What are nature-based solutions? 

Nature-based solutions harness the power of nature to boost natural ecosystems, biodiversity and human well-being to address major societal issues, including climate change. 

These solutions cover a broad range of actions to protect, restore or sustainably manage landscapes, seascapes, watersheds and urban areas so they can tackle challenges such as food and water security, climate change, disaster risks and human health. Examples include restoring wetlands to buffer local communities from flood waters, or conserving mangrove forests that provide nurseries for fish and protect nearby homes against storm damage. From protecting salt marshes to restoring forest habitats, nature-based solutions are already in operation across the world.

Indigenous peoples and local communities have used nature-based solutions for milenia. It is crucial that all solutions are people-centered, led by communities and draw from traditional and local knowledge. Nature-based solutions must be inclusive, transparent, developed with respect to land rights and respect to local people’s views and the benefits should be equally distributed.

Why do we need nature-based solutions?

 

Our planet is facing a triple global challenge of biodiversity loss, climate change and equitable development. Around a million animal and plant species are now threatened with extinction - more than ever before in human history. And the climate emergency is exposing millions of people to extreme heat waves, threatening food and water supplies, and could leave a billion people affected by sea-level rise within decades, among several other impacts. 

At the same time, half of the world's GDP depends on the efficient and sustainable use of natural assets and its services in sectors such as agriculture, fisheries, forestry and tourism. 

Nature-based solutions are an opportunity to address these problems and ensure a nature positive future by providing essential services such as carbon storage, ensuring food and water supplies and buffering against the impacts of a warming world. 

What is WWF doing?

 

WWF works globally on promoting nature-based solutions and prioritizing actions that benefit people, nature and climate. We develop measurable, people-centered initiatives across the world that harness nature-based solutions and emphasize the benefits of protecting and restoring nature to businesses, cities, communities and governments.

We are working to develop science-based guidance for field-based interventions, partnering with initiatives that boost them, and advocating for policy changes and the increased inclusion of nature-based solutions in countries’ climate pledges. We are calling for nature-based solutions to be part of the Convention on Biological Diversity’s Global Biodiversity Framework and working to strengthen the alignment between climate and nature conventions.

We are advocating for nature-based solutions to be carefully planned, designed and implemented to ensure the rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities are respected, and that the benefits are shared fairly. As members of the international committee for the IUCN’s Global Standard of Nature-based Solutions, we encourage its use for designing, upscaling and verifying an intervention which covers the governance of nature-based solutions and safeguards for nature and people.