Nature offers powerful solutions to major global challenges
“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 has the potential to 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 climate solutions must be grounded in sound biodiversity science
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Ecosystem and biodiversity scientists must work closely with policymakers to identify meaningful climate adaptation targets that benefit both people and ecosystems
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Nature-based Solutions to Global Challenges
Science • Knowledge Exchange • Action

The Nature-based Solutions Initiative is an interdisciplinary programme of research, policy advice and education based at the University of Oxford. It brings together natural, physical and social scientists with economists, governance and finance experts from across the University and beyond. Its mission is to enhance understanding of the potential of Nature-based Solutions to address global challenges and increase their sustainable implementation worldwide.

01 Knowledge

Explore our bibliography for the latest publications on NbS and locate scientific evidence for the effectiveness of Nature-based Solutions to climate change impacts using our Evidence Platform

02 Policy

Discover how the world’s nations are planning for the impacts of climate change and learn how to increase climate ambition through Nature-based Solutions

03 Practice

Find out more about our in-country programmes and read about Nature-based Solutions in action from across the globe

Check out our NbS Platforms

Evidence platform

Our evidence platform is an interactive map linking nature-based solutions to climate change adaptation outcomes based on a systematic review of the peer-reviewed literature.

Evidence platform

Policy platform

This platform makes information about climate change adaptation planning across the globe openly available, easy to explore. It highlights the prominence of NbS to climate change impacts in global policy

Policy platform

Latest publications on Nature-based Solutions

There are currently 380 publications in our bibliography.

Sowing the Seeds of Seagrass Recovery Using Hessian Bags

Seagrass meadows are an important wetland habitat that have been degraded globally but have an important carbon storage role. In order to expand the restoration of these productive and biodiverse habitats methods are [...] Read more
Unsworth, R. K. F. et al. | Environmental Research Letters | 2019

Strategically designed marine reserve networks are robust to climate change driven shifts in population connectivity

Marine reserves can be effective conservation and fishery management tools, particularly when their design accounts for spatial population connectivity. Yet climate change is expected to significantly alter larval connectivity of many marine species, [...] Read more
Rassweiler, A. et al. | Environmental Research Letters | 2020

Peatlands and Global Change: Response and Resilience

Peatlands are wetland ecosystems that accumulate dead organic matter (i.e., peat) when plant litter production outpaces peat decay, usually under conditions of frequent or continuous waterlogging. Collectively, global peatlands store vast amounts of [...] Read more
Page, S. E. and Baird, A. J. | Annual Review of Environment and Resources | 2016

Bibliography

Latest annoucements

Read all our recent NbSI news and checkout our latest tweets on our news page.

New Phil Trans paper our today

Understanding the value and limits of Nature-based Solutions to climate change and other global challenges. We discuss how NbS can contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation, and in what ways NbS is [...] Read more January 27, 2020
10 Days. 100 Climate Change Ideas.

We’re excited to announce that the NBSI will be featured in Apolitical’s scheme: ‘Climate Innovation. 10 Days. 100 Ideas.’ Sign up now and get 100 climate policy ideas for 10 days from [...] Read more January 24, 2020
Cécile Giradin explains NbS at Oxford Women in Science

Just 35% of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) students in higher education in the UK are women. Although the physical sciences (biology, chemistry, physics) are less gender-biased than the other STEM subjects, [...] Read more January 24, 2020
Climate Science social media & app

For easily-digestible, referenced information on all aspects of climate change and its solutions, follow Climate Science on Instagram or Facebook. Isabel Key, Research Assistant and [...] Read more January 13, 2020