Seeking Clarity on Nature-Based Climate Solutions for Adaptation
While there is increasing policy momentum for NbS, criticisms and controversy cloud its application and upscaling. This guidance note clarifies the concepts behind NbS and related terms and shines a light on how to achieve equitable outcomes through a focus on gender responsiveness, social inclusion, and positive outcomes for biodiversity and ecosystems.
-
The Nature for Climate Adaptation Initiative will strengthen the knowledge and capacity of civil society organizations through an e-learning course, a virtual library of resources, and targeted online and in-person learning exchanges.
-
Nature-based climate solutions have the potential to deliver measurable benefits to communities and ecosystems in cost-effective, equitable ways.
-
Implementing nature-based climate solutions with strong social inclusion principles and robust social environmental safeguards with adequate enforcement can enhance their efficacy and legitimacy while enhancing biodiversity and ecosystems.
As the world witnesses and experiences the impacts of climate change, turning to nature could be a pragmatic way to adapt. Governments are being urged to implement ecosystem-based approaches, which include conservation, restoration, and improved land management, in both adaptation and mitigation. Such approaches, framed under the umbrella concept of nature-based solutions (NbS), are expected to be a key component of the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework and are already integrated into many countries’ National Adaptation Plans (NAPs).
However, controversy remains about what constitutes as NbS and how to achieve equitable outcomes while enhancing biodiversity and ecosystem resilience. Compounding this challenge is the unprecedented scale of biodiversity loss as a result of climate change and other interrelated drivers of change.
This guidance note aims to clarify the concepts of NbS and nature-based climate solutions (NBCS) with an emphasis on climate adaptation. These adaptation-focused NbS are captured using the widely known term ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA). Beyond awareness and knowledge of these terms, it is vital to unpack the social and biodiversity safeguards necessary for NbS to ensure that solutions are gender responsive, socially inclusive, and deliver biodiversity benefits. This guidance note is a knowledge product of the Nature for Climate Adaptation Initiative (NCAI).
Participating experts
You might also be interested in
National State of the Environment Report: Uzbekistan
The National State of the Environment Report (NSoER) is a comprehensive document that provides a snapshot of current environmental trends in Uzbekistan's socio-economic development for citizens, experts, and policy-makers in the country of Uzbekistan.
IISD Welcomes New Deal on Global Biodiversity Framework
IISD congratulates the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) for adopting the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which will guide work within and outside the UN system on tackling biodiversity loss and help lay the groundwork towards the CBD’s vision of living in harmony with nature by 2050.
What Is the UAE Framework for Global Climate Resilience, and How Can Countries Move It Forward?
With the introduction of the new framework for the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA), COP 28 marked a milestone for adaptation. We unpack key outputs and set out how countries can move forward by strengthening their national monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) systems.
After COP 28: What's next for adaptation?
IISD experts Anne Hammill, Angie Dazé, Emilie Beauchamp, Jeffrey Qi, and Alec Crawford take a closer look at what we saw—and did not see—on adaptation at COP 28 in Dubai, and where we go from here.