Nature-based solutions (NbS) harness the power of nature to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, strengthen resilience, protect biodiversity and ecosystems, and deliver human well-being benefits to people and communities. Over the last decade, policy-makers and practitioners have increasingly turned to NbS to address the interconnected crises of climate change and biodiversity degradation and deliver transformative change. Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA), which is a subset of NbS, focuses on using biodiversity and ecosystem services to help communities adapt to climate change.
With an increasing number of global assessments, studies, and reports on the effectiveness of NbS and EbA, this brief provides updated, state-of-the-art summary and analysis of the latest science–policy interface assessments and relevant reports related to NbS and EbA.
The brief is structured in three sections. The first section outlines the potential of NbS to deliver transformative change by enabling shifts in underlying views, structures, and practices, helping to address the root causes of biodiversity loss and climate vulnerabilities.
The second section outlines the evidence base on the effectiveness of NbS and EbA. When well-designed, NbS and EbA can function as integrated and cost-effective approaches that enhance biodiversity, strengthen climate resilience, and contribute to the achievement of the SDGs. They provide multiple benefits in the areas of climate change adaptation, climate change mitigation, biodiversity conservation, human well-being, resilience, and economic benefits.
In the last section, the brief provides a set of recommendations for scaling up the implementation and support of NbS and EbA, emphasizing the need to integrate and mainstream NbS and EbA in policymaking and finance and to ensure diverse and just stakeholder representation.
The brief is targeted toward policy-makers and practitioners involved in the development, planning, and financing of climate change and biodiversity policy, programs, and projects, as well as negotiators involved in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the CBD processes.
The paper was developed by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) on behalf of the German Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUKN) under its International Climate Initiative (IKI).
