From 19 to 21 September 2023, the final congress of the LIFE-myBUILDINGisGREEN project took place in the facilities of the Royal Botanical Garden (RJB-CSIC) in Madrid.
During the three days, more than 100 professionals from Spain and Portugal from academic, research, local, regional, national and European administrations, companies developing Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) and civil society organisations working for the renaturalisation and adaptation of cities to climate change participated.
The first day of the congress focused on the concept of “green cities” and was divided into 3 sessions: a first opening session which was followed by another session in which there were representatives from the European to the local level, and a final session where various technicians from municipalities and provinces of Spain and Portugal presented the work they are doing with NBS to improve climate comfort in cities.
Speakers at the session on green cities from Europe to the local level © LIFE-mBiG
At the end of the day, Madrid City Council organised a guided tour of the NBS implementation works in the area surrounding the Miguel de Unamuno school, the renaturation project of the Manzanares River was explained from the point of view of water management and biodiversity, and there was access to the Clima Fitness exhibition, which is currently being held at Matadero Madrid.
Guided tour on the renaturation of the Manzanares River © LIFE-mBiG
The second day focused on more specific projects and initiatives that design, test and transfer NBS in different contexts. The first session of the day focused on the explanation of various European projects such as LIFE-myBUILDINGisGREEN, H2020 Urbinat, LIFE Veg-gap and LIFE WaterCool. For its part, the second session of this second day, has shown initiatives related to the IUCN standard for NBS, the certification of the sustainability of buildings, the Observatory of the NBS and the work carried out by various companies in the sector of the NBS.
Lucas Perea explains the LIFE WaterCool project during the second day of the congress © RJB-CSIC
The day ended with a guided tour of the RJB-CSIC facilities by Jesús Muñoz, principal investigator of the LIFE-myBUILDINGisGREEN project and scientific researcher at RJB-CSIC.
Guided tour of the Royal Botanical Garden facilities © LIFE-mBiG
The congress was brought to a close by the conference “Nature, culture and evolution”, organised by Madrid City Council, which began with a keynote speech by Eudald Carbonell (Atapuerca Foundation), and the presentation of the Biodiversity Plan of the City of Madrid. The day ended with a workshop aimed exclusively at technicians from the Madrid City Council, in which they worked on the creation of a community of knowledge and innovation with a climate and strategic vision of public and municipal climate policies.
Keynote speech by Eudald Carbonell on the last day of the congress © LIFE-mBiG
Group photo of attendees on the second day of the Congress © LIFE-mBiG
The full programme, as well as the presentations used and the photos taken during the organisation of this event are available on the congress website.
For all news and events related to the LIFE-myBUILDINGisGREEN project, we recommend following the project’s Twitter and LinkedIn channels.
