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Description coming soon — The updated IUCN Global Standard aims to strengthen clarity, usability and safeguards for NbS implementation.

New Global Benchmark for NbS: IUCN Launches Updated Global Standard for Nature-based Solutions

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) launched the Second Edition of the Global Standard for Nature-based Solutions at the 2025 World Conservation Congress in Abu Dhabi. By strengthening scientific rigour, social safeguards and practical usability, the updated Standard provides a stronger foundation for scaling credible, high-quality NbS worldwide.

28 October 2025

Climate change and weak policies endanger Brazil’s Cerrado endemic flora

Brazil’s Cerrado, one of the most biodiverse savannas on Earth, is already suffering record levels of land conversion and now faces intensifying climate pressures like extreme drought. A new study warns that, without stronger conservation policies, the combined forces of climate change and habitat loss could drastically reshape the distribution of the Cerrado’s threatened endemic flora by 2050.

08 October 2025

Planning and Infrastructure Bill: Key Concerns and Recommendations

The Planning and Infrastructure Bill, currently being debated in the House of Lords, has far-reaching implications for biodiversity, local democracy, and community wellbeing. We have prepared a briefing note to highlight priority amendments to make the Bill less damaging and more nature-positive.

05 September 2025

Aerial shot over the Amaxon — A new study shows how the EU climate neutrality strategy may undermine nature-based mitigation goals in the Global South. Photo by Aline Soterroni.

Potential Impacts of the EU’s carbon dioxide removal strategy for Brazil’s land ecosystems and local communities

Land-based carbon dioxide removal options like Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) have strong emphasis in the EU’s roadmap to net zero, but at what cost? Taking Brazil as a case study, a new paper explores the potential environmental and social consequences of the EU’s CDR strategy beyond its boundaries.

27 August 2025

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UK Government Budget 2020

The UK government disclosed this year’s budget on the 11th March. It includes increases in spending in biodiversity conservation, and climate change mitigation and adaptation. Notable commitments include: – £640m Nature for Climate Fund to restore 35,000 hectares of peatland and plant 30,000 hectares of trees (an area about the size of Birmingham) in England […]

12 March 2020

4 countries have submitted updated NDCs

This year, countries have the chance to submit updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) with new targets for how they will contribute to the goals of the Paris Agreement. Although the informal deadline for submission of updated NDCs was 9th February 2020, to date, only four countries have submitted new documents: Norway, the Marshall Islands, Moldova, […]

09 March 2020

Absolute Zero Report

This report summarises actions required to deliver net-zero emissions in the UK by 2050, without the emergence of not-guaranteed new technologies. The authors calculated that this would require much more drastic actions than suggested by government bodies such as the Committee on Climate Change (CCC). For example, all airports would need to be closed between […]

09 March 2020

Restoring Appalachian coal mines

Strip mining and later mountaintop-removal for coal has caused widespread destruction of native forest in Appalachia, USA, over the past decades. Around 1.5 million acres have been ‘restored’, but rather than natural forests returning, the land is covered in degraded grassland, dominated by invasive plant species. However, some areas were re-planted with trees; this not […]

05 March 2020

Malaysia’s forgotten ecosystem: peatland

Whilst halting loss of tropical forest in Malaysia is clearly a global priority, the 1.54 million hectares of remaining peat swamp attract less media attention. Peatlands are the most carbon-rich terrestrial ecosystem per unit area, and so from a climate change mitigation perspective, preserving them is vital. However, Malaysia’s peat swamps are under threat from […]

05 March 2020

Working on the boundaries — How do science use and interpret the nature-based solutions concept?

Hanson et al. 2020 Over the last decade, ‘nature-based solutions’ (NbS) has emerged as a key concept in environmental science. This article assesses a range of factors to better understand how the concept works at the interface of science and policy. The authors conducted a structured, qualitative review of 112 scientific peer-reviewed publications using the term […]

04 March 2020

Ecosystem-based tsunami mitigation for tropical biodiversity hotspots

Wanger et al. 2020 Tsunamis have claimed over 260,000 lives this last century, making them the most deadly of natural hazards. In 2018, a tsunami devastated the Indonesian city of Palu and in response the government is planning to build a 7km long, 3.2m high sea wall. This paper suggests a hybrid coastal protection strategy […]

27 February 2020

NbSI discusses Nature-based Solutions with MPs in Westminster

Together with Oxford colleagues, Michelle Cain and Michael Obersteiner, Nat Seddon took part in a roundtable meeting at the Palace of Westminster to discuss “Achieving Net Zero: The Role of Land” with the Net Zero All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG). Over the course of two hours, they discussed policy and science issues on what it will […]

25 February 2020

Mobilizing up-scaling of Nature-based Solutions for climate change throughout 2020 and beyond

There is growing global consensus on the importance of addressing climate change and biodiversity loss together. Promoting policy coherence, and broader alignment with sustainable development goals necessitates active collaboration across sectors. Recognizing the importance of this, the European Commission (DG ENV Biodiversity Unit) convened a 2-day workshop to stimulate knowledge exchange between approximately 70 partners […]

24 February 2020

Urban trees in Wisconsin USA

Trees have been shown to cause significant cooling in Madison, Wisconsin. Trees have a cooling effect due to reflecting more sunlight than darker surfaces, and the latent heat of evaporation from leaves. The study showed that daytime air temperature decreased with increasing canopy cover; for example, increasing canopy cover from 0-100% corresponded with a decrease […]

20 February 2020

Stormwater green infrastructure in the Mid-Atlantic USA

Use of vegetation in urban areas in the Mid-Atlantic watersheds of Washington DC, Montgomery County and Baltimore County MD, has reduced flooding and nutrient runoff. The ‘stormwater green infrastructure’ in these municipalities includes green roofs, bioswales, rain gardens and stormwater ponds. By increasing infiltration and groundwater recharge, and/or evaporation, they reduce the volume of run-off […]

20 February 2020

Peatland restoration in Belarus

Balarus is leading the way for peat restoration in Europe. Peatlands cover about 23% of the country, but most of it is degraded or drained. The country’s peatlands have long been seen primarily as a resource for agriculture and energy, but since the 1990s efforts have been made to protect, restore, and sustainably use the […]

19 February 2020

Forest regeneration in Ethiopia

The township of Humbo in Ethiopia had lost most of its surrounding forests by the late 1960s, but a recent initiative is turning this around. 2700 hectares of degraded native forest have been restored since 2006 through a community-based project. The forest was regenerated using a method called farmer-managed natural regeneration (FMNR) involving pruning, management […]

19 February 2020

Restoring grassland in England

The re-conversion of winter cereal fields into grassland contributed to the cessation of winter floods in a downstream housing estate in the South Downs of England. In the mid-1980s grassland in the catchment was converted into cereal crops, resulting in the soil holding less water and reducing the amount of rain required for flooding and […]

19 February 2020

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