Nature-based Solutions

We rely on nature and the power of healthy ecosystems to protect people, optimise infrastructure and safeguard a stable and biodiverse future.

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Nature-based Solutions for people and planet

Solutions for infrastructure

US$ 57 billion

Flooding damages averted by mangroves in China, India, Mexico, US and Viet Nam each year

Solutions for climate

37%

Amount of climate mitigation Nature-based Solutions can contribute to meeting Paris climate goal

Solutions for smart investments

US$ 170 billion

Estimated global benefits in ecosystem services from Nature-based Solutions focused on climate

How we engage

Photo: IUCN
Nature-based Solutions are actions to protect, sustainably manage, and restore natural and modified ecosystems that address societal challenges effectively and adaptively, simultaneously providing human well-being and biodiversity benefits.

Advance nature
as a solution

Set the global standard
for NbS

Develop and promote
NbS tools

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Photo: IUCN/biteable

In the spotlight:
Nature-based Solutions for Recovery

When we turn to nature for solutions, nature provides answers.

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Photo: IUCN

In the spotlight:
IUCN energised by UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration

The Decade is energising IUCN and its vast network of members, partners and experts, reinforcing our long-standing commitment to conserving and restoring ecosystems, and building on advances that we have already made to enable restoration actions around the world.

We will build on our successes and the lessons we have learned over many years to forge new collaborative restoration partnerships, and align existing efforts.

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Photo: iStock

In the spotlight:
Strengthening nature-based solutions in national climate commitments

A report produced by IUCN and Oxford University presents an overview of the current level of ambition for nature within the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) of the Paris Agreement, and highlights what more can be done to harness the full potential of nature-based solutions in future NDCs.

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Photo: © IUCN

In the spotlight:
IUCN Congress: Call for Session Submissions at the NbS Pavilion

The IUCN World Conservation Congress provides an ideal stage to amplify the understanding and solidify the science and practice of Nature-based Solutions in a global arena. As part of the Congress exhibition, a dedicated NbS pavilion will host a series of events, workshops, launches and discussion groups on NbS. Call for submissions is now open.

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News

Sustainably managed mangroves can provide ecosystem services such as coastal protection, food and medicines as well as carbon storage, positively impacting both biodiversity and human well-being. The IUCN Global Standard for NbS provides a tool to help ensure that projects labelled as Nature-based Solutions - for example through restoration of mangroves - do indeed deliver the anticipated benefits to both society and biodiversity. Photo: Maxwell Ridgway / Unsplash

IUCN Standard to boost impact of nature-based solutions to global challenges
Photo: ©IUCN/Claire Warmenbol

Solutions for water management challenges
Photo: Phillip Kihumuro / ICRAF

Put trees on farms for food security and biodiversity

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Publications

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Photo: IUCN

ASK AN EXPERT: What is ecosystem restoration? A science-based Outlook

ADD THIS TO YOUR CALENDAR: 1 June at 13:00 CET, hear expert voices from the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration Science Task Force share the fundamentals of the science behind ecosystem restoration. They will walk us through their recommendations for high-quality restoration and focus our...