What Are Nature-based Solutions – and Why Do They Matter?
Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are exactly what they sound like: solutions to major societal problems that leverage nature and enhance ecosystem processes. While the explicit integration of ecological principles into human-wellbeing has been practiced by many indigenous cultures for centuries, it was not until the late 2000’s that the Nature-based Solutions was coined by Western scientists.
NbS are often promoted for climate change mitigation and adaptation, to alleviate food insecurity, and restore biodiversity. Some common examples of NbS are:
regenerative agriculture to increase soil health and reduce biodiversity loss associated with farming while providing a sustainable source of food,
wetland restoration to reduce coastal erosion, clean water, and mitigate the harmful impacts of flooding, and
urban tree planting to lessen the impacts of urban heat equitably and to provide green spaces and habitat in urban areas.
While NbS are often promoted as win-win solutions, there are still several challenges and knowledge gaps around their implementation. First, it is still unclear how effective many of these solutions will be in the long-term and how they will function under a changing climate. NPAC aims to reduce this uncertainty by partnering with organizations to monitor and evaluate NbS over short- and long-time scales. Second, the affected communities are often inadequately integrated into the design, modeling, and implementation of research designed to serve them. As a result, proposed NbS often fail to inspire widespread uptake or a broad societal impact. A key aspect of NPAC’s approach is to make science usable and relevant for society by breaking the unidirectional flow of information and collaboration in socio-environmental research and incorporate different viewpoints and types of knowledge.
At NPAC, we strive to support the organizations and people using nature-based solutions both locally and globally by minimizing the knowledge and implementation gap. We work with practitioners to co-develop research and products that increase the understanding of when, where, and how NbS implementation is effective. Check out our Research Page to see some of our current projects.
