The URBES project has been awarded the opportunity to present their work in an animated video as part of the BiodivERsA Prize for Excellence and Impact.

The URBES project demonstrated, for the first time at this scale, the importance and the value of ecosystem services and nature-based solutions provided by urban biodiversity in European cities, enabling the authorities to work with these concepts in their urban planning strategies.

The Netherlands is a low-lying country where the rivers, the IJsselmeer and the North Sea provide an abundance of water. Geographically speaking, this area is a delta. The Delta Programme was designed to protect the Netherlands against flooding and to secure freshwater supplies.

The river will be given more room at more then 30 locations covered by the 'Room for the River' programme. The main objectives of this programme are to complete the flood protection measures by 2015 and to improve the overall environmental quality in the river region.

The URBES project is funded as part of the EU's 7th Framework Programme for Research by BiodivERsA, which is a network of 21 research-funding agencies across 15 European countries promoting pan-European research that generates new knowledge for the conservation and sustainable management of biodiversity.

Foreshore Assessment using Space Technology (FAST, 2014 - 2018) is a project funded by the European Union's (EU) Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement number 607131. FAST is developing down-stream services for the European Earth Observation Programme Copernicus to support cost-effective, nature-based shoreline protection against flooding and erosion.

The coastal mangrove forest is the buffer between land and sea, playing the critical role of protecting the land and coastal communities from storms, wind and erosion. The short documentary takes us to an island in Southern Thailand illustrating how mangroves have depleted greatly in the last 50 years, how people have been affected, and shows what is being done to restore these habitats to secure a more sustainable future.

Cities are much warmer than their surroundings. Urban structures absorb and trap more solar and thermal radiation than soils or vegetation and that causes an increase in the urban temperature. Moreover, many human activities add heat to the urban climate. The heating and the cooling of buildings, the traffic, various industrial activities and our own human metabolism release energy in the form of heat, called anthropogenic heat.

Together with CEC's strategic input, IUCN's Eastern and Southern Africa's Regional Programme published this educational documentary to show how communities living around the Mt Elgon in Kenya and Uganda use natural solutions, which are always available, to help tackle environmental challenges efficiently.

Find out about the importance of nature-based solutions in tackling one of humanity's greatest challenges.

Nearly half of Earth's forests have been cleared or degraded – but we have the power to change this! WRI's Global Restoration Initiative works with governments and international partners to inspire, enable and mobilize action to restore vitality to degraded landscapes and forests around the globe. Global Restoration Council Co-Chair Wanjira Mathai describes how restoring degraded landscapes can benefit people and planet.