The current climate crisis and global biodiversity loss deserve due attention, they are equally and significantly harming the environment, infrastructure, economy, health and well-being of all. Thus, strategies for conserving biodiversity and mitigating climate change are mutually beneficial and necessary. Given this context, this year is strategic to leverage global governance on social and environmental challenges. The 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 27) will be held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt: the COP of implementation, as a result, it is expected to ensure the continuity of negotiations on the Paris Agreement; and the 15th Convention on Biological Diversity, in Montreal, Canada, with 2022 being a key year for the long-term vision for biological diversity and for the formulation of the new Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.
Local governments have a fundamental role in carrying out the solutions thought out at these conferences, considering that they will be concretely implemented in forests, cities and communities. Home to a quarter of the Brazilian population, Brazilian capitals have great responsibility in ensuring the sustainability of the territory in which these people live. Fortunately, Brazilian capitals are already defending the environment, making it possible to increase their ambitions and improve their actions in the present decade in terms of combating climate change and conserving, restoring and reducing threats to biodiversity. In this sense, the meeting, held in virtual format, had the participation of invited experts to debate strategies and exchange experiences between different actors on the importance of protecting biodiversity.
Considering that the articulation of different actors and levels of power is essential, the meeting addressed the actions on the agenda at the global, national, regional and local levels, in addition to presenting how they are integrated. The Forum started the first session of the meeting ‘Biodiversity and Good Practices: importance and benefits at a national and global level’ with the moderation of Leta Vieira, Technical Manager of ICLEI. Nathan Belcavello de Oliveira, Coordinator of Support for Regional and Urban Management at the Ministry of Regional Development, discussed that the National Policy for Sustainable Urban Development in Brazil aims to strengthen actions such as nature-based solutions, which often depend on an articulation between cities and states, that is, he emphasizes "(...) working public policies in a new format that is not simply transferring resources, but a process of exchanges". Tiago Zenero, Advisor of the SNUC Consolidation Project/ Lifeweb by GIZ Brasil, presented the project to accelerate Nature Conservation Units through the National System of Conservation Units - SNUC Life Web, with tools for managing this space that "aims at economic expansion and diversification, based on sustainability and respect for differences and with spaces created for the interaction and integration of citizens".
In the session that discussed from a local and regional perspective, Rafael Andreguetto, Director of Environmental Policies at the Paraná State Secretariat for Sustainable Development and Tourism, presented the secretaries the Ecological ICMS, a reward to municipalities for environmental conservation and a guarantee that the natural heritage is conserved, showing the example of Paraná. "If we want to fulfill the 'Decade of Action', we need to go beyond advocacy, because we prepare ourselves to do the things that are most important. It's not by not doing it, but we will do it quickly to invest in other actions." - Paul Dale, International and Biodiversity Advisor at the São Paulo State Secretariat for Infrastructure and Environment, on the importance of working on a biodiversity agenda integrated with the climate change agenda.
Finally, we had the presence of Oliver Hillel, Program Officer of the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, who talked to the secretaries about the possibility of participating and acting in COP15. He highlighted that, unlike the governance on climate that takes place within the scope of the UN climate agency, the CBD offers a specific work plan for local governments, thus being not only recommended, but necessary for the participation of these bodies in the negotiations. We ended with a call and an invitation to all secretaries to sign the Edinburgh Declaration, which seeks to express the desires, contributions, demands and common commitments of subnational governments around the world in the adoption and implementation of the biodiversity agenda.