This article is also available in Italian / Questo articolo è disponibile anche in italiano
After centuries of mindless exploitation of natural resources, humankind has recently gained awareness of an obvious fact: it is necessary to look to nature to remedy centuries of mindless exploitation of natural resources. An epiphany that has been given a name: Nature-based Solutions (NbS).
Defining NbS can help us emphasise its positive impacts
Putting the expression into context in the current historical moment, we could say that NbS are a response to what, for years, has been a dominant tendency in Western societies: managing nature, bending it to our own needs, through the aid of mere engineering genius and those materials, such as concrete and steel (grey solutions), with which we have surrounded ourselves, but that have shown to be unable to respond to the vulnerabilities of the present. With everything this has entailed for our health and the health of natural ecosystems.
As of today, there are dozens of definitions: some differ by a few terms, others by the logic behind them. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), NbS are “actions that aim to protect, sustainably manage and restore natural or modified ecosystems, and that effectively and adaptively address societal challenges while ensuring benefits for human society and biodiversity.” This definition links NbS to the functionality of ecosystems, excluding those that result from natural elements and those that mimic them but are designed by humans.
According to Cecil C. Konijnendijk, Co-director of the Nature Based Solutions Institute and Honorary Professor at the University of British Columbia, “in order for societal challenges to be effectively addressed, sustaining human well-being and biodiversity at the local level, it is essential that NbS become an integral part of nature.” The institute's proposed description includes the protection, restoration, and management of natural and semi-natural ecosystems, aquatic systems, and agricultural lands, as well as the integration of nature in and around cities. These actions are supported by biodiversity and designed and implemented with respect for the rights, values and knowledge of local communities and indigenous peoples.
Three new elements appear here: being indissolubly part of nature, which relegates human beings to mere spectators; respect for indigenous communities; and the need to make an impact locally. Adding a new piece is Han Baolong, Urban Program Director and Associate Professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences at Stanford University, who explains that “wanting to relegate NbS to something strictly nature-based can be misleading, and, therefore, it would be necessary to broaden the spectrum of inquiry and recognise within the definition not only the functional value of nature, but also the emotional and spiritual value.”
The consequences of a lack of definition
The lack of a precise definition has contributed to significant underinvestment in the sector over the years: it is estimated that to limit temperature rise to below 1.5°C, halt biodiversity loss, and stop land degradation, annual investment in NbS would need to triple by 2030 and aim to move a total of 11 trillion dollars by 2050, with a specific effort by the private sector, which, according to a United Nations Environment Program report, is now responsible for only 17% of total investment. As an example: grants to extractive industries amount to about 1.8 trillion dollars annually, against a shortfall in funding for biodiversity restoration and conservation of 891.3 billion dollars. According to the report, again, only 9% of total NbS investments are allocated to the oceans.
NbS can also serve as a dangerous mass distraction, a stage behind which extractive industries, governments and others can continue to pursue a model of development and interaction with natural resources that is not only unsustainable, but points inexorably towards self-destruction. Both narratives make use of the ambiguity by which they are described, highlighting several faults in international environmental governance. This is compounded by the risk that, by failing to include local communities uniquely, particularly indigenous communities, recognising them as leaders and not as passive beneficiaries or partners, the gap between North and South, and between fragile segments of the population and those with direct access to resources and greater comfort, will somehow be reinforced.
“There is a need for more awareness,” Konijnendijk explains, “and clear policies and incentives that promote NbS over business as usual. We humans are quite conservative and often rely on conventional solutions. In order to meet our self-imposed challenge, however, we need to involve different sectors and professions ranging from civil engineering and architecture to urban planning and medicine.” Then alternative modes of financing besides market mechanisms should be explored, while governments should dismantle GDP growth as a central economic and policy objective, focusing, for the first time in history, on human and ecological well-being. Finally, according to Margaretha Breil, Senior Researcher at the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change, “there is a need to work on people's trust and collaboration between different administrative bodies and bureaucratic entities.”
The future of Nature-based Solutions
In the various negotiation documents debated each year at the United Nations Conferences of the Parties on Climate and Biodiversity, nature has always been recognised as playing a prominent role. However, there has always been a lack of explicit reference to NbS. This changed with the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework 2020, where items 8 and 11 cite NbS as critical to achieving the goal commonly known as the 30x30 target, thereby anchoring the concept to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
The international community has therefore sent a clear signal: regardless of the existence of an unambiguous definition, given their potential, NbS are rapidly gaining ground around the world. Their importance is now recognised by top international scientific organisations concerned with climate and biodiversity; countries are incorporating the concept into their national climate and biodiversity restoration goals; and a growing number of public and private sector organisations and institutions are implementing nature-based programs. Of course, building a more coherent understanding of the concept and its implications is lacking, but that a firm alliance with nature is critical to our survival is a self-evident fact that only those who persist in looking at their finger instead of the moon continue to ignore.
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