Global Standard for Nature-based Solutions (NbS): opportunities and challenges for the Caribbean Islands

Caribbean, January 2021 (UICN). More than 150 representatives from national and local governments, the civil society, the private sector, the academy related to environment and development, regional and international organizations, and the public from the Caribbean Islands joined the Webinar “Global Standard for Nature-based Solutions (NbS): opportunities and challenges for the Caribbean Islands” held on December 2020.

The event aimed to identify and discuss best opportunities to advance NbS and use the IUCN Global Standard of NbS, to strengthen environmental and development policies, actions and investments to address societal challenges exacerbated by the impacts of climate change and the Covid19 pandemic in the insular Caribbean.

During her opening remarks, Dr. Grethel Aguilar Rojas, Regional Director for IUCN Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean -IUCN ORMACC, emphasized that Nature-based Solutions are grounded in over 20 years or IUCN work to develop approaches that benefits people and nature. For years, IUCN has led and promoted the concept of Nature-based Solutions.

“Today the world has an international standard as a guide to address societal challenges while benefiting both people and nature. The NbS standard is an opportunity for all of us to tailor our actions to the need of human population and biodiversity. This forum motivates IUCN even more to support the Insular Caribbean region and its transition to a sustainable blue and green economy aiming a human ecosystem resilience”, said Dr. Aguilar. 

“The Caribbean region is now facing challenges, but also great opportunities to grow and shift the paradigm of development into a green recovery of their economies and societies, based on the richness of the natural resources and biodiversity that this region possesses”, outlined Hon. Herod Stanislas, Minister in the Ministry of Economic Development, Housing, Urban Renewal, Transport and Civil Aviation of Saint Lucia.  The speech was given on behalf of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).

The Global Standard for Nature-based Solutions, launched by IUCN on July 23rd, 2020, will allow the public, private, academic and civil society sectors to have a common framework to design implement and scale up through sound policies, actions and investment and in a timely and transparent manner.

The Nature-based Solutions aim to improve people's quality of life while being compatible with the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and its different components. Through the wealth of experiences on the implementation of NbS, IUCN identified the need to develop a global standard for these solutions. The Standard seeks to ensure the credibility of the application of this approach, as well as the monitoring and evaluation of its adoption for adaptive management purposes, so that its contributions can inspire other entities. 

In particular, for the insular Caribbean, the NbS Standard aims at supporting the region in the transition to a sustainable blue and green economy focusing on human and ecosystem resilience, addressing the critical societal challenges related to food, health and water security, urban development and degraded biodiversity and ecosystems. 

The webinar

In the first part of the event, Dr. Emmanuelle Cohen-Shacham, NbS Thematic Group Lead from the IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management (CEM), presents the IUCN Global Standard.

Dr. Cohen explained the evolution of Nature-based Solutions, IUCN’s conceptual and definitional frameworks for NbS, principles and examples and the IUCN Global Standard for NbS.

Also speaking during the Webinar, Hyacinth Armstrong Vaughn, IUCN ORMACC Protected Areas Officer, outlined the elements of the Standard applied to NbS in the region. She presented the Post Disaster Restoration of Mangroves in the British Virgin Islands (download presentation).

The main panel dealt with the key question: What opportunities does the Standard for Nature-based Solutions provide for your actions and decisions to face the present challenges and needs of a paradigm shift towards social and economic development of the Caribbean Islands?

A high-level group of speakers joined the main panel:  

• Mrs. Joan Norville, Biodiversity & Ecosystems Management Programme Director, OECS
• Hon. Pearnel Charles Jnr., Minister of Housing, Urban Renewal, Environment and Climate Change, Jamaica
• Mr. Fernando Lloveras, Chair of the Caribbean Regional Committee of IUCN Members
• Mr. Yabanex Batista, Chief Executive Officer, Caribbean Biodiversity Fund.
• Mrs. Karolin Troubetzkoy – Chairperson of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association Educational Foundation -CHTAEF