Nature-based solutions
Extreme weather events such as floods and rainstorms are the root cause of many devastating disasters. With climate change, such events are expected to become more frequent and more intense. In the past, societies protected themselves by building walls, culverts and other grey infrastructure, but such measures are not sustainable in the long run. Hence, nature-based solutions (NBS), which offer more environmentally sound, socially acceptable and economically viable results, are increasingly important.
Nature-based solutions use nature as an inspiration and as support to provide environmental, social and economic benefits. They help build cost-effective and sustainable resilience to extreme weather events. In addition, they can also enhance biodiversity and provide social benefits. These benefits include more recreational areas, improved property values and enhancing attractiveness of places to live and work. Environmental benefits include improved habitat areas, an increased number and types of protected species and an increased density of native species.
Reflecting the increasing recognition of and need for NBS, the UN Environmental Assembly in March 2022 adopted a resolution that defines NBS and notes that they are among “actions that play an essential role in the overall global effort to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, including by effectively and efficiently addressing major social, economic and environmental challenges.”
NBS are an integral part of several European Commission policy instruments that address climate change mitigation and adaptation, flood and drought management as well as biodiversity crisis, including the Floods Directive, the Action Plan on the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 and the EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change.
International bodies that have recognized the significance of NBS include the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, and the United Nations Environmental Programme.
In terms of the scale of implementation, NBS can be divided into small- and large-scale solutions. Small-scale NBS are typically implemented at the urban or local scale, often in buildings, streets or roofs – examples include green roofs, rain gardens, rainwater harvesting, permeable pavements, bio-retention and vegetated swales. Large-scale NBS are implemented in rural, natural, mountainous, coastal and estuarine areas - examples include detention and retention basins, wetlands and floodplains, afforestation, terraces and retaining walls, mangroves, mudflats, dunes, beach nourishment and coral reefs.
Highlighted project
Measuring impact of citizen science
Partners in the MICS project co-designed citizen science initiatives with communities in Romania, Hungary and Italy to help them make the case for nature-based solutions (NBS) in their local environments – or to measure the impacts of such solutions. The project guided five case studies, in Romania, Hungary, Italy and the United Kingdom, in assessing their impacts. The project developed a tool that helps assess how effective citizen science is by considering its impact in society, the environment, the economy, governance and science and technology.
IHE Delft developed a finalised version of the project’s conceptual framework, guidance for co-design of citizen science activities in the project’s case study sites and recommendations about the assessment of the impact of citizen science.
This European Union Horizon project was conducted from January 2019 to July 2022.
Some of our NBS research
The European Union-funded 2021-2024 EIFFEL research project promoted the use of Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) datasets for climate adaptation. As part of the project, IHE Delft developed a set of NBS adaptation strategies for the Dutch-Belgian Aa of Weerijs catchment, which in recent years has faced summer droughts exacerbated by climate change. IHE Delft developed an integrated hydrological model to simulate current conditions and future climate change impacts and used this to design drought adaptation strategies that use spatially combined NBS. The results are available through a dedicated web application. The application was also used in work with key stakeholders to co-development of the adaptation strategies.
The European Union-funded RECONECT project (Regenerating ECOsystems with Nature-based solutions for hydro-meteorological risk rEduCTion), coordinated by IHE Delft, is an interdisciplinary international project that aims to contribute to the EU reference framework on NBS by demonstrating, referencing, upscaling and applying large-scale NBS in rural and natural areas. RECONECT stimulates a new culture of co-creation of land-use planning that links the reduction of hydro-meteorological risk with local and regional development objectives in a sustainable and financially viable way. RECONECT carries out the co-creation process in a manner that deliberately addresses water, nature and people in NBS implementation.
The European Union-funded PEARL project (Preparing for Extreme And Rare events in coastaL regions), which was coordinated by IHE Delft, developed holistic approaches to design and develop adaptive risk management approaches that minimize socioeconomic losses and environmental impacts, and increase resilience to hydro-meteorological hazards. Focusing on hybrid small-scale NBS and grey infrastructure for urban flood reduction, IHE Delft explored trade-offs among the multiple benefits of hybrid systems, assessed their co-benefits for sustainable risk management and systematically selected NBS that maximize flood risk reduction and other benefits important to stakeholders.
Water that exists below dry rivers - How to use it sustainably?
This short documentary reports on the main objectives and activities of the TMT+ training implemented over a period of three years, on sustainable development of groundwater from nature-based storage for rural multi-purpose water supply in Mozambique. It also aims to show the potential for the use of this resource from large "sand rivers", and the need for investment in this field.
Webinar: Nature-based solutions for disaster and climate resilience
Innovative solutions in which natural processes and ecosystems help solve different types of societal and environmental challenges, so-called Nature-Based Solutions (NBS), have emerged as effective means to respond to such challenges. Using NBS for hydro-meteorological risk reduction and building climate-resilient landscapes offers the possibility to break away from traditional practices and enable to reconnect our land management practices and developments with nature in order to achieve multiple benefits to ecosystem services and functions of ecosystems.
Meet our experts on nature-based solutions
IHE Delft’s international staff use their expertise to improve the global water situation. Some of them are listed here – find more in our staff directory.
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