Case studies
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Multi-level governance in Rio de Janeiro through ABEMA
In Rio de Janeiro, ABEMA is working closely with municipalities in collaboration with UN-Habitat to implement environmental and urban development initiatives, exemplifying multi-level governance and vertical integration. This approach aligns local action with broader national and international objectives, ensuring that municipal projects, such as green infrastructure and biodiversity initiatives, contribute to overarching environmental targets. UN-Habitat provides technical guidance and capacity building, while ABEMA coordinates between local governments and higher-level authorities, creating a feedback loop that enables monitoring, adaptation, and continuous improvement. By linking local implementation, municipal coordination, and international support, this framework ensures coherent, scalable, and effective environmental governance across all levels.
Quebec, Canada
Quebec working with Indigenous Peoples and local communities
The Québec government is working with Indigenous communities on conservation and cultural initiatives, including the Indigenous Peoples and Conserved Areas (IPCA) Program, which supports Indigenous-led conservation efforts for biodiversity and sustainable development. This is part of a broader effort to build harmonious relations with First Nations and Inuit, and to integrate sustainable practices into all spheres of government action, as demonstrated by the Canada-Québec Nature Agreement and the Government Sustainable Development Strategy.
On March 10, 2025, the governments of Canada and Quebec signed a landmark agreement to protect and conserve nature, marking a significant example of cooperation across federal, provincial, and Indigenous governments. Under the agreement, Canada will invest up to C$100 million by 2027 to support Quebec’s 2030 Nature Plan and Canada’s 2030 Nature Strategy. The accord focuses on expanding protected lands and waters, restoring ecosystems, managing invasive species, and promoting Indigenous-led conservation initiatives, demonstrating how collaboration across different levels of government can advance ambitious biodiversity goals in line with the global Kunming‑Montréal Biodiversity Framework.
Generation restoration
Inclusion of teachers for nature education
The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021–2030) involves teachers by promoting their role in environmental education through hands-on learning, service-learning, and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) initiatives. UNESCO, as the lead agency for ESD, supports teacher training, provides learning materials, and empowers youth to engage in restoration activities. The goal is to foster a sense of responsibility, connect students to their environment, and ensure that ecosystem restoration efforts continue across generations.
Western Cape, South africa
Western Cape Provincial Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (PBSAP)
The Western Cape Provincial Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (PBSAP) serves as a key framework guiding biodiversity conservation in the region, setting priorities for protecting ecosystems, species, and natural habitats while integrating conservation into land-use planning and development. In alignment with South Africa’s National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP), the province is also exploring Other Effective area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs) to complement formal protected areas, extending biodiversity protection into private lands, community-managed areas, and working landscapes. A PBSAP implementation plan, released in March 2025, provides detailed guidance on actions, timelines, and monitoring, ensuring provincial efforts contribute to national biodiversity targets under the Kunming-Montréal Global Biodiversity Framework. In tandem, an OECM pilot project is underway to identify, assess, and report potential OECMs, strengthening in-situ conservation outside formal protected areas while fostering collaboration between provincial authorities, national agencies, and local stakeholders. This integrated approach highlights how cooperation between national and provincial governments can drive effective biodiversity conservation across multiple governance levels.
INTERACT- BIO
Implementing NBSAPs
The Integrated subnational action for biodiversity (INTERACT-Bio) project supported the implementation of National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans through the mainstreaming of biodiversity objectives across city-regions, the project was designed for improving the utilization and management of nature within fast-growing cities and the regions surrounding them. The overarching project aim or outcome is that biodiversity and ecosystem management in the three model city-regions in Brazil, India, and Tanzania is recognized as a cross-sectoral task (horizontal integration) and as such integrated in their sub-national Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans (BSAPs). Simultaneously, those sub-national BSAPs contribute to the NBSAPs of their countries, in which the sub-national level is increasingly acknowledged as an actor with its own targets, as well as an implementation partner for national goals (vertical integration). Therefore, by supporting the implementation of NBSAPs through the mainstreaming of biodiversity objectives across city-regions, the project is aiding the project nations and cities in vertical integration for biodiversity mainstreaming and decision-making.
Scotland, United Kingdom
Scotland’s strategic biodiversity nature recovery statutory targets for monitoring
Scotland’s statutory nature restoration targets, under the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy to 2045, aim to make Scotland nature positive by 2030 and restore biodiversity by 2045, with key targets including improving habitat extent and condition (e.g., wetlands, woodlands, rivers), reducing invasive species, improving water and air quality, and increasing connectivity between habitats. These targets will be monitored through a formalised governance and monitoring framework to track progress and inform adjustments to the delivery plans.
These are then translated into local authority and regional land-use frameworks, where actual habitat restoration, species management, and spatial planning take place.
The formalised governance and monitoring system creates a two-way reporting channel:
- Local and regional data (on wetlands restored, invasive species reduced, etc.) feed upward to national reporting.
- National progress indicators and targets guide downward adjustments in local delivery plans.
Brazil
Brazil’s Atlantic Forest: A bioregional approach for ecosystems
A bioregional approach for the Brazilian Atlantic Forest involves managing and restoring the ecosystem based on its distinct biogeographical sub-regions, which encompass diverse habitats and varied ecological responses to climate change and human impacts. This approach uses scientific analysis of forest fragments and landscape dynamics to inform targeted conservation and restoration strategies, often integrating economic instruments like Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) to achieve large-scale restoration goals and support sustainable development for both ecosystems and local communities.
