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On the misuse of nature-based carbon ‘offsets’
Nature-based solutions (NbS*) are being misused for greenwashing. Promoting NbS as carbon 'offsets' while continuing business as usual in fossil fuel use is not a solution to climate change. In fact, it can encourage continued or even increased fossil fuel consumption leading to more emissions o [...] read more
New £10m Agile Initiative announced, led by NbSI Director
A new Oxford University research programme, The Agile Initiative, has been established to provide rapid solutions to critical environmental issues. Based at the Oxford Martin School with £10 million of funding from the Natural Environment Research Council and led by NbSI Director Professor Nathalie [...] read more

Temporary nature-based carbon removal can lower peak warming in a well-below 2 °C scenario

Matthews et al. 2022. A recent study in Communications Earth & Environment has found that temporary nature-based carbon storage (NbCS) can decrease the peak temperature increase associated with anthropogenic climate change, but only if implemented as a complement (and not an alternative) to ambitious fossil fuel CO2 emissions reductions. The study utilised a global climate model featuring [...] Read more
May 19, 2022

Actions to halt biodiversity loss generally benefit the climate

Shin et al. 2022 A review in Global Change Biology examines conservation actions which have the largest potential for mitigation of climate change, highlighting that conservation actions have a variety of benefits and few trade-offs with climate change mitigation. The study looked at the extent to which actions taken to halt or reverse biodiversity loss have consequences [...] Read more
April 2, 2022

The biodiversity and ecosystem service contributions and trade-offs of forest restoration approaches

Hua et al. 2022 A recent study in Science has revealed the differences in the ecosystem services and biodiversity benefits of native forests compared to tree plantations. Diverse native forests were found to perform better in terms of supporting biodiversity, above-ground carbon storage, soil erosion prevention, and water provisioning, compared to simple tree plantations. Plantations were [...] Read more
March 25, 2022

Co-benefits of forest carbon projects in Southeast Asia

Vadya Sarira et al 2022. A new study in Nature Sustainability by researchers at the National University of Singapore (NUS) reveals the social and environmental benefits of forest protection in South-east Asia. This region contains 196 million ha of tropical forests, many of which are under threat from agricultural expansion and other economic activities. Large-scale carbon projects [...] Read more
February 17, 2022

What influences the implementation of natural climate solutions? A systematic map and review of the evidence

Schulte et al 2022. A new study in Environmental Research Letters presents a systematic review of the contextual factors that influence the implementation of natural climate solutions (NCS). By examining a large global collection of research case studies from the peer-reviewed literature, the study synthesizes and maps the bottom-up evidence on NCS. This is is then used [...] Read more
February 16, 2022

Protect, manage and then restore lands for climate mitigation

Cook-Patton et al 2021. A recent study in Nature Climate Change, led by scientists from The Nature Conservancy, outlines a hierarchy for decision-making regarding protecting, managing, and restoring natural systems for climate mitigation. A series of approaches to maximising the use of Natural Climate Solutions (NCS) to tackle climate change were compared against four key criteria: magnitude [...] Read more
February 14, 2022

Nature-dependent people: Mapping human direct use of nature for basic needs across the tropics

Fedele et al. 2021 A recent study in Global Environmental Change led by Conservation International Europe investigated where people depend the most on locally available natural resources for their basic human needs, such as energy, water, housing and livelihoods. The study aimed to improve the current limited understanding of the importance of nature in directly supporting [...] Read more
December 16, 2021

Ensuring nature-based solutions support both biodiversity and climate change adaptation

New research examines whether nature-based solutions can deliver a win-win for biodiversity and climate change adaptation. Our recent study reviewed the effects of nature-based interventions for climate change adaptation on different metrics of ecosystem health (such as the diversity of species, their population sizes, or soil and water quality). Most interventions with positive outcomes for climate [...] Read more
November 6, 2021

Nature-based solutions can reduce vulnerability to climate change

Our recent research examines the role of nature-based solutions (NbS) in addressing climate vulnerability in Bangladesh and rural Global South in general, and on ensuring NbS support both biodiversity and climate change adaptation. We have summarised the key findings from these studies for policymakers in three briefings. Bangladesh This briefing ‘Tackling climate change with nature-based solutions in Bangladesh’ [...] Read more
November 6, 2021

Time to integrate global climate change and biodiversity science-policy agendas

Pettorelli et al., 2021 A recent study in Journal of Applied Ecology, co-authoured by NbSI’s Prof Nathalie Seddon, reviews the current set of political and scientific propositions for jointly addressing the fundamentally connected threats posed by the climate and biodiversity crises, as a more integrated global approach is essential to tackle these two global challenges. The use [...] Read more
October 21, 2021

Land-based measures to mitigate climate change: Potential and feasibility by country

Roe et al., 2021 A recent study in Global Change Biology estimates the land-based mitigation potential (technical and cost-effective), related land footprints, mitigation density potential, and feasibility of 20 land and demand management activities for over 200 countries. The study developed and adapted 25 “bottom-up” sectoral databases and 6 integrated assessment models (IAMs), with new data [...] Read more
October 18, 2021

Effects of large herbivores on fire regimes and wildfire mitigation

Rouet-Leduc et al. 2021 A recent study in Journal of Applied Ecology has shown that the presence of large herbivores, such as domestic livestock, wild and semi-wild herbivores, within landscapes can prevent and mitigate wildfires, particularly in areas facing land abandonment. Rouet-Leduc et al. found that herbivores can provide a cost-effective nature-based solution, that in some [...] Read more
September 16, 2021

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