Introduction to Nature-Based Solutions
Nature-based solutions (NbS) have become quite a popular topic in the green climate space in recent years. An innovative approach that leverages nature to address societal problems, scientists and governments across the globe are launching new NbS initiatives.
Just two years ago, a new multinational partnership emerged from COP27 to implement and support NbS. The partnership to Enhance Nature-Based Solutions for an Accelerated Climate Transformation (ENACT), reflects a growing global movement to bring back nature-forward solutions to help solve the climate crisis.
This surge in support has brought about important questions:
What are nature-based solutions? How do they relate to climate change? Why should I care?
In response to their rising popularity, here’s a primer on nature-based solutions and why they matter.
What are nature-based solutions?
Nature-based solutions (NbS) have a few varied definitions, but the one we will use is this…
Nature-based solutions are natural actions and processes used for environmental management to address societal challenges.
NbS leverage ‘natural actions and processes’ such as the water cycle, photosynthesis, or regenerative agriculture to overcome key challenges to society. If you are at all familiar with ecosystem services, this is a similar concept!
Ecosystem services are direct and indirect contributions made by the environment to human well-being. For example, bacteria will break down waste. Bees pollinate flowers, fruits, and vegetables. Plants and soils clean our water and air. These are all functions that occur with or without people to facilitate them. NbS take it a step further, implementing or supporting these natural processes in spaces where people are the primary beneficiaries.
This manipulation of the ecosystem for human well-being separates it from other sustainability concepts such as conservation. By prioritizing human benefit over ecosystem health, sustainability advocates change the question from ‘what can we do for nature?’ to ‘what can nature do for us?’.
If implemented thoughtfully, nature-based solutions have the potential to deliver “up to 30% of the climate mitigation needed by 2050 to meet the Paris Agreement’s objective of limiting global warming”. However, it is very important that NbS are carefully thought through as a way to aid communities rather than to compensate for damaging behavior.
Now that you understand the concept of NbS, let’s look at a few examples of NbS in different environments.
Examples of nature-based solutions in cities and urban areas
The unique construction of urban environments with pavement, high-rise buildings, and dense human settlement all challenge the ability of nature to exist in urban spaces. When picturing your traditional city block, what do you see?
City streets typically lack natural elements such as soil, running water, and consistent sunlight thanks to tall buildings. Not only do these conditions make it difficult for nature to grow currently, the way cities are designed and built makes it difficult to add nature back in after construction.
Singapore is a pioneer in building nature-inclusive cities. A new city called Tengah Town, also known as the ‘Forest Town’, has had the principles of NbS included in its foundations. The town itself is built within a previously abandoned, secondary growth rainforest. Tengah’s planning committee has included many NbS in their foundational designs including ecological corridors, park spaces, ponds, canals, and plots for small-scale farming.
This innovation prioritizes the coexistence of people and nature. Ecological corridors help to maintain the existing food chain amongst wildlife, protect pollinators, and aid in water resource management. Park spaces provide recreational and mental health benefits to the citizens of Tengah Town. Ponds and canals aid in stormwater management and water cycling, and farming plots will reduce travel time and waste management for the food sector.
While Singapore is a more extreme example that focuses on including nature-based solutions from the start, these NbS can be introduced to existing urban spaces with careful planning. Though urban spaces can make it difficult for natural elements to exist, difficult is not impossible.
For example, retrofitting green roofs, public parks, and bioswales (landscaped troughs) are more accessible ways to integrate NbS into already built environments. Green roofs and public parks can reduce surface temperatures and counteract the urban heat island effect and bioswales can help with stormwater management and surface run-off.
Terrestrial and Oceanic NbS
One often overlooked example of terrestrial NbS is grasslands. Grasslands are resilient ecosystems living in areas with low water resources. However, they are often susceptible to fires. They are found throughout Africa, Australia, Europe, and South America and are key protectors of biodiversity and the food chain. They also have the added benefit of acting as carbon stores and are emerging as more reliable carbon sinks than forests.
Grasslands have historically been cut down in favor of agriculture and infrastructure. However, renewed interest and study of these ecosystems has changed the way they are treated. Though a significant portion of global grasslands are degraded, the emerging potential benefits to humanity are slowly halting their exploitation. The NbS offered by this environment such as carbon sequestration, nutrient cycling, and protection of biodiversity are motivating people toward positive change.
Oceanic NbS have become particularly useful in the fight against climate change. Rising sea levels and coastal flooding are becoming increasingly commonplace effects. Coral reefs are a well-known ocean NbS example, with much media attention given to their threatened existence.
This is because oceans and corals provide many benefits to society and will require support to survive increasingly intolerable conditions. Coral reefs provide many great resources and benefits! Everything from food, healthy animal nurseries, and employment to mental and recreational benefits. It also protects shorelines from coastal erosion by weakening the power of waves and storms before they hit the shoreline.
Challenges of Nature-based Solutions
With all of the potential benefits offered of NbS, it raises the question of why these solutions are not more popular. Likely because there are pros and cons to implementing NbS.
The pros are all those that were mentioned: food provision, air and water cleaning, carbon absorption, storm protection, mental and recreational benefits, shoreline protection, and more. The main challenges for NbS are time, scale, and cost.
Natural processes work on their own timescale and are vulnerable to the elements. Implementing these solutions does not mean immediate benefits materialize overnight. Additionally, coral reefs can break down. Grasslands can degrade. Bioswales can flood.
When these systems fail, even with human aid, it will take time to recover. In some cases, climate change effects are advancing faster than NbS can protect and recover their ecosystems. This is why extremely vulnerable places such as Tuvalu are using NbS as an aid rather than a primary intervention.
The second key consideration is cost. NbS have a high upfront cost. However, it has been suggested that over their lifetime, NbS will become more cost-effective than traditional solutions.
Finally, NbS operate on an ecosystem scale. These solutions are scalable, to a point. But without a global resolution to implement NbS, the positive impacts will not be felt beyond their home ecosystem or community.
The renewed attention to NbS means that economic claims supporting NbS will require further investigation and long-term study. Given this uncertainty and high upfront cost, some stakeholders may prefer traditional man-made solutions (think seawalls or carbon capture technology). Even if they require significant repair over time and negatively impact coastal or terrestrial ecosystems.
If you want to learn more about nature-based solutions, you can follow the Nature-Based Solutions Podcast or listen to this episode by the Zoological Society of London. The IUCN also has a webpage breaking down NbS by sector.
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