September 2013: The ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability has released the September edition of its Cities Biodiversity Center newsletter, which highlights recent publications, new tools and projects, and collaborations between ICLEI and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

The newsletter describes the partnership between the ICLEI Cities Biodiversity Center and the CBD Secretariat, noting progress on related initiatives, including the Local Action for Biodiversity (LAB) Programme. It indicates that the ICLEI-CBD partnership will carry out two projects aimed at aligning integrated biodiversity planning at the national level.

A number of other new projects also appear in the publication, including: the Local Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (LBSAP) Guidelines; a toolbox to enhance land-use planning and decisionmaking in the Gauteng region of South Africa; and a biodiversity mainstreaming toolkit to help local governments develop integrated plans for managing biodiversity and ecosystem services.

The newsletter also highlights a book produced in collaboration with the Stockholm Resilience Centre and CBD titled ‘Urbanization, Biodiversity, and Ecosystem Services: Challenges and Opportunities.’ The book is the first global assessment of urbanization and the links between biodiversity and ecosystem services.

ICLEI Cities Biodiversity Center was created to foster a global alliance of partners for reconciling urban development with conservation and sustainable use of ecosystems, and is coordinated by the ICLEI Africa Secretariat in Cape Town, South Africa. [Publication: September 2013 Newsletter of the ICLEI Cities Biodiversity Center]