Measurements of biophysical aspects of the NBS (e.g. temperature, water flow)

The National Garden Park is the largest park in Ulaanbaatar and the only park of its kind in the capital city of Mongolia, offering multiple environmental services, recreational and commercial functions. Currently, the park extends to 183 hectares, covering 23% of the total green construction in the city, and stretches from the northeastern part of the Marshall Bridge to the Uliastai Bridge in the Bayanzurkh district. In the long term, the park is planned to be extended to have a total area of 973 and to have 1.200.000 trees planted within the “One Million to One Billion” afforestation program. The park offers a range of recreational facilities and services for citizens, including bicycle and pedestrian areas, specialized sports areas and children's playgrounds. It also houses trade and service organizations. As a result, the park has become a popular recreational area for the citizens of the capital and is the most visited urban park in Ulaanbaatar. During the summer, it attracts an estimated 12-15 thousand visitors a day, and during the winter, it sees 6-9 thousand visitors a day. The National Garden park was officially established in 2009 with the aim of protecting the Tuul River Basin's drinking water source, reducing air pollution, and increasing green space to create a healthy eco-environment and providing recreational opportunities for the public. In 2016, the National Garden Park was designated as a local property budgetary enterprise with defined primary functions, management structure, control, and rights under the administration of the Assembly of Citizens' Representatives. The park currently employs 113 staff members (as of 2021). (Ref. 1. and 4)

Since 2012, the Municipality of Ipoh continued the revitalization and rehabilitation of the D.R. Seenivasagam Recreational Park (TDRS) under the Malaysian National Urbanisation Policy, which suggests that for every 1,000 inhabitants, there should be public green open spaces of 2 ha. Through this intervention, the Ipoh municipality tried to address several sustainability challenges, which are usually a result of the lack of green open spaces. Some of the challenges addressed were the urban heat island effect, soil erosion resulting from improper drainage, and noise pollution. Ultimately, the municipality aimed to provide a convenient setting for a variety of leisure and recreational activities in addition to enhancing the civic values of the community. The intervention consisted of several tree-planting actions organized by the Ipoh Council in collaboration with the Perak Government (a Malaysian state that has its capital in Ipoh).
D.R. Seenivasagam Recreational Park was built in the 1950s and is one of the largest urban parks in Ipoh. It has become a favourite among locals as well as an example of good practice for integrating green open spaces in addressing sustainability challenges over the years. Located in the vicinity of the Kinta River, during the early days of its opening, it was a mini botanical garden which eventually transitioned to a full-scale park, one of not too many in Ipoh. The park also includes a lake with wooden bridges that contributes to the diversity and habitat of the place. The DR Park, as it is known to the locals, has entertained many families for more than 25 years, starting as a mini-theme park during its formative years, much to the delight of many children. To date, the park has remained a popular spot with abundant greenery and attractions, an oasis within Ipoh’s city life. (1,2,3,4)

As an industrial development practice that involves a symbiotic connection between materials, energy, natural systems and local communities, the concept of green industry has become a point of focus for a factory in Rangapur, Karupannya Rangpur Ltd., designed by Architect Bayejid Mahbub Khondker and his team. The factory has become a pioneering example in the "green industry" initiatives in Bangladesh (2).
The factory has a green façade of climbing plants, as well as a green rooftop and integrated green elements, designed specifically to incorporate a once extinct industry, the Shataranji (weaving style). The intervention was designed to respond to human and enviornmental needs (2,7). From a human perspective, the intervention responds by improving work conditions for the workers by introducing green spaces that help with local temperatures and relaxation. From an environmental perspective, the project responds to challenges related to energy efficency (3,4).
The factory architecture incorporates cultural and indigenous knowledge with the utilization of natural light, wind, water, and flora while maximizing the use of natural elements and the idea of "Reuse and Recycle." The factory's roof features the Nandini Park, where employees can relax and eat lunch. The Nandini Park is surrounded by flowering plants and vegetation. (1, 2, 4, 6)

The northern part of Thane Creek in Navi Mumbai was declared a 'Protected Area' in 2015 by the Maharashtra Government (1,2,4). As the Central Asian Migratory Flyway (CAMF) ecosystem, it is occupied by a large number of wading birds, especially Lesser Flamingos and Greater Flamingos (1,2). Recently, a Management Plan has been proposed to guide the sustainable management of the 'Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary (TCFS)' (1).
The Management Plan (2020-2030), proposed by the Mumbai Mangrove Conservation Unit (MMCU) proposed implementation plans for the conservation of Flamingo species, mangrove management, eco-tourism, education and awareness raising, as well as participatory decision-making (1).
Thane Creek harbours rich biodiversity and spreads over an area of 1690ha (896ha of mangroves and 794ha of adjacent creek water body) (1,2,3). Also, it is located right amidst a mega-city, being crucial to conserving this unique natural environment with its eclectic mix of mangroves, mudflats and threatened bird species (1,2).

Clifton Urban Forest was initiated by an individual named Shahzad Qureshi after Karachi witnessed its first “official” heat wave in 2015. More than 2000 people died in the region when temperatures reached over 120 degrees Fahrenheit in Karachi (Ref: 1,4). The major culprit for this heat wave was the ‘Urban heat Island’ effects, resulted from the congested concrete build-up and less green cover. At that time everybody started realizing the non-existence of green cover in the city is the reason behind the city being very hot. Qureshi saw a TED talk about the Miyawaki Method, a quickly growing dense urban forest and decided to give that a try. He believed that the Miyawaki Method, which promised a fast and sustainable forest within three years without using any pesticides and chemicals, could transform Karachi (Ref: 4,7).

Therefore, in December 2015, he and his team planted the first pilot forest covering about 300 square meters based on Dr Akira Miyawaki’s Methodology in a city-owned site in the Clifton area of Karachi. The area previously was used as an open dumping site. The project landscape design was developed by a German-trained landscape architect on 3 acres area and turned into an urban forest park (Ref: 6, 9). When the project became successful, they expanded the forest to the whole park, which is almost 12,000 square meters. The current project envisions increasing the green cover to restore Karachi's degraded environment by creating evergreen and sustainable forests. It targets to feature 50,000 trees, more than 50 native species, 1.2 km of nature walkways, vegetable gardening, community composting, a butterfly garden, a children's natural playground, a fruit forest, a central lake and a skywalk (Ref: 2, 4).

The created forest is self-sustaining with recycled wastewater. It has an organic vegetable garden that provides food for the community, a natural playground for kids, a lake for excess water storage, and a composting and recycling area that absorbs waste from 100 households around the park. Multiple school field trips have been arranged in the park to create awareness among the children about biodiversity and the natural ecosystem (Ref: 5, 6). Moreover, people have been actively visiting the Urban Forest and enjoying the interaction with native plants, and biodiversity and spending some peaceful time for relaxation and leisure (Ref: 9).

The project has received a lot of national and international recognition and funds from Sugi Projects, the Rotary club and crowd-sourced from various corporations and individuals (Ref: 7). Since then, Qureshi and his team have created 24 more forests in Pakistan (Ref: 5, 6).

As an archipelagic state, Indonesia consists of 18,000 islands and 18,000 km of coastline, which is inhabited by more than 60% of the Indonesian population. Its geographical position exposes the island country to several climate change challenges, ranging from an increase in high temperature to a sea level rise and severe floods. One of the cities affected by flash floods, flooding, and landslides is Pekalongan City, crossed by 7 rivers and home to approx. 300,000 people. Inundations can reach 50-100 cm in many communities, causing distress, evacuations, and severe damage to infrastructure and food security as well as loss of income for the inhabitants that work in the fisheries sector, in the Batik industry (the process of traditionally dyeing fabric, performed on cotton and silk using a resist technique) or in paddy rice farming. (1)

Responding to the climate risks became of utter importance to the municipality of Pekalongan City. To help the Municipal Government of Pekalongan City to overcome the problem caused by climate change, Kemitraan (Partnership for Governance Reform in Indonesia), an implementing and advocacy NGO developed the project on Safekeeping-Surviving-Sustaining towards Resilience, a 3S Approach. The aim was to Build Coastal City Resilience to Climate Change Impacts and Natural Disasters in Pekalongan City, Central Java Province. This was approved on 29 October 2020 and is currently entering its implementation phase. The project will focus on building resilience to climate change impacts with interventions of hard and soft nature. More precisely, the project aims to build capacity and resilience through training, mangrove ecosystem restoration and enhancement of coastal protection, and development of a Local Climate Adaptation Action Plan and implementation of climate-smart actions (1,2). The project aims to reach these goals by employing a collaborative and participatory approach that is locally driven and involves those most at risk. The program is expected to end in April 2023 (1).

Rajshahi is a Bangladeshi metropolitan city located on the north bank of the Padma river. The city has seen, throughout the years, an increase in greenhouse emissions and maximum temperatures as well as a decrease in open spaces from 11.09% to 4.5%. To counteract many of these challenges, the Rajshahi City Corporation (RCC), with support from ICLEI South Asia and UN-Habitat implemented an initiative called the Urban-LEDS II, which was designed to help cities to adopt a low-emission development approach. (Ref 2)

The project's approach included support for better management and maintenance of Rajshahi's open green spaces, as well as an objective of raising awareness among stakeholders about the region's biodiversity and the ecosystem services it provides and promoting outdoor activities. (Ref 1)

The activities included in the approach were two-folded. One of them targeted the greening of the Rajshahi’s Kolpona-Talaimari river embankment through tree plantations on the slopes and was seen as a demonstration pilot for a bio-diverse plantation scheme. The project implemented a pilot-scale plantation employing native and introduced plant species, as well as maintenance, contracting out to a nearby nursery (Ref 1, 2). The other approach included an increase in public awareness and advanced conservation, hence common trees were identified and documented in a graphic guide. Mapping of the trees of Rajshahi called the Natural Asset Map, and a Pictorial Tree Handbook for its citizens in order to improve and better manage their urban green spaces and biodiversity were conducted. Maps of Rajshahi's natural resources have been created for the entire city as well as for each of its 30 administrative zones. ( (Ref 1, 2)

It was expected that through these actions, Rajshahi would contribute to Aichi Targets 1, 2 and 17; and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 11, 14, and 15 (Ref 3).

Wajre Urban Forest is Maharashtra state's first urban forestry project developed on the outskirts of Pune city (1, 2). This project was done in a collaboration involving the public, corporate, NGOs and governmental actors (3). A barren land of 16 hectares, also used as a dump yard by the nearby residents, belonging to the Maharashtra Forest Department, was taken by the TERRE Policy Centre in association with support from TATA Motors and Persistent Foundations as CSR Partners (1,3). The project was targeted to reduce air pollution and provide a site for the recreation and relaxation of urban residents of the city (4).
A total of 9500 plants belonging to 23 indigenous plant species of 6-8 ft were planted (1,2). The plants have now transformed into trees 9-10 feet in height (1, 5). The park also provides the opportunity to engage citizens by the provision of adopting specific plants in your name (5). The park is frequented by morning and evening walkers, with approx. 1000-1500 people per day (1,3).

As part of the Green Pakistan Programme (GPP), the Ministry of Environment of Pakistan initiated a plantation drive on the Margalla Hills, threatened by climate change, droughts, floods and deforestation. Margalla Hills National Park (MHNP) is a national park of Pakistan located in the capital city, Islamabad. It was established in the 1980s with a total area of about 173 square kilometres constituting Margalla Hills, Shakarparian Park, Rawal Lake and the Cultural Complex (2,5). The primary purpose of GPP was to protect the environment and revive forests, as Pakistan is a forest-deficient country having 5.01 per cent of its total area under forest cover. The park is under the supervision of the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB) which ensures the management, maintenance and preservation of wildlife and other species in the park vicinity. The campaign was set to take place over 5 years between 2017-2022. Furthermore, as part of the same program, an awareness campaign was started to generate knowledge about plants and make Islamabad green and beautiful. Thousands of people visit the national park daily to enjoy the natural environment and healthy recreational facilities and relax by looking at the serene landscape and natural viewpoints of the city visible from the different trails of the park. (1,2,3,4,5)

The project focuses on creating communal vegetable gardens in different barangays (small territorial and administrative districts forming the most local level of government) in Iloilo City. As part of the Plant Plant Plant Program of the Department of Agriculture, the project was initially implemented in 12 districts in the city, to provide jobs, and nutritious food and increase public awareness about food production and security amidst the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Since then, the project has expanded to 44 more districts, and the city has also issued a regulation to institutionalize urban gardening activities in the city. The communal gardens are expected not only to serve as a source of food but also as a source of livelihood to combat the threat of hunger and poverty. Apart from vegetable gardens, the city also looks into introducing integrated farming in which districts can also plant fruit-bearing trees and raise chickens and tilapia and also provides a series of seminars to empower district residents to produce and sell their food. Currently, around 300 hectares in the city are planted with rice and vegetables [1,2,3]