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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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Mangrove protection in India

Mangrove forests in eastern India were shown to protect villages and crops from flooding during a cyclone with 260km/hr winds and a 9m storm surge. The mangroves had been protected from deforestation and overexploitation since 1985. A comparison of inundation and damage between villages found that those further away from mangroves suffered more extensive damage […]

18 February 2020

Rehabilitating rangelands in Kenya

Land degradation is a widespread problem in Sub-Saharan Africa, with the majority of agricultural soil being degraded. One of the main causes of degradation is overgrazing, but this can be combated by use of enclosures for livestock. This involves dividing communal land into smaller sections where grazing is concentrated, either with physical fencing or social […]

13 February 2020

Restoring ancient water supplies in Peru

A community-based NbS project in the Peruvian Andes improved water provisioning whilst permitting grazing of livestock, and has sparked funding and interest in ecosystem-based water management in Peru. An ancient mamenteo canal was restored: a technology that predates the Incan Empire and diverts water from streams during the wet season, increasing infiltration in mountain slopes […]

13 February 2020

Our letter to the new UNFCCC CoP26 president

Together with a group of UK-based research, development and conservation organisations, we wrote a letter to the new CoP26 President, the Rt Hon Alok Sharma MP, to ask him to consider some clear definitions and guiding principles around Nature-based Solutions and their implementation that should ensure they benefit the climate, nature and people, and to […]

13 February 2020

Marshall Islands, Suriname, Norway update NDCs before informal 9 Feb Deadline

Only three of the 197 Paris Agreement signatories have submitted updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) in time for the informal 9th February deadline. The Marshall Islands accounts for just 0.00001% of global emissions, and so focus on making Pacific Islands more resilient to climate change-induced storms and sea level rise rather than on mitigation. The […]

11 February 2020

Quantifying cultural ecosystem services: Disentangling the effects of management from landscape features

Tew et al. 2019 Cultural ecosystem services are recognised as important, but are notoriously difficult to define, measure and assign value to. This study of Thetford forest in the east UK uncovered the relationship between cultural values and land management practices, whilst controlling for the influence of landscape features, such as rivers and roads. The […]

11 February 2020

Ecosystem-based Adaptation: A review of the constraints

Nalau et al. 2018 Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) is the preferred approach for adapting to climate change in the least developed and developing countries, in part because it has the capacity to address adaptation of both ecosystems and livelihoods simultaneously. This review paper looks at existing literature on the constraints on EbA use, categorised into: economic […]

11 February 2020

Recent divergence in the contributions of tropical and boreal forests to the terrestrial carbon sink

Tagesson et al. 2020 This paper used satellite data on land cover and a dynamic global vegetation model to estimate the impact of human land use and land cover changes (LULCC) on the contribution of different habitat types to the terrestrial carbon sink between 1992 and 2015. The authors found that tropical and boreal forests […]

11 February 2020

Governance principles for community-centered conservation in the post-2020 global biodiversity framework

Armitage et al. 2019 Conservation Science and Practice It is well established that Nature-based Solutions are often more effective if they are designed and implemented in a way that aligns with the perspectives and needs of local stakeholders. Community-centred conservation follows the same principle and some of the research in this area can be applied […]

11 February 2020

National mitigation potential from natural climate solutions in the tropics

Griscom et al. 2020 Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B This paper looks at the potential for natural climate solutions (NCS; a type of nature-based solution) for mitigating climate change in 79 tropical countries. 12 different NCS pathways were defined, split broadly into protection, management and restoration across multiple habitat types (savannahs, farmland, wetland […]

11 February 2020

Nature-based approaches to managing climate change impacts in cities

Hobbie and Grimm 2020 Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B This paper reviews current evidence for how Nature-based Solutions can be used to reduce the vulnerability of cities to climate change. The authors give an overview of how certain features of cities amplify climatic hazards, such as the concentration of settlements around rivers and […]

11 February 2020

Greater stability of carbon capture in species-rich natural forests compared to species-poor plantations

Osuri et al. 2019 This study looked at the difference in C storage and rate of C sequestration between longer-lived plantations and natural forests, using 2000-2018 data on Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) from a natural experiment in the Western Ghats of India. C stocks in monodominant teak and Eucalyptus plantations were 30-50% lower than in […]

11 February 2020

Companies warm to Nature-based Solutions. Greenwashing?

Greenbiz magazine describes Nature-based Solutions as leveraging ‘nature’s inherent genius’. Nature loss puts companies’ supply chains, reputation and financial security at risk, and companies are starting to realise this, encouraged by the World Economic Forum and Business for Nature. According to Greenbiz, so far over 350 companies have made commitments to help reverse nature loss […]

11 February 2020

Restoring Sri Lanka’s mangroves

In 2015, Sri Lanka declared that they would protect all their mangrove forests, in order to restore the precious ecosystem services that they provide: carbon sequestration, coastal protection, fisheries support and more. Partnering with two non-profit organisations (Sudeesa and Seacology), the Sri Lankan government has started a programme to protect and replant 35,000 hectares of […]

11 February 2020

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