Rhizophagus irregularis, an arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus, and Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, a bacterium, are microorganisms that promote plant growth. They associate with plant roots and facilitate nutrient absorption by their hosts, increase resistance against pathogens and pests, and regulate plant growth through phytohormones. In this study, eight local plant species in Finland (Antennaria dioica, Campanula rotundifolia, Fragaria vesca, Geranium sanguineum, Lotus corniculatus, Thymus serpyllum, Trifolium repens, and Viola tricolor) were inoculated with R. irregularis and/or B.

Within the context of enhancing sustainable and livable urban environments, one aim is to establish multifunctional green infrastructure (GI). We argue that in order to successfully plan and manage the development of GI, an inclusive and future-oriented stance concerning the needs and expectations of urbanites is required. By using green roofs as an example, the aim of this paper was to offer insights into how people envisage novel GI in urban environments and to reveal the scope of meanings and values people attach to these kinds of green infrastructure.

Growing and densifying cities set challenges for preserving and enhancing sufficient and good quality green urban environment. Rooftops offer vacant room for additional urban greening that may contribute to the well-being of people and the liveability of cities, but this potential lacks empirical support. In spite of the fact that even small green spaces produce, for example restorative experiences, the literature concerning the experiential and recreational benefits of green roofs is still scarce.

There is extensive experience in adaptive management of exposed sandy coastlines through sand nourishment for coastal protection. However, in complex estuarine systems, coastlines are often shortened through damming estuaries to achieve desired safety levels. The Dutch Deltaworks illustrate that this approach disrupts natural sediment fluxes and harms ecosystem health, which negatively affects derived ecosystem services, such as freshwater availability and mussel and oyster farming. This heavily impacts local communities and thus requires additional maintenance and management efforts.

Coastal lowlands are increasingly exposed to flood risks from sea-level rise and extreme weather events (1). Megacities like Shanghai, London, New York, and Bangkok that lie in vast river deltas are particularly vulnerable. Dramatic flood disasters include the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005, Hurricane Sandy in New York in 2012, and Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines in 2013.

Ecosystems are not merely vulnerable to climate change but, if sustainably restored and protected, are a major source of human resilience. Not only is the science evidence-base for this perspective growing rapidly, but ecosystems are featuring with increasing prominence in global climate change policy.

The presented study aimed at identifying and assessing public preferences for variations in tree species composition, tree height structure, and presence of dead trees left for natural decay—forest characteristics which are likely to be affected when subjecting stands to nature-based forest management in the temperate, nemoral deciduous zone. Data were collected by means of a questionnaire and by applying choice experiments to elicit people's willingness to pay (WTP).

In this paper, we reflect on the implications for science, policy and practice of the recently introduced concept of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS), with a focus on the European context. First, we analyse NBS in relation to similar concepts, and reflect on its relationship to sustainability as an overarching framework. From this, we derive a set of questions to be addressed and propose a general framework for how these might be addressed in NBS projects by funders, researchers, policy-makers and practitioners. We conclude that:

"There is great interest in the restoration and conservation of coastal habitats for protection from flooding and erosion. This is evidenced by the growing number of analyses and reviews of the effectiveness of habitats as natural defences and increasing funding worldwide for nature-based defences–i.e. restoration projects aimed at coastal protection; yet, there is no synthetic information on what kinds of projects are effective and cost effective for this purpose.

The decision to transform “classical” age-class forests (plantation forestry) into more nature-based forest stand structures implied a paradigmatic shift in the Danish state owned forests and their management. In order to facilitate this process of change, scientists were employed by the Danish Forest and Nature Agency which enabled interactions with the professionals in the forest over a nearly 2-year period.