NbSI tree, wave, mangroves
  • Research
  • Outputs
  • Education
  • Team
  • News
  • About
  • Join Us
  • Support
  • Bibliography
  • Case Study Platform
  • Knowledge Hub
  • Evidence Tool
  • NbS Guidelines
  • Conferences
  • NbS for climate change adaptation

    • Building social-ecological resilience in a warming world

      Even if humanity limits the global temperature increase, feedbacks and inertia in the global climate system mean that adaptation is essential.

      While the default approach to addressing human adaptation to climate change involves engineered interventions, carefully designed nature-based solutions in a range of ecosystems can work with and sometimes improve upon these approaches and can generally do so at lower economic cost once the broader benefits of NbS are taken into account. Using global and regional systematic reviews together with on-the-ground empirical work, our research examines the role of NbS in:

      1. Reducing exposure to the immediate impacts of climate change.
      2. Lowering social sensitivity to climate impacts by supporting diversification of sources of food and income.
      3. Building adaptive capacity through the process of designing, implementing and managing nature-based interventions.

      We are particularly interested in for whom NbS bring benefits in a rapidly warming world, and the mechanisms linking human and ecological resilience.

    • Projects

      • Landscape of agriculture Agricultural Resilience Impact and Innovation Hub
      • Aerial shot of tropical agrforestry The Flourishing Landscapes Programme
      • Landscape shot of a hill in Wales Biodiversity and ecosystem function responses to woodland creation
      • Coffee fields - agroforestry HARP Project: Facilitating Sustainable Reforestation in Tropical Agricultural Landscapes – The High Agricultural Reforestation Potential (HARP) Toolkit
      • Cocoa hanging from the plant Sustain-Cocoa: Sustainable sourcing policies for biodiversity protection, climate mitigation, and improved livelihoods in the cocoa sector
      • Mangroves at sunset Nature-based solutions for resilient infrastructure systems in Jamaica, Bangladesh and the Maldives
      • Aerial shot of bridge over stream, tropical Understanding the value and limits of NbS to address climate change and other development challenges in the Philippines
      • Boat on sand Addressing climate vulnerability with nature-based solutions in Bangladesh
      • Cloud forest in Colombia Biodiversity outcomes of nature-based solutions for adaptation in the Tropical Andes
      • Aerial shot of landscape Scaling-up nature-based solutions in the UK
      • UK cliffs aerial shot Nature-based solutions to address climate risks in the UK 
      • Aerial of South America Interactive global map of good practice nature-based solutions
      • Dark forest Guidelines for sustainable, successful nature-based solutions
      • Mangrove seedlings Can nature-based solutions deliver a win-win for biodiversity and climate change adaptation?
      • People carrying foliage in forest Exploring the role of nature-based solutions for social-ecological resilience 
      • Agroforestry techniques Role of nature-based solutions for development
      • Trees in still water Reducing people’s vulnerability to climate change in the rural Global South using Nature-based Solutions
      • Peruvian man carrying a load Nature-based solutions for economic recovery in the global south
      • Evidence Tool screenshots Mapping the effectiveness of nature-based solutions for climate change adaptation
  • NbS for climate change mitigation

    • Credible and sustainable pathways to achieving net-zero

      Protecting and restoring natural ecosystems and sustainably managing our working lands and seas play a critical role in reaching net-zero carbon emissions this century, but only if combined with other climate solutions, especially dramatic cuts in GHG emissions across all sectors of the economy. Our work explores the contribution of NbS to achieving net-zero and investigates how NbS for climate change mitigation can be taken to scale without compromising biodiversity, food security or other sustainable development goals. We address these questions using a diversity of approaches including systematic literature reviews, global and regional geospatial analyses, Integrated Assessment models, economic landuse modelling, and on-the-ground empirical studies. Current work focuses on identifying pathways to achieving net-zero in the UK and Brazil, taking into account issues such as leakage and additionality, as well as socioeconomic barriers to implementation.

    • Projects

      • Landscape of agriculture Agricultural Resilience Impact and Innovation Hub
      • UK landscape, Scotland How can we manage uncertainties in habitat greenhouse gas emissions?
      • Aerial shot of tropical agrforestry The Flourishing Landscapes Programme
      • Yellow and black tropical bird Synergies and trade-offs between net zero policies and biodiversity conservation in Brazil
      • Factory aerial shot Investigating the biodiversity, social and sustainable development outcomes of achieving net-zero in the UK
      • Aerial of South America Interactive global map of good practice nature-based solutions
      • Dark forest Guidelines for sustainable, successful nature-based solutions
      • Forest fire Role of nature-based solutions in mitigating climate change
  • Social dimensions of NbS

    • Understanding for whom NbS bring benefits, and how

      We work with a wide international network of researchers to synthesise and generate empirical and theoretical knowledge on the key and priority social elements of NbS. This is based on our understanding of NbS as a co-production process with social and ecological elements that interact across scales. Our work explores how key social concepts such as power, agency, knowledge and narratives can be used by researchers and practitioners alike to understand how to govern NbS for more effective, equitable and resilient outcomes. We draw from mixed methodologies, including quantitative qualitative social science methods, as well as participatory approaches for working with stakeholders, including historically-marginalised groups.

    • Projects

      • Landscape of agriculture Agricultural Resilience Impact and Innovation Hub
      • Aerial shot of tropical agrforestry The Flourishing Landscapes Programme
      • Coffee fields - agroforestry HARP Project: Facilitating Sustainable Reforestation in Tropical Agricultural Landscapes – The High Agricultural Reforestation Potential (HARP) Toolkit
      • Cocoa hanging from the plant Sustain-Cocoa: Sustainable sourcing policies for biodiversity protection, climate mitigation, and improved livelihoods in the cocoa sector
      • Aerial shot of bridge over stream, tropical Understanding the value and limits of NbS to address climate change and other development challenges in the Philippines
      • Boat on sand Addressing climate vulnerability with nature-based solutions in Bangladesh
      • Factory aerial shot Investigating the biodiversity, social and sustainable development outcomes of achieving net-zero in the UK
      • Aerial shot of landscape Scaling-up nature-based solutions in the UK
      • People carrying foliage in forest Exploring the role of nature-based solutions for social-ecological resilience 
      • Agroforestry techniques Role of nature-based solutions for development
      • Trees in still water Reducing people’s vulnerability to climate change in the rural Global South using Nature-based Solutions
  • NbS and biodiversity

    • Measuring and monitoring biodiversity outcomes of NbS

      Biodiversity is a key determinant of the health and resilience of ecosystems, and their capacity to provide multiple benefits to all members of human societies in a warming world. Yet biodiversity is often overlooked in climate change policy and practice. To address this, we use geospatial analyses, systematic reviews and field studies in the UK and overseas to i) build the evidence base on the outcomes for biodiversity of nature-based solutions for climate change mitigation and adaptation, and ii) support the development of metrics and tools for capturing the value of NbS.

    • Projects

      • Landscape of agriculture Agricultural Resilience Impact and Innovation Hub
      • Aerial shot of tropical agrforestry The Flourishing Landscapes Programme
      • Landscape shot of a hill in Wales Biodiversity and ecosystem function responses to woodland creation
      • Conserving sharks and rays in the global south
      • Cloud forest in Colombia Biodiversity outcomes of nature-based solutions for adaptation in the Tropical Andes
      • Yellow and black tropical bird Synergies and trade-offs between net zero policies and biodiversity conservation in Brazil
      • Factory aerial shot Investigating the biodiversity, social and sustainable development outcomes of achieving net-zero in the UK
      • Aerial shot of landscape Scaling-up nature-based solutions in the UK
      • Dark forest Guidelines for sustainable, successful nature-based solutions
      • Mangrove seedlings Can nature-based solutions deliver a win-win for biodiversity and climate change adaptation?
      • Evidence Tool screenshots Mapping the effectiveness of nature-based solutions for climate change adaptation
  • Economics of NbS

    • Economic recovery potential of investments in nature

      Nature-based solutions can provide strong employment per dollar of public spending compared to other stimulus measures and deliver high economic multipliers, yet inclusion of NbS in economic recovery packages is limited.

      Part of the problem is a lack of robust evidence. To address this, we are using systematic reviews and detailed case study work, to compile evidence on the short-term economic recovery potential (e.g. job creation, income) as well as longer term development outcomes (e.g. climate change adaptation, food and water security) of investments in nature. The goal is to translate and share this information with key decision-makers during critical policy windows and support the development of economic recovery plans and the revision of associated climate and development policies.

    • Projects

      • Agroforestry techniques Role of nature-based solutions for development
      • Peruvian man carrying a load Nature-based solutions for economic recovery in the global south
      • Evidence Tool screenshots Mapping the effectiveness of nature-based solutions for climate change adaptation
  • Best practice guidelines

    • Case studies and guidelines for policy and practice

      NbS can address both climate change and biodiversity loss, but only if we:

      1. Rapidly phase out use of fossil fuels;
      2. Protect, restore and connect a wide range of ecosystems across working lands and seas;
      3. Place the rights and knowledge of local communities and Indigenous Peoples front and centre of policy and practice; and,
      4. Explicitly design NbS so that they support biodiversity.

      To help achieve synergy among climate change and biodiversity goals through the implementation of NbS, we support the development of evidence-based guidelines for decision makers in business and government, based on these critical factors, and we collate and showcase good practice examples of NbS projects from around the world.

    • Projects

      • Frog and NbI Logo Nature-based insights analytical framework
      • Aerial of South America Interactive global map of good practice nature-based solutions
      • Dark forest Guidelines for sustainable, successful nature-based solutions

Contact

Nature-based Solutions Initiative
Department of Biology & School of Geography (Smith School)
University of Oxford
Oxford OX1 3SZ
United Kingdom

Email: info.nbsi@biology.ox.ac.uk

  • About /
  • Privacy Policy /

Join the NbS community

Stay in the loop with our work, projects and opportunities by signing up for our newsletter.

By entering your email address and clicking the 'Sign up' button you agree to our Privacy policy.

Oxford, SmithSchool and Biolgy Logos
© 2025 Nature-based Solutions Initiative | Site design and development by Dan Seddon & Nature-based Solutions Intiative