The working group “Biodiversity and Environmental Protection” was the first group to be established as part of Connective Cities program ‘municipal recovery to the Covid 19 pandemic’. An initiative by Menjez municipality to develop a project proposal has kick-started a series of fruitful exchanges and peer learning activities. The following is an overview of the accomplishments of this group:

1. Creating a consortium that includes representatives of municipalities, environmental NGO, and academia to develop and submit a concept note to the EU Call for Proposals on Biodiversity and Ecosystems Protection in Lebanon.

2. Good practice examples on forest fires prevention in Shouf Biosphere Reserve- Lebanon and early warning system of forest fires in Lower Saxony-Germany were presented.  In addition, local plans for the preservation of biosphere in the urban areas and countryside in Hannover as well as local projects and plans implemented by Menjez municipality to protect the environment and mitigate the impacts of climate change were also showcased.

3. With a special focus on the topic of urban gardening, 7 municipalities from Jordan and Palestine have developed project ideas to establish community gardens. The municipal representatives were introduced to the concept of permaculture via a field visit and a workshop held in Amman. Furthermore, good practice examples on the use of the ‘Minecraft- Block by block tool’ for the implementation of community gardens in Jordan by the UN Habitat was presented. Another inspirational example ‘Amman Micro lungs’ focused on the role of community building and the use of the Miyawaki technology to grow micro-forests in the capital Amman. Furthermore, activities of the GIZ project ‘Cash for Work’ to support organic gardening in different cities in Jordan were presented and discussed with the WG members.

4. A capacity building lecture on the utilisation of geographic information system in planning for biodiversity and environmental protection was conducted.

Overall, this diverse program has opened up the opportunity for the municipal representatives to benefit from success stories and learn about the new techniques in the field of biodiversity and environmental protection. A number of the municipalities will receive further support to develop their project ideas into bankable proposals to be submitted to funding agencies.

Video about the workshop: Biodversity and environmental protection - insights

Connective Cities' event to promote municipal recovery to the COVID 19 pandemic in the MENA region. Watch Video at YouTube: https://youtu.be/HLyOZBair4s