Solutions Basées Sur La Nature

[Maricel Fergason]

Todayat COP27 in Egypt, the Biden-Harris Administration is releasing the Nature-Based Solutions Roadmap, an outline of strategic recommendations to put America on a path that will unlock the full potential of nature-based solutions to address climate change, nature loss, and inequity. This marks the first time the U.S. has developed a strategy to scale up nature-based solutions.

Nature-based solutions are actions to protect, sustainably manage, or restore natural or modified ecosystems as solutions to societal challenges, like fighting climate change. Examples include protection or conservation of natural areas, reforestation, restoration of marshes or other habitats, or sustainable management of farms, fisheries, or forests. These actions can increase resilience to threats like flooding and extreme heat, and can slow climate change by capturing and storing carbon dioxide. Nature-based solutions play a critical role in the economy, national security, human health, equity, and the fight against climate change.

On Earth Day 2022, President Biden issued Executive Order 14072, which recognizes the importance of forests and other nature-based solutions to tackle the climate crisis and strengthen communities and local economies. In the Executive Order, President Biden directed the Council on Environmental Quality, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the National Climate Advisor, in consultation with agencies, to identify key opportunities for greater deployment of nature-based solutions across the Federal government. The Roadmap submitted to the National Climate Task Force today calls on expanding the use of nature-based solutions and outlines five strategic areas of focus for the federal government: (1) updating policies, (2) unlocking funding, (3) leading with federal facilities and assets, (4) training the nature-based solutions workforce, and (5) prioritizing research, innovation, knowledge, and adaptive learning that will advance nature-based solutions.

The Biden-Harris Administration also released a companion resource guide with examples of nature-based climate solutions and over 150 resources to spur action. The Nature-Based Solutions Resource Guide: Compendium of Federal Examples, Guidance, Resource Documents, Tools and Technical Assistance is available here.

The roadmap recommends that agencies update federal policies and guidance, making it easier to consider and adopt nature-based solutions. Major areas for advancement include policies and guidance for federal planning, permitting, cost-sharing, risk management, and benefit cost analysis. Aligned Administration actions include:

Federal funding for domestic and international projects can provide a strong lever to increase deployment of nature-based solutions. The roadmap recommends that Federal agencies do more to prioritize nature-based solutions in funding decisions; increase and ease access to this funding; and catalyze private investment. Actions by the Administration to unlock funding include:

The roadmap recommends that federal agencies expand their use of nature-based solutions in the design, retrofitting, and management of federal facilities and embed these solutions in management of natural assets through improved planning, co-management, and co-stewardship. Given the scale of federal assets, expanding deployment of nature-based solutions would have direct climate and conservation benefits and send a strong signal to others. Administration actions include:

We need a diverse, equitable workforce skilled in building nature-based solutions. To reach this goal, the roadmap recommends that agencies expand educational and workforce training offerings related to nature-based solutions to support good jobs in federal agencies and the private sector. These needs apply across a wide range of skills including engineering, law, finance, ecology, accounting, economics, community planning and maintenance for nature-based solutions. Administration actions include:

As the world changes, we must continually innovate and fill gaps in our understanding. The roadmap recommends that federal agencies advance research and innovation in all sectors to fully reveal the scale of the opportunity that nature-based solutions provide, and incentivize continual learning about how and where nature-based solutions work best. Administration actions include:

DRIVING GLOBAL ACTION

President Biden is committed to unlocking the full potential of nature-based solutions for achieving climate goals and combatting nature loss, especially for communities that are disproportionately impacted by climate change and environmental injustices. By announcing this roadmap and actions at the UNFCCC COP27, we recognize the need for global action to confront these triple crises and look forward to announcing additional actions during the upcoming Convention on Biological Diversity COP15. We invite partners, communities, and other nations to join the Biden-Harris Administration in taking aggressive action to advance nature-based solutions as powerful tools that the world needs now.

We'll be in touch with the latest information on how President Biden and his administration are working for the American people, as well as ways you can get involved and help our country build back better.

Nature-based solutions also play a key role in climate change adaptation and building resilience in landscapes and communities. Several nature-based solutions are being used by the World Bank to help manage disaster risk and reduce the incidence and impact of flooding, mudslides, and other disasters. They are a cost-effective way of addressing climate change while also addressing biodiversity and land degradation. You can address several problems at once.

An evidence-based approach to managing, and measuring results from, nature-based solutions is paramount. This means monitoring and evaluation throughout the intervention cycle, drawing on science and data, as well as local and indigenous knowledge. What exactly needs measuring? This depends on the societal challenges the nature-based solution set out to address. If the goal is to mitigate climate change, the equations, the protocols, and the systems are well established to measure the results - with carbon dioxide (CO2) being the basic metric used. A ton of CO2 equivalent sequestered in a restoration project Brazil has the same effect on greenhouse gas concentration in the atmosphere as a ton of CO2 sequestered in a reforestation project in Russia.

For the World Bank, biodiversity and ecosystem services loss is a development issue and for this reason the institution has invested in nature for more than three decades. At present, we are working with other multilateral development banks to improve the way biodiversity benefits are assessed in development portfolios and in the broader financial markets. The stakes are high. The risks that climate change poses to global development are significant, and so are the risks of global biodiversity and ecosystem loss. All pathways to achieving the Paris Agreement include protection of forests and conservation, restoration, and sustainable use of natural ecosystems. Nature-based solutions offer a way of addressing the climate and biodiversity crises in a synergetic and cost-effective manner.

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Nature-based solutions have been gaining momentum in the past few years. On the international stage, 2022 was a pivotal year for the incorporation of nature-based solutions in key intergovernmental agreements.

In March 2022, the fifth United Nations Environment Assembly adopted 14 resolutions to strengthen actions for nature to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Among these, world governments formally agreed on a definition of nature-based solutions (UNEP/EA.5/Res.5).

At the UNFCCC COP27, nature-based solutions emerged for their potential to address climate change and featured in the Sharm el-Sheikh Implementation Plan. The Egyptian COP27 Presidency, Germany and IUCN also announced the ENACT initiative for nature-based solutions.

Nature-based solutions are relevant to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (specifically targets 8, 11 and 12), adopted during the fifteenth meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity Conference of the Parties (CBD COP15). The Framework sets out an ambitious pathway to reach the global vision of a world living in harmony with nature by 2050.

Both the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recognise the role of nature-based solutions in addressing the twin biodiversity and climate crises.

Environment research related calls may be found in different funding programmes including Regional Development and Cohesion funds, the Recovery and Resilience Facility, Agriculture and Maritime Policy funds and the Just Transition Fund.

COST funds interdisciplinary research networks, which bring together researchers, innovators and other professionals including industry specialists, to collaborate on research topics. COST acts as a pre-portal for further research and innovation funding such as Horizon Europe.

Platform hosting the community of EU-funded nature-based solutions projects, providing resources, dissemination opportunities and avenues for collaboration (in particular through horizontal Task Forces and Regional and National Hubs)

This platform aims to provide guidance and knowledge to support towns and cities in enhancing and restoring their urban nature and biodiversity, along with links to other relevant European Commission initiatives and policies.

Portico is the European urban knowledge platform to support better urban policy and strategy design, implementation, and mainstreaming. The platform connects urban actors with the knowledge, people, and initiatives they need to implement sustainable urban development.

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