Nature offers a powerful line of defence against harmful environmental change
“Healthy ecosystems underpin healthy, resilient nations and communities, and we cannot achieve our Sustainable Development Goals without safeguarding nature” Achim Steiner, UNDP (2017)
Land-based conservation and restoration can provide over 30% of the cost-effective climate change mitigation needed between now and 2030
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Most nations agree that nature is a major ally in the fight against climate change but policy ambition must be matched by robust targets
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Natural coastal wetlands prevented $625M property damage during Hurricane Sandy in NE USA in 2012
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Loss of coral reefs would double damage from coastal flooding and triple destruction by storms
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Nature-based Solutions are actions that work with and enhance natural habitats to help address societal challenges. This programme of interdisciplinary research, policy advice and education is aimed at getting science into policy and policy into action to increase the implementation of sustainable and biodiverse Nature-based Solutions worldwide.
Climate change and species loss are accelerating and natural disasters are becoming more frequent. Ecosystems are collapsing and agricultural land is being lost to desert. And millions of people face food or water shortages and are fleeing their homelands as conflict over dwindling natural resources intensifies.
Leaders and scientists across the globe are starting to realise that we must work with nature to solve these related global challenges. Nature not only helps protect us from climate change impacts but stores carbon to slow warming and supports biodiversity.
But high-level pledges rarely translate into action. One issue is that evidence for nature’s benefits is hard to access and difficult to understand. Meanwhile, there is low awareness in business and government of our dependency on nature. To address these issues we have established this Initiative.
Mangroves shelter coastlines during hazardous storm events with coastal communities experiencing mangrove deforestation are increasingly vulnerable to economic damages resulting ...
Hochard et al, 2019Land-based greenhouse gas removal (GGR) options include afforestation or reforestation (AR), wetland restoration, soil carbon sequestration (SCS), biochar, terrestrial enhanced ...
Smith et al, 2019Nature-based solutions (NBS) in river landscapes, such as restoring floodplains, can not only decrease flood risks for downstream communities but ...
Albert, C. et al., 2019 348 Studies
