IUCN official launch of Nature-based Solutions standards. What's that?

In July 2020, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) launched the first-ever Global Standard for Nature-based Solutions.

Never heard of nature-based solutions? Most people haven’t. In fact, most people in the US get a blank look on their face when the IUCN is mentioned. The IUCN might be the most influential and respected global environmental organization. Yet most US citizens have never heard of it.

It is respected and influential because it is composed of both government and civil society organizations. It harnesses the experience, resources and reach of more than 1400 member organizations, the input of more than 15,000 experts (including Seventh Generation Institute’s own Cathryn Wild) and is active in over 160 countries, all toward the goals of conserving nature and accelerating the transition to sustainable development. It is perhaps best known for its Red List of Threatened Species™, which is the world’s most comprehensive data source on the global extinction risk of species.

The IUCN defines nature-based solutions as “actions to protect, sustainably manage, and restore natural or modified ecosystems, that address societal challenges effectively and adaptively, simultaneously providing human well-being and biodiversity benefits.”

The European Union makes this definition a bit easier to picture: Nature based solutions are "inspired and supported by nature, which are cost-effective, simultaneously provide environmental, social and economic benefits and help build resilience. Such solutions bring more, and more diverse, nature and natural features and processes into cities, landscapes and seascapes, through locally adapted, resource-efficient and systemic interventions."

Let’s look at an example. Many coastal ecosystems are slowly eroding from winds and waves, after the loss of protective mangrove forests. Typical approaches have been to build structures to dampen winds and waves or to replenish the sand on beaches periodically. A nature-based solution is to restore the mangroves themselves. In doing so, not only is the erosion problem solved, but the mangroves serve as nursery areas for hundreds of marine species, so fisheries are also restored. A sand replenishment project can’t do that.

Nature-based solutions can be thought of as “two-fors” like the mangrove example above, providing “two benefits for the price of one. “ But in reality, they are more like “two hundred-fors” because entire ecosystems are restored and people benefit from harvesting many species or from tourism in pristine ecosystems or by gaining protection from storms and coastal sea level rise.

And they are extremely cost effective. Restore mangrove forests once and there will be no need to maintain a structure or continuously replenish sand.

Haven’t nature-based solutions always been used? Yes, somewhat. A common example is the setting aside of municipal watersheds in which water passes through the vegetation and soil and microorganisms to be filtered. Storage of water and flood control and other gains from municipal watersheds.

But we humans like to build things and engineer things and stretch our brains to solve problems. It’s just who we are as a species. We have a hard time imagining that vegetation and soil and microorganisms can be as good or better a water filter as something that we (the ones with the big brains and … ahem… big egos) design.

But over the past few decades, some humans with big brains but smaller egos have been turning more frequently to nature-based solutions and recognizing the enormous value of these approaches. So the benefits of such nature-based solutions to human well-being have been better articulated recently and nature-based solutions are becoming the first options to be considered, rather than an after thought.

We apologize for tooting our own horn, but using beaver to restore streams and watersheds is an outstanding example of a nature-based solution.

“Global standards” are just ways of ensuring that projects labeled as nature-based solutions are consistent and meet certain criteria.

The rise of nature-based solutions is exciting. These solutions are cost-effective, ecologically effective and benefit people as well as nature. That means we can do more to restore healthy resilient ecosystems for less money and less management time. This means that restoration becomes affordable and more people can benefit.

Let’s stretch our brains to think of the best possible places and ways to partner with nature. The rewards are waiting.