Why nature-based solutions matter
– Carbon sequestration: Healthy ecosystems capture and store carbon in biomass and soils, providing a reliable, long-term sink that complements technological carbon removal.
– Resilience and risk reduction: Wetlands buffer storm surge, forests stabilize slopes and reduce landslides, and urban green spaces lower heat risk and improve air quality.
– Biodiversity and livelihoods: Protecting and restoring ecosystems supports wildlife, sustainable fisheries, and local livelihoods—connecting climate action with conservation and social benefits.
High-impact approaches
– Protect and restore forests: Halting deforestation and restoring degraded forests preserves existing carbon stocks and restarts carbon uptake. Community-led forest management often yields stronger, longer-lasting outcomes.
– Soil carbon through regenerative agriculture: Practices such as cover cropping, reduced tillage, diversified crop rotations, and pasture management build soil organic matter, improving fertility, water retention, and carbon storage.
– Blue carbon: Coastal and marine habitats—mangroves, seagrasses, salt marshes—store carbon efficiently.
Protecting coasts reduces emissions, supports fisheries, and defends communities from storm damage.
– Wetland restoration: Rewetting drained peatlands and restoring floodplains returns these ecosystems’ carbon-trapping function and cuts large methane and CO2 emissions from degraded soils.
– Urban nature-based measures: Green roofs, street trees, permeable pavements, and pocket parks cool cities, reduce runoff, and increase resilience to heat waves and heavy rainfall.
Scaling challenges and practical solutions
– Measurement and permanence: Robust monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) frameworks are essential for credible carbon accounting.
Combining remote sensing with ground-based assessments improves accuracy.
– Land rights and governance: Secure land tenure and inclusion of local and Indigenous communities are critical.
Benefit-sharing models and participatory planning reduce conflict and improve outcomes.
– Financing: Blended finance—combining public grants, concessional loans, and private investment—can de-risk projects.
Carbon credits tied to nature-based projects need rigorous standards to attract reliable funding.
– Policy alignment: Integrating nature-based solutions into national climate strategies, infrastructure planning, and agricultural policy accelerates uptake.
Incentives such as payments for ecosystem services and subsidies for regenerative practices help shift systems.
What different actors can do
– Policymakers: Embed nature-based solutions into land-use planning, remove perverse subsidies, and design finance mechanisms that reward long-term stewardship.
– Businesses: Invest in supply-chain resilience by supporting regenerative practices, adopt no-deforestation sourcing, and back verified nature-based carbon credits as interim steps alongside emissions reductions.
– Farmers and landowners: Pilot regenerative practices, access technical assistance and finance, and participate in cooperative models that spread risk and cost.
– Urban planners and communities: Prioritize green infrastructure in development projects, and use nature-based designs to cut heat and flood risks.
Nature-based solutions are not a silver bullet, but they are an essential, practical part of a broader climate response. When implemented with strong governance, equitable finance, and rigorous monitoring, these approaches deliver climate mitigation, adaptation, and social benefits—making landscapes, communities, and economies more resilient and productive while helping to stabilize the global climate.