The state of our health services is rarely out of the news. Understandably, there is a huge concern about acute provision and the treatment of ill health. Much has been written about the increased incidence of obesity, the persistence of health inequalities and the best ways to care for an ageing population. We believe that much greater priority needs to be given to prevention of ill health in public health and social care. In April 2013, responsibility for public health moved from the NHS in England to local authorities.

There is a growing concern in government with the health status of the population and its increasing sedentary lifestyle. 23% of males and 26% of females in the UK are classified as sedentary. The cost of physical inactivity in England is estimated at £8.2bn per year with an additional £2.5bn as the contribution of inactivity to obesity. The Public Health White Paper (Department of Health, 2004a) has, as three of its six overarching priorities, ‘reducing obesity’, ‘increasing exercise’ and ‘improving mental health’. Greenspace can contribute to the delivery of these objectives.

Restoration of degraded land is recognized by the international community as an important way of enhancing both biodiversity and ecosystem services, but more information is needed about its costs and benefits. In Cambridgeshire, U.K., a long‐term initiative to convert drained, intensively farmed arable land to a wetland habitat mosaic is driven by a desire both to prevent biodiversity loss from the nationally important Wicken Fen National Nature Reserve (Wicken Fen NNR) and to increase the provision of ecosystem services.

This report follows on from the English Nature report Revealing the Value of Nature and picks up in more detail references to quality of life. In today’s society, and with government looking at joined up thinking, it is important to assess the benefits achieved by the work of English Nature and other conservation organisations over and above that for nature conservation.

The Natural Environment White Paper “The Natural Choice: securing the value of nature” (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, 2011) sets out the need to strengthen the connection between people and nature. However, the White Paper also acknowledges that the opportunities to benefit from spending time in the natural environment are currently not open to everyone, which can contribute to health and other inequalities.

Europe continues to be faced with challenges related to the economy, the climate, the environment, and society at large. Most of these challenges have a strong urban dimension; they either manifest themselves mainly in and around cities - e.g., poverty, social and spatial segregation; environmental degradation - or find their solutions in and through cities – e.g.; resource efficiency and CO2 neutral economy; economic development and innovation; social innovation and integration.

Protected areas play a major role in reducing climate changing carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere. Fifteen percent of the worlds terrestrial carbon stock - 312 gigatonnes - are stored in protected areas around the world. Protected areas also serve as natural buffers against climate impacts and other disasters, providing space for floodwaters to disperse, stabilizing soil against landslides and blocking storm surges.

IUCN is extensively involved in supporting climate change adaptation, with a specific focus on Ecosystem based Adaptation (EbA). This is directly aligned with IUCN’s commitment to Nature based Solutions as a part of its overall vision and mission. In order to fully define IUCN’s approach to adaptation, an EbA Learning Framework has been developed. The objective is to systematically document and glean learning from the rich knowledge being generated through the world wide implementation of EbA related projects.

The natural environment worldwide is increasingly affected by climate change, including disruption of vegetative growth cycle and rainfall, changes in species range or loss of species and natural habitats, desertification, rising sea levels, ocean acidification, and coral bleaching. According to recent scientific studies, one species out of four is at risk of extinction by 2050 due to climate change.

This report has been prepared as part of an effort by IUCN to define its position on Nature-based Solutions (NbS) and plan for future work to advance this concept and support effective implementation of NbS to enhance ecosystem services provision and address societal challenges. The report proposes a definitional framework for NbS, including a set of general principles for any NbS intervention. The report also defines the scope of NbS as an umbrella concept embracing a number of different ecosystem-based approaches.