Nature-based Solutions: narratives, frames, and future horizons

Efforts to address the climate and biodiversity crises have been pursued largely in parallel, without integration. Institutions have been set up to address climate change or biodiversity loss, but not both simultaneously.1 However, biodiversity and climate agendas are beginning to converge, with growing awareness of intersections [3] and the need to address these crises through an integrated approach. This push is driven by the reality that deforestation and other forms of land-use change not only lead to biodiversity loss, but also contribute to nearly a quarter of global carbon emissions [4], making the protection and restoration of ecosystems central to addressing the climate crisis. In turn, climate change is already a significant driver of biodiversity loss and is expected to become the most significant driver by the end of the century [5,6]. The importance of biodiversity and ecosystems in addressing the climate crisis is often promoted in mainstream climate and biodiversity policy initiatives under the concept of Nature-based Solutions (NbS). A related trend, particularly evident in early 2021, is a surge in funding commitments from public, business, and philanthropic sources for climate and biodiversity issues. In part, this increase is driven by the recognition that vast investments in biodiversity and ecosystem health are critical to shore up the planet’s life support systems [7]. While many influential environmental actors have rapidly taken up NbS, especially in climate policy discourses, the term has also faced some opposition [8]. For example, critics have emphasised how certain actions advocated under the banner of NbS, such as plantation forestry, can pose serious social and environmental harm [9]. Critics also point out that the broad scope of NbS means that they can be co-opted by actors with little interest in structural change and that the focus on NbS as carbon offsets promotes business as usual, thereby jeopardising the need to rapidly decarbonise [10]. The rapid uptake of the NbS concept has influenced multiple communities of practice in biodiversity conservation, climate change adaptation and mitigation, disaster risk reduction, and natural resource management. Due to the widespread adoption of NbS in both the public and private sectors, it is essential to consider the concept’s opportunities, limitations, assumptions, and whose interests it supports. These questions have important implications for research, policy, and practice, including the design and implementation of effective NbS [11–13], with important consequences for biodiversity and people.

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https://lib.icimod.org/record/36523