Photo: Matt Orley. link
The Nature-based Solutions (NbS) concept pioneered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in the early 2000s which defined as “…actions to protect, sustainably manage, and restore natural and modified ecosystems that address societal challenges effectively and adaptively, simultaneously benefiting people and nature” (IUCN, 2016). The NbS has gained more attention recently as the solutions to tackle global challenges such as climate change, disaster risk reduction, biodiversity loss, food security, and human health, NbS also promote as critical approach to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals – SDGs (World Bank, 2022).
the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of Parties 27th (COP-27) in 2022 at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. The NbS are increased more attention as the COP-27 Presidency, Germany, and IUCN announced the Enhancing Nature-based Solutions for an Accelerated Climate Transformation or “the ENACT Initiative” aim to (1) protect and enhance resilience to climate change; (2) secure sustainable agricultural system; and (3) increase global mitigation. Furthermore, the US also launching the country’s first roadmap to ensure the upscaling of their NbS (IUCN, 2022). In addition, the Climate Investment Funds investment pledge of US$350 million to NbS to address the climate crises in COP-27 (EU Network Nature, 2022).
The NbS concept introduced by the World Bank in 2008 via “Biodiversity, Climate Change and Adaptation: Nature-based Solutions from the World Bank Portfolio”, and the IUCN promoted in 2009 at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) COP-15 in Copenhagen through their position paper. In 2013, the NbS has been further recognised its importance when the World Programme 2013 – 2016 has been adopted by the IUCN World Conservation Congress, and in 2014 the NbS concept also appeared in the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) COP12 report (Hrabanski & Le Coq, 2022).
Agriculture issues has been included in the climate agenda for the first time in the UNFCCC COP-17 in 2011 at Durban, South Africa, and recently agriculture has gained more attention in the climate negotiations, since agriculture, forestry and other land use (AFOLU) sector are accounted 18.4% of the global GHG (Our World in Data, 2022) which is second emitter after energy sector. At the same time agriculture, also significantly affected by the climate change. With NbS, it has significant potential both for climate change mitigation and adaptation.
In general, AFOLU activities accounted for around 13% of CO2 , 44% of methane (CH4), and 81% of nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from human activities globally during 2007-2016, representing 23% (12.0 ± 2.9 GtCO2 eq yr-1) of total net anthropogenic emissions of GHGs (IPCC, 2022). Some examples of climate change mitigation afford in AFOLU sector that employed the NbS approach illustrated by the NbS Coalition which co-led by China and New Zealand, indicated the potential of NbS to provide over one-third of the cost-effective climate mitigation needed by 2030 to stabilize global warming to below 2 degrees toward the Paris Agreement’s target (UNEP, 2019).
Regarding climate change adaptation, there are number of adaptation projects funded by the Adaptation Fund that established in 2001 to assists developing country parties to the Kyoto Protocol which now served the Paris Agreement under Decision 13/CMA.1. the NbS projects funded by the Adaptation Fund consisted of sustainable forest management, forest protection and restoration, sustainable agriculture, wetland conservation, improve livestock management practices, etc. For example, enhance ecosystem services project in Honduras by reforestation of pine and mixed forest areas damaged by drought, pest, and forest fire to improve water resources; in Cambodia the project aim to protecting eco-agriculture landscapes by forest restoration, and growing variety of plant around the rice paddies, also construction of irrigation system to ensure rice yield and other household crops; India, mangroves restoration project to protect coastal communities from storm and improve their livelihoods from mangroves ecosystem provides. Apart from the projects funded by the Adaptation Fund, there are projects support by World Bank, such as, the erosion prevention project in Burundi that construct terraces on hillsides using vegetation to reduce runoff and maintain soil moisture; the wetland conservation project in Sri Lanka that could reduced flood risk for residents in the city, also wetland provide ecosystem services for their better living (World Bank, 2022).
Nature-based solutions offer numerous advantages and demonstrate their potential to effectively address climate change through both mitigation and adaptation strategies. This approach proves to be a viable option for countries at various stages of development, including both developed and least developed nations. Therefore, it is imperative for governments to give serious consideration to integrating nature-based solutions into their climate change strategies. By doing so, they can harness the power of nature to achieve sustainable and resilient outcomes in combating climate change.
REFERENCES
Dixon, J. and A. Gulliver with D. Gibbon. (2001). Farming Systems and Poverty: Improving Farmers’ Livelihoods in a Changing World. FAO & World Bank, Rome, Italy & Washington, DC, USA. https://www.fao.org/3/y1860e/y1860e00.htm#TopOfPage
Giang, P., Giang, L., & Toshiki, K. (2017). Spatial and Temporal Responses of Soil Erosion to Climate Change Impacts in a Transnational Watershed in Southeast Asia. Climate, 5(1), 22. https://doi.org/10.3390/cli5010022
Hrabanski, M., & Le Coq, J. F. (2022). Climatisation of agricultural issues in the international agenda through three competing epistemic communities: Climate-smart agriculture, agroecology, and nature-based solutions. Environmental Science & Policy, 127, 311-320. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2021.10.022
IPBES (2019): Summary for policymakers of the global assessment report on biodiversity and
ecosystem services of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. S. Díaz, J. Settele, E. S. Brondízio E.S., H. T. Ngo, M. Guèze, J. Agard, A. Arneth, P. Balvanera, K. A. Brauman, S. H. M. Butchart, K. M. A. Chan, L. A. Garibaldi, K. Ichii, J. Liu, S. M. Subramanian, G. F. Midgley, P. Miloslavich, Z. Molnár, D. Obura, A. Pfaff, S. Polasky, A. Purvis, J. Razzaque, B. Reyers, R. Roy Chowdhury, Y. J. Shin, I. J. Visseren-Hamakers, K. J. Willis, and C. N. Zayas (eds.). IPBES secretariat, Bonn, Germany. 56 pages. https://ipbes.net/sites/default/files/inline/files/ipbes_global_assessment_report_summary_for_policymakers.pdf
IPCC. (2022). Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of
Working Group II to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [H.-O. Pörtner, D.C. Roberts, M. Tignor, E.S. Poloczanska, K. Mintenbeck, A. Alegría, M. Craig, S. Langsdorf, S. Löschke, V. Möller, A. Okem, B. Rama (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK and New York, NY, USA, 3056 pp., doi:10.1017/9781009325844
Iseman, T. and Miralles-Wilhelm, F. (2021). Nature-based solutions in agriculture – The case
and pathway for adoption. Virginia. FAO and The Nature Conservancy. https://doi.org/10.4060/cb3141en
IUCN. 2022. ENACT initiative. The International Union for Conservation of Nature – IUCN.
Weblink: https://www.iucn.org/our-work/topic/nature-based-solutions-climate/our-work/enact-initiative
Network Nature. (2022). Nature-based Solutions at COP-27. News on website November 17, 2022. Weblink: t.ly/Q1wD (accessed on December 20, 2022)
Our World in Data. (2022). Emission by Sector. Weblink: https://ourworldindata.org/co2-and-other-greenhouse-gas-emissions (accessed 20/12/2022)
UNEP. (2019). NBS COP25 Event, 11 December 2019. SG Climate Summit NBS follow up event: Accelerating Actions Together in 2020.Weblink: https://www.unep.org/nature-based-solutions-climate (accessed December 20, 2022)
Wijesinghe, D. and Park, D.M. (2017). Soil erosion in South and Southeast Asia: A Review.
Managing Global Resources for a Secure Future, 2017 Annual Meeting, October 22-25, Tampa, FL. Weblink: https://scisoc.confex.com/crops/2017am/webprogram/Paper108842.html (accessed on December 21, 2022).
World Bank. (2022). What you need to know about Nature-based Solutions to Climate Change. Weblink: https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2022/05/19/what-you-need-to-know-about-nature-based-solutions-to-climate-change (accessed on December 20. 2022)