Following the decision by IUCN Members to adopt a universal definition of nature-based solutions (NbS) in 2016, IUCN has been working with key stakeholders in relevant sectors, such as water, food, development and humanitarian aid, encouraging them to systematically incorporate NbS into their decision-making processes.
Photo: Mangroves for the Future
According to the IUCN definition, NbS are “actions to protect, sustainably manage and restore natural or modified ecosystems that address societal challenges effectively and adaptively, simultaneously providing human well-being and biodiversity benefits.”
While there is a growing body of evidence about the benefits of NbS, the IUCN Ecosystem Management Programme and Commission on Ecosystem Management have been jointly leading a collaborative consultation process to develop a Global Standard for the Design and Verification of Nature-based Solutions, which will be officially launched at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in June 2020.
The aim is to create a common understanding and consensus on what constitutes a good NbS, according to IUCN's Daisy Hessenberger, who outlined some of the lessons learned from the consultation process and invited interested organisations and businesses to pilot the standard. More information about the NbS Standard can be found here.
Daisy was one of the key speakers during the IUCN-PANORAMA webinar, "Engaging business in nature-based solutions," hosted by the BioBiz Exchange initiative earlier in 2019.
In addition, the webinar also featured two case studies. One, "Engaging business to invest in NbS for water security: the Upper Tana-Nairobi Water Fund," was presented by David Schaub-Jones, the Water Fund Programme Manager for The Nature Conservancy, based in South Africa.
The other case study featured an IUCN-backed project, "Shrimping Horizons: How shrimp farmers are saving thousands of miles of mangrove in Vietnam," with Jake Brunner, head of IUCN's Indo-Burma Group.
Other examples of nature-based solution examples featured on the PANORAMA Solutions platform include:
- Building with Nature for safe, prosperous and adaptive coastlines in Indonesia by Wetlands International
- Combining ecological and infrastructural restoration in Panchase Mountainous Region, Nepal by IUCN
- Applying ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction (Eco-DRR) in Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) in the Lukaya Basin, DRC by UN Environment.
To learn more about NbS, listen to the full webinar here. Note, you must register to access the recording.
To share your own experience or view more examples, visit the PANORAMA thematic community on business engagement here.
