Nature-based solutions (NBS) are actions that use natural processes in a resource efficient manner to solve societal challenges. The lack of supportive legislature, and financial, communication and social barriers complicate the process of NBS implementation. It is an urgent need to develop approaches to design and implement NBS that would act as drivers to overcome potential barriers and enhance the social acceptability of the project.

The European Dredging Association (EuDA) participated in a Horizon 2020 project sponsored by the European Union. The project named ThinkNature had as objective to promote the application of nature-based solutions (NBS). NBS have obvious advantages but have not been embraced at wider scale. In this article, the authors reflect as to why NBS are not mainstream solutions, why it is necessary to promote the concept and whether there are barriers that hinder wide-scale application. In this article the authors describe how relevant the topic is to the dredging community.

The proliferation of vegetated, or green roofs, warrant a revisit of the terminology used in order to efficiently, and without confusion, convey information among scientists, policy makers and practitioners. A Web of Science and Google Scholar search (from 1996 to 2018) showed a steady increase in green roof articles, reaching close to 300 per year in WOS and ca. 2500 in Google Scholar, with approximately 10–20%, and up to 40 % of all articles using the terms extensive and/or intensive, especially in recent years.

Nature-based solutions (NBS) are solutions that can protect, sustainably manage, and restore natural or modified ecosystems in urban and rural areas, while providing many benefits and co-benefits including stormwater mitigation, biodiversity enhancement, and human well-being. As such, NBS have the potential to alleviate many of the environmental, social, and economic issues that we face today.

This article was published at the Project Repository Journal (Oct/ Nov 2019 – Volume 3, pages 56-59) [link]. The article summarizes all the achievements of the ThinkNature project with links on the exploitable results and the deliverables that can be found on the ThinkNature Platform.

Raising interest in ‘nature-based solutions’ (NBS) has inspired attempts to organise their principles and qualities within comprehensive and internally consistent evaluation frameworks, so as to demonstrate the superior performance of ‘working with nature’. However, the proposed frameworks stop short of taking into account the changing conditions in which NBS are set to operate. Climate change, in particular, can alter ecosystems and their services, and may undermine the performance of green solutions that rely on them.

Much has been written about the potential contribution of citizen-science approaches to further urban environmental sustainability, and associated interventions such as nature-based solutions (NBS). Engagements between researchers and stakeholders relying on bottom-up information provision, for instance community mapping, are often purported to play a vital role in developing shared knowledge, achieving greater impact and stimulating innovation. However, relatively few studies within the realm of NBS have reported on experiences in using volunteered information, or their results.

The EU has heavily invested in projects to renature cities.
After the European elections, a new executive will head the EU. What will happen to the NBS policy?

A public consultation on IUCN’s Global Standard for Nature-based Solutions is now open.

This standard aims to create a common understanding and consensus on what constitutes a good nature-based solutions. It is intended to be a simple yet robust hands-on tool that informs the planning, design and implementation of nature-based solutions, especially as an alternative to other types of development interventions such as hard infrastructure. In doing so, the standard will support wider uptake of the nature-based solutions concept.

EKLIPSE is inviting experts to join an expert working group to support the negotiators from the EU and its Member States to provide relevant comment on the IPBES Global assessment Summary for Policy-Makers (SPM).

In May 2019, the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) will hold its 7th Plenary Session. During this meeting, representatives of 130 Governments will be presented, for discussion and possible approval, with a definitive new global synthesis of the state of nature, ecosystems and nature’s contributions to people.