissioned by DG Research & Innovation of the European Commission and in which Sandra Naumann took part, the talk outlined the EU Research and Innovation Agenda on nature-based solutions (NBS) with a particular focus on sustainable urbanization.

The German research agenda in 2015 focuses on the future of cities ("Wissenschaftsjahr Zukunftsstadt"). This topic is also reflected in the curricula of schools. On 20 January 2015, ninety 9-year-old schoolchildren from Potsdam came together to watch the movie "Der blaue Tiger" and then discuss sustainable urban development from their perspectives. Stephanie Wunder, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, was invited to talk with them about the challenges of urban development, sustainability, the participation of children, and other issues.

A new economic paradigm and its multiple facets for future development were intensively discussed at the international "Degrowth Conference" in Leipzig from 2. until 6. September 2014. The Ecologic Institute contributed through presentations, workshops and moderations. Dr. Martin Hirschnitz-Garbers and Susanne Langsdorf presented results obtained in a "Horizon Scanning"-exercise done as part of the SimRess-project. The presentation slides are available for download.