Climate change mitigation

The "Urban Forest" project focused on the establishment of the Mongolian-Korean Friendship Forest on a 40-hectare land in Dambadarjaa, Sukhbaatar district of the capital city, Ulaanbaatar. Previously known as the Forest Research and Development Center Arboretum Park, this area has a river running through it. The project, with a total cost of over 8 million EUR, was designed specifically to reduce air pollution in the capital, to create a healthy eco-environment for Ulaanbaatar residents to spend their leisure time and to raise awareness of the importance of forests and the benefits of trees in Mongolia. In total, 55,000 trees and shrubs of 36 different species were planted so far and the park boasts five different types of coniferous trees that thrive in Mongolia, including larch, pine, abies, cedar, and spruce, as well as deciduous trees such as birch, aspen, willow, lilac, and maple. The Urban Forest park also includes several facilities, such as a visitor information center, a playground, sport facilities, a natural arboretum and a ground fountain. The park will be operational and accessible to the public in 2023. The project was implemented between 2017 and 2022, as the second phase of the Korea-Mongolia Greenbelt Reforestation Initiative jointly developed by the Mongolian Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET) and the Korea Forest Service (KFS). The Green Belt initiative was created with the overall aims to mitigate desertification, combat climate change, and reduce yellow dust and sandstorms in Mongolia.
(Ref. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

18 km southwest of Karachi City (Sandspit area), the World Wildlife Fund Wetland Center (an NGO subsidiary of the WWF) started a project in 2011 called Nurturing Young Sapling with a grant from the Mangrove for the Future organization. The project aimed to increase the mangrove forest cover near Karachi as to restore the ecosystem and improve the habitat for local and migratory birds, crabs and other fauna. In this way, the project sought to improve biodiversity and therefore the availability of livelihood resources to the local community, as well as to enable ecotourism. It also focused to enhance the awareness of school children on the importance of a mangrove ecosystem and advocating for its sustainable use (1).
The project benefited local fishing communities, school children and their families as well as local and international visitors to the Sandspit area. The project resulted in the mangrove plantation at 4.5 hectares area, the establishment of a mangrove (Avicennia Marina) nursery, the plantation of 5000 mangrove saplings, awareness raising of 200 school children, two-day awareness conference, the celebration of significant environmental days at the Wetland Centre to promote conservation awareness among school children (1, 2, 3).
After the successful completion of the project in 2012, WWF Pakistan has been actively involved in the management and plantation of mangroves in the Sandspit area. Multiple campaigns and awareness-raising programs for coastal protection are conducted by WWF in their Sandspit office with multiple partnerships to plant and educate students and communities about the importance of mangrove trees. (5)

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)

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).

In order to prevent the damage to mangrove forests that occurred over the last few decades or more, a project was started in the Penang region aiming to raise public awareness regarding the importance of mangroves for their continued conservation and protection through active community participation (community resilience) (1). The project closely relates to the GEF Focal Area on Biodiversity Conservation operational programme (OP) 2 on Coastal, Marine and Fresh Water Ecosystems and is led by the Penang Inshore Fisherman Welfare Association (PIFWA). The project aimed to regenerate mangrove forests by planting up to 11,000 saplings in order to rehabilitate the once degraded mangroves as they are able to ultimately improve the wetland ecosystem and its biodiversity and thus sustain the livelihood of fisher communities (1).
Mangrove forests are an important part of the Malaysian coastline. Besides their contributions to the biodiversity of the Malaysian coast, mangroves also help greatly with protecting the coastal strip from erosion and providing a means of living for the communities located close to the forests. Stabilising the shoreline and reducing soil erosion, mangroves are also home to myriad species of plants and animals, they provide timber and non-timber forest products, and they support fisheries (1,2). Due to their importance, their disappearance is greatly noticed. From 2000, within a period of 15 years, 25,500 hectares of mangrove forests disappeared, mostly due to industrial-scale logging, clearance for shrimp farming, tourism or firewood (5).

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).

The roof garden is one of the most distinguishing features of JEG Tower @ One Acacia, a 22-storey commercial tower in Cebu City. [1] Featuring the purely endemic flora of Cebu, the roof garden offers a dedicated green space in the middle of the cityscape to tenants and visitors of the buildings. The project was created to contribute to the preservation of Cebu's Biodiversity, combat air pollution and improve the mental and physical well-being of residents and visitors. [1] It also includes an events space that people or companies could hire [4].

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)

Penang is a state located in north-western Peninsular Malaysia with an area of 1,049 km2. It comprises two local authorities, Penang Island and the mainland. The former is further divided into five administrative districts which are further divided into mukims (sub-districts). Two urban mukims located on the island – George Town and Bayan Lepas – are the focus of the proposed nature-based solutions (NBS) climate adaptation programme. The programme was launched in 2022 by UN-Habitat in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment and Water (KASA) of Malaysia, Penang Island City Council (Majlis Bandaraya Pulau Pinang - MBPP), Department of Irrigation and Drainage (Jabatan Pengairan Dan Saliran - JPS) and Think City (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Khazanah Nasional Berhad (the sovereign wealth fund of the Government of Malaysia)). (Ref 1)

The implementation of the project responds to several challenges posed by climate change including heatwaves and flooding (Ref 4). The main goal of the programme is to enhance urban resilience and reduce human and ecosystem health vulnerability to climate change impacts and extreme weather events by implementing nature-based solutions (NBS) such as tree-lined streets, pocket parks, green parking spaces, green facades and rooftops, urban agriculture and blue-green corridors to reduce surface temperatures and stormwater runoff, as well as to increase social resilience and build institutional capacity (Ref 1, 3).