Impakter
  • News
    • Culture
      • Art
      • Cinema
      • Entertainment
      • Literature
      • Music
      • Photography
    • Style
      • Architecture
      • Design
      • Fashion
      • Foodscape
      • Lifestyle
    • Society
      • Business
      • Foreign Affairs & Politics
      • Health
      • Tech
      • Science
      • Start-up
    • Impact
      • Environment
      • Eco Life
      • Circular Economy
      • COP26
      • CityLife
        • Copenhagen
        • San Francisco
        • Seattle
        • Sydney
      • Sustainability Series
        • SDGs Series
        • Shape Your Future
        • 2030: Dream or Reality
      • Philanthropy
        • United Nations
        • NGO & Charities
        • Essays
  • Business Hub
  • Sustainability Index
  • Partners
  • About
    • Team
    • Contributors
    • Global Leaders
    • Write for Impakter
      • Republishing Content
      • Permissions and Copyright
      • Privacy Policy
    • Contact
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Culture
      • Art
      • Cinema
      • Entertainment
      • Literature
      • Music
      • Photography
    • Style
      • Architecture
      • Design
      • Fashion
      • Foodscape
      • Lifestyle
    • Society
      • Business
      • Foreign Affairs & Politics
      • Health
      • Tech
      • Science
      • Start-up
    • Impact
      • Environment
      • Eco Life
      • Circular Economy
      • COP26
      • CityLife
        • Copenhagen
        • San Francisco
        • Seattle
        • Sydney
      • Sustainability Series
        • SDGs Series
        • Shape Your Future
        • 2030: Dream or Reality
      • Philanthropy
        • United Nations
        • NGO & Charities
        • Essays
  • Business Hub
  • Sustainability Index
  • Partners
  • About
    • Team
    • Contributors
    • Global Leaders
    • Write for Impakter
      • Republishing Content
      • Permissions and Copyright
      • Privacy Policy
    • Contact
No Result
View All Result
Impakter
No Result
View All Result
Home Society Climate Change

Scaling up Nature-Based Infrastructure for People and Planet

byInternational Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD)
June 24, 2021
in Climate Change, Environment, Society
NBI
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Nature-based infrastructure (NBI) can help us deal with climate change and build a better future for communities worldwide. We need to rapidly scale up our efforts to better protect, manage, and restore the ecosystems around us.

The Growing Momentum for Nature-Based Solutions

Policy-makers increasingly lean on nature-based solutions (NBS) to tackle societal challenges like climate change, food security, and biodiversity loss. For example, President Biden’s American Jobs Plan aims to support communities and the environment by protecting and restoring nature.

The European Commission is promoting NBS in the European Green Deal and works hard to build the knowledge base on NBS. NBS are also part of climate adaptation plans and the ongoing negotiations on the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP). NBS is defined as actions to protect, sustainably manage, and restore natural or modified ecosystems. They address societal challenges while improving human well-being and supporting biodiversity.

NBS is an umbrella concept that covers a broad range of measures like protecting forests, improving agricultural practices, and bringing more green spaces into cities. Nature-based infrastructure (NBI) is a subset of NBS. The term describes ecosystems that deliver infrastructure services (like water filtration) as well as additional benefits (such as improved human health).

Forest NBI
In The Photo: NBS is an umbrella concept that covers a broad range of measures like protecting forests, improving agricultural practices, and bringing more green spaces into cities. Photo Credit: IISD

Nature-Based Solutions for Addressing Climate Change

NBS can help keep global warming in check by capturing carbon and avoiding emissions. For example, a forest binds carbon when growing, and protecting moors avoids the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Researchers from Oxford University’s Nature-Based Solutions Initiative have demonstrated that the worldwide implementation of NBS could reduce the peak temperature reached this century. Furthermore, NBS could significantly cool down the planet after this peak. But it remains paramount to cut greenhouse gas emissions of the global economy.

NBS also support climate adaptation. For example, an IISD assessment has demonstrated that agroforestry can help a municipality in Belgium adapt to extreme rainfall and rising temperatures. Such a scheme of planting trees and hedges on farmland provides benefits like water filtration, reduced heat stress on cows, and higher agricultural yields. For investments of about EUR 600,000, the agroforestry project can deliver economic, ecological, and social benefits of EUR 3.9 million over 20 years.


Related Articles: How Nature-Based Solutions Can Mitigate Climate Change | How Nature Can Lead The Way in Adapting to Climate Change

It’s About More Than Climate

NBS have a role to play in climate mitigation and adaptation, but we must not forget that their virtue lies in the multitude of benefits they can provide to people and our planet. NBS filter the water we drink, give us outdoor spaces to enjoy, and offer a habitat for threatened plants and animals. They also sustain the livelihoods of communities.

The mangrove ecosystem of the Saloum Delta in Senegal, for example, supports more than 100,000 people. A recent assessment by IISD shows that the delta delivers ecosystem services worth CFA 964 billion (about EUR 1.47 billion) over 10 years.

For instance, the wetland filters water and provides locals with edible plants. It also supports the labour income of CFA 1,973 billion (about EUR 3 billion) in sectors like fisheries, agriculture, and tourism.

Valuing Nature as Infrastructure

Ecosystems like the Saloum Delta deliver infrastructure services and a range of co-benefits. Just like built infrastructure, they form the basis for economies around the world. Researchers and policy-makers therefore increasingly use the term nature-based infrastructure (NBI) to describe such nature-based solutions.

We need to get better at integrating the multitude of benefits of NBI into infrastructure investment decisions.

Integrated assessments such as IISD’s SAVi valuation provide evidence on the costs, revenues, and co-benefits of NBI projects. If we want to scale up NBI, building this track record is key.

For instance, our assessment for the city of Johannesburg showed that nature-based stormwater infrastructure provides higher returns on investment than purely grey infrastructure. The NBI is not only cheaper to build, but it also protects people from floods, creates jobs, and improves the water supply.

Communities around the world are discovering that NBI is cost-effective solutions to their challenges. Writing in The Hill, Tim Male and Christy Plumer present fascinating examples of such projects in the United States. They showcase how investing in nature as infrastructure has much to offer to Americans and that momentum for NBI is growing. And how much we need that momentum!

NBI Infrastructure
In The Photo: Investments in NBI can help to build back better by creating jobs, addressing climate change, and improving the well-being of people and ecosystems. Photo Credit: IISD

Time to Embrace the Potential of Nature-Based Infrastructure

In their research on the cooling effect of NBS, the Oxford University researchers assume that we drastically ramp up NBS by 2025. This means we need to rapidly get on track and scale-up NBS to take full advantage of its climate potential. In addition, we need to make sure that the NBI deliver the additional benefits they promise.

Scaling up NBS is not only urgent—it also requires massive investments.

According to the new State of Finance for Nature report, the world needs to triple the annual investment in NBS by 2030. To successfully tackle climate change, biodiversity loss and land degradation, public and private actors need to spend a total of USD 8.1 trillion on NBS by 2050.

Governments are spending unprecedented amounts to support the economic recovery from the pandemic. Investments in NBI can help to build back better by creating jobs, addressing climate change, and improving the well-being of people and ecosystems. Decision-makers in the United States and around the world, therefore, need to include NBI in this wave of public spending.

To help them make the right decisions, we must showcase the performance, predictability, and financial viability of NBI. For this reason, IISD, together with United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the MAVA Foundation, and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Secretariat will be launching the NBI Global Resource Centre.

The Centre will host the results of more than 40 NBI valuations and create an online database on the performance of NBI. It will also provide capacity building for policy-makers and investors to scale up the use of NBI for climate adaptation and additional benefits. Let us build on what we have learned so far about NBI, and learn from the projects we can create—now.

— —

About the author: Ronja Bechauf is a consultant for the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD).


Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed here by Impakter.com columnists are their own, not those of Impakter.com.— In the Featured Photo: Aerial view of green spaces growing beside buildings in the centre of a city. Featured Photo Credit: CHUTTERSNAP / Unsplash

Tags: Climate ChangeInfrastructure InvestmentNature-Based InfrastructureNature-based solutions
Previous Post

As Cities Grow Across Africa, They Must Plan for Water Security

Next Post

Finding Gratitude in the Post-lockdown World 

International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD)

International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD)

The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) is an award-winning, independent think tank championing research-driven solutions to the world's greatest challenges. Our vision is a balanced world where both people and the planet thrive; our mission is to accelerate the global transition to clean water, fair economies and a stable climate. With offices in Winnipeg, Geneva, Ottawa and Toronto, our work impacts lives in nearly 100 countries.

Related Posts

Indigenous Languages and Ecocide: The Legacy of Western Colonialism Re-examined
Environment

Indigenous Languages and Ecocide: The Legacy of Western Colonialism Re-examined

March 21, 2023
An image of green space in a 15-minute city, the urban planning idea around which a conspiracy has grown
Architecture

The 15-Minute City: How Did a Convenient Concept Become So Controversial?

March 21, 2023
Ukraine reconstruction women
Equal Rights

Including Women in Sustainable Reconstruction in Ukraine

March 21, 2023
Next Post
Finding Gratitude in the Post-lockdown World 

Finding Gratitude in the Post-lockdown World 

Recent News

Indigenous Languages and Ecocide: The Legacy of Western Colonialism Re-examined

Indigenous Languages and Ecocide: The Legacy of Western Colonialism Re-examined

March 21, 2023
An image of green space in a 15-minute city, the urban planning idea around which a conspiracy has grown

The 15-Minute City: How Did a Convenient Concept Become So Controversial?

March 21, 2023
Ukraine reconstruction women

Including Women in Sustainable Reconstruction in Ukraine

March 21, 2023
impakter-logo-light

Impakter informs you through the eco news site and empowers your sustainable lifestyle with its eco products marketplace.

Visit here IMPAKTER ECO for your eco products needs.

Registered Office Address

32 Lots Road, London
SW10 0QJ, United Kingdom


IMPAKTER Limited

Company number: 10806931

Impakter is a publication that is identified by the following International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) is the following 2515-9569 (Printed) and 2515-9577 (online – Website).


Office Hours - Monday to Friday

9.30am - 5.00pm CEST


Email

stories [at] impakter.com

About Us

  • Team
  • Contributors
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • Partners

By Audience

  • Lifestyle
  • Green Finance
  • Culture
  • Society
  • Style
  • Impact

Impakter Platforms

  • Media
  • Index

© 2023 IMPAKTER. All rights reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Culture
    • Style
    • Society
    • Impact
  • Business Hub
  • Sustainability Index
  • About
    • Team
    • Partners
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy

© 2023 IMPAKTER. All rights reserved.

Impakter.com uses cookies to enhance your experience when visiting the website and to serve you with advertisements that might interest you. By continuing to use this site, you agree to our use of cookies. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.