Nature-based Solutions (NbS)
The water environment is facing ever-growing stress from:
- Climate change
- Population growth
- Biodiversity crisis
- Societal pressures e.g. affordability
- Ageing infrastructure
- Biodiversity and nature loss
Unlike traditional engineered approaches, nature-based solutions are multi-functional and can help resolve multiple pressures whilst delivering social and environmental benefits.
Nature-based solutions are actions to protect, sustainably manage, and restore natural and modified ecosystems that address societal challenges effectively and adaptively, simultaneously benefiting people and nature.
Nature-based Solutions (NbS) deliver a multi-functional purpose
One NBS can deliver multiple improvements at the same time for e.g., water quality, flood reduction, biodiversity and therefore provide a multitude of social, environmental and economic benefits
Integrated with engineered solutions: synergies and trade-offs are optimised with traditional infrastructure, to reduce impact on carbon-intensive measures, and provide hybrid or integrated solutions that can be not only cost-effective, but also more resilient
Driven through collaboration in planning and delivery and much better coordination at landscape scale
Incentivised through multiple investment and joined-up funding: by aggregating their diverse benefits and functions, NBS can become an attractive proposition to a number of investors and funding mechanisms (for every $1 invested in NBS, up to $30 dollars is created in economic benefits) and unlocking investment
The barriers & enablers to Nature-based Solutions (NbS)
Barriers prevent large-scale adoption of NBS.
- Uncertainty around implementation, maintenance, effectiveness and valuation of NBS
- Siloed ways of working, complexities around risk and ownership, competing pressures
- Inadequate and conflicting policy and regulation
- Limited financial incentives to attract investment and revenue streams at scale
MNbS is delivering the following enablers to support the landscape-scale adoption of NBS.
- Partnership working and collaboration
- Policy and regulatory incentives
- Standardisation and capability building
- Joined up planning, delivery and resourcing
- Systematic knowledge sharing and value tracking
MNbS Regional Tests
The MNbS Programme has eight Regional Tests, taking place across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, testing the recommendations coming out of the programme in real life situations to see if they are actionable enablers to support mainstreaming nature-based solutions.
