Local solutions for global goals? The role of international actors in shaping nature-based solutions in Sub-Saharan African cities

Recent literature and policy discourses suggest nature-based solutions as viable solutions to current societal problems. In urban areas, nature-based solutions can contribute to the SDGs by offering cost effective solutions for climate change mitigation and adaptation, as well as disaster risk reduction, while providing multiple co-benefits. Most academic work developed around nature-based solutions is of European or North American origin. Given the unprecedented urban growth in the Global South, it is necessary to better understand the governance of urban nature in different geographical contexts, based on robust empirical evidence. We argue that one difference in many sub-Saharan African cities as compared to Western contexts is the variety of different types of international actors that shape processes and outcomes of addressing urban sustainability challenges through nature-based solutions. Using a case study approach of three cities in south-eastern Africa, we first present the different types of initiatives, actor configurations and partnerships developed around urban nature which are generated by the presence of international actors. We then analyse the implications of the involvement of international actors and their specific agendas and seek to answer the question: Do the processes and outcomes for nature and society represent locally specific solutions for global sustainability goals that aspire to leave no one behind, or is there a friction between local and international agendas, potentially caused by planning control that drifted from the city to external sites and agenda setting? Conceptually, the paper combines the perspectives of urban environmental studies, urban governance and southern urbanism.