Nature based solutions

Nature based solutions work with and enhance nature to restore and protect ecosystems and to help society adapt to the impacts of climate change. Adaptation calls for the increased use of nature based solutions with multiple benefits which at the same time provides for livelihoods, ecosystem life support and community resilience.

Nature based solutions come with a range of various benefits such as:

  • Buffer and protect from for floods and sea level rise
  • Storing water and mitigating drought
  • Livelihoods from ecosystem goods
  • Mitigating heat e.g. providing shade and cooler microclimates
  • Providing human health and well-being
  • Providing for socio-cultural values
  • Providing for biodiversity and ultimate life-support

Latest News and Events

Upcoming webinar: Nature Based Solutions: scaling and accelerating action, organised by the Community Of Practice on nature based solutions, with GCA’s NBS team and WWF, Government of Pakistan, Deltares, and Ecoshape. More information will follow.

Articles

Coastal NBS
Article

Brief: Scaling up Nature based Solutions for adaptation in coastal areas

This is a briefing on water adaptation originating in insights from the community providing recommendations for policy and practice. It provides an introduction as well as more in-depth material and connection to others in the Water Adaptation Community. 

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Adaptation in Deltas
Article

Adaptation in Deltas: Reaching Impact at Scale

Adaptation in Deltas: Reaching Impact at Scale 

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Coastline full of boats with lots of living houses on the hill, Kingstown, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Case Study

Time for resilient agriculture and food systems in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

The 2021 eruption of La Soufrière volcano in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) took place in a
context of years of significant under investment in the agriculture sector. Cheron Constance traces the
immediate impacts on farms and farmers, the medium-and long-term consequences, and proposes actions to build a resilient, revalued food system for the island nation.

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Lined water conveyance channel taking water to irrigation fields from the rejuvenated Karez after successful artificial recharge
Case Study

Improving groundwater recharge in the drylands of Pakistan

Balochistan is the largest province of Pakistan and is classified as hyper-arid to arid dryland. In the absence of perennial water sources the population has come to rely on groundwater. Efforts to recharge the  underground aquifers have been practiced through construction of Delay Action Dams.

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Mesoamerican highlands
Case Study

Building River Dialogue and Governance in Mesoamerican drylands

The BRIDGE project has been working in three transboundary basins in Mesoamerica in the heart of the Central American Dry Corridor to promote cooperation and build capacities on water governance of stakeholders at the local, national and transboundary levels.

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Farmers in Kenya
Case Study

Building drought resilience in Garissa and Tana River Counties in Kenya

The Building Drought Resilience is implemented in the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands of Garissa and Tana River counties in Kenya. The main objective of the  project is to improve the resilience of dryland communities within a river catchment against the impacts of increasingly severe and frequent drought, through strengthened ecosystem management and adaptive capacity of local communities.

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Farming in Burkina Faso
Case Study

Ecosystems Protecting Infrastructure and Communities

Burkina Faso’s Sahelian climate is extreme and highly variable and is characterized by a short rainy season from June to October and a long dry season from November to May. Prone to strong spatio-temporal variability and irregular rainfall patterns, deviations in rainfall and the duration of the rainy season of more than 30% have been observed.

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Karakum desert
Case Study

Rainwater harvesting in the desert of Turkmenistan

Deserts have some of the most varied and ingenious ways to catch and store rainwater. Rain is the only source of sweet water in many desert climates. Groundwater is often saline or laced with fluoride, in addition to being scares. In the extremely dry Karakum Desert in Turkmenistan several techniques have been developed by local people to catch and store rain for human, animal and farming uses.

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Floodplains
Case Study

Livelihoods from flood plains in Nigeria

There are two types of farming on the flood plains of rivers. The first, which is widely practiced, is to plant as flood waters retreat. The other is to plant certain fast growing crops as flood waters advance. About 10 million hectares of land in floods plains in Africa are under flood-recession agriculture.

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Cattle in the savannah
Case Study

Controlled intensive grazing in the savannah, Africa

Controlled, intensive grazing is being promoted to regenerate vast savannah grasslands in parts of Africa. In this practice, herds of domesticated livestock are kept in one location for a certain duration to intensively graze the grasses and other vegetation, trampling and break down the soil and vegetation. The herd is moved to another location after some days and the intensively-grazed plot is allowed to regenerate for a few months.

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Faanya juu
Case Study

Faanya Juu, throwing it upwards in Kenya

Terrace farming on slopes helps conserve water. Along with other measures such as micro-dams, stone bunds and percolation pits, this can reduce surface runoff and increase soil moisture. One such system called Fanya juu terrace have expanded in several parts of East Africa, particularly in the Machachakos District in Kenya where 85% of the land is now terraced.

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Semi arid part of Iran
Case Study

Spreading floodwaters in Iran and checking salinity

People in arid areas around the world innovate with water conservation, especially rainwater harvesting. One such is the Fars Province in Iran, a desert landscape. Since 1983, an extraordinary programme of floodwater harvesting has been implemented that has turned area lush green. This programme has turned silt-laden floods into an asset. It has been combined with upstream water management to control the salinity in the Helleh River

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Urban farming group in Nairobi (Kayole Mtaa Safi)
Case Study

COVID-19 prompted increase in urban farming in Nairobi

In Nairobi, several communities, both rich and poor, started urban farming during the COVID-19 pandemic. Supported by government policies and NGO programs, people in informal settlements and gated communities grew their own food and livestock to supplement what they could buy and enhance their nutrition.

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Urban agri'culture'
Case Study

Casablanca's 360 urban farming project

Urban farming in Casablance, Morocco, has encompassed several issues such as land, water availability, market linkages and empowerment of women, in addition to providing nutrition to practicing families.

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Urban farming
Case Study

Nakuru's urban crop cultivators

More than a quarter of Nakuru households could be classified as ‘urban crop cultivators’ and about a fifth as ‘urban livestock keepers’. The cultivation of a vegetable, known as sukuma wiki, that is the local name for a green, leafy vegetable of the spinach variety (Spinacea oleracea) is very popular.
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Food for schools
Case Study

Fresh vegetables for school kids in Antananarivo

The Urban Agriculture Low Space and No Space supported by Antananarivo’s Better Food for Kids program has been establishing vegetable gardens in school yards. Vegetable gardens have been set up by the Institut des Métiers de la Ville and the Urban Community of Antananarivo in 14 public schools in the city that provide school children with nutritional school meals and help to increase school retention rate and improve children’s ability to learn.
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uraban farming
Case Study

Urban farming in Tanzania

The importance of urban agriculture in Tanzania is an integral part of the urban economy. It is found everywhere in towns and cities. The cultivation of crops, and especially vegetables is a common and widespread phenomenon making urban agriculture a widely accepted fact of life.

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Farming on the rooftop
Case Study

Micro-gardening in Dakar

Dakar houses approximately 25% of Senegal's population. To provide its inhabitants with alternative supply solutions, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation in collaboration with the government of Senegal, the Municipality of Dakar, and several NGOs launched the project for micro-gardening in 1999.

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Rooftop garden
Case Study

Rooftop farming in Cairo

Rooftop farming has been used in Cairo, Egypt, as an adaptation intervention that acts to reduce localised heat stress, improve living conditions and generate income. The prevailing flat roof-tops across the region provide a good basis for such an intervention.
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freshwater
Event

Community Dialogue - mainstreaming water adaptation

08/11/2022 - 16:00

Water governance is often not fit to respond to the adaptation challenges, being fragmented and insufficiently integrated with climate change planning. National, provincial and municipal governments and water boards hold different responsibilities for putting in place good water governance but sometimes lack capacity and coordination. Therefore, the current water crisis is very much a governance crisis exacerbated by climate change

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Effective governance is the key for climate resilience
Article

Effective governance is the key for climate resilience

In this third roundtable, hosted by GCA andBeijing Municipal Institute of City Planning and Design in March 2022, experts from experts from Beijing, Milan and New York presented their city's governance in pursuit of becoming climate resilient. Ede Ijjasz-Vasquez, senior advisor to the CEO, GCA chaired the meeting.

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Climate resilient building
Article

Complexities of eco-restoration involve multiple authorities

In this second roundtable, GCA brought together officials from Beijing and international experts to discuss the main objective of IWRM,  communication across sectors and methods of coordination, the responsibilty of the government for climate adaptation and disaster resilience through information and experience sharing between cities.

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Beijing is one of the worst-affected cities
Article

Working with Beijing on its water eco-restoration plan

In this first roundtable of the knowledge exchange, GCA brought together officials from Beijing and international experts to discuss how environmental pressures in Beijing could be mitigated through a water restoration strategy that covered the three principles of water-sensitive or sponge cities.

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Amphi Nest, India's first amphibious building prototype
Case Study

Amphi Nest, India's first flood-resilient amphibious pavilion prototype

Amphi Nest is India's first working prototype of a flood-resilient amphibious building. NestAbide is working on amphibious houses and other flood-resistant projects for people living in flood-prone areas. It rests on the ground like an ordinary house, but its buoyant foundation lifts it up and floats when floodwaters come.

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Urban areas are hotspots of risks
Article

A call to action to mainstream water adaptation

Mainstreaming of water adaptation is necessary to accelerate a system-wide coherence on water across multiple agendas. These three videos are a call to action to mainstream water climate adaptation - targeting policy processes at international events such COP27, the UN 2023 Water Conference and COP28. 

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Barrier in Indonesia
Case Study

Building with nature in Demak, Indonesia

This case study describes how the Indonesian government has responded by piloting the Building with Nature (BwN) approach in the Demak district of Central Java province.

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Image of the Easy Housing project in Beira Mozambique.
Article

Beira shows the way to low-carbon housing

Rapid urbanization and increased water related hazards call for more affordable and resilient housing. However, conventional construction account for 38% of the global CO2 emissions, 30% of all waste and 50% of all resource extraction. Carbon neutral and circular building is therefore important.

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Water square in Rotterdam
Article

Water adaptation in urban areas - case of Rotterdam

The changes in climate are experienced most acutely through the water cycle. A functional biosphere can regulate water. Urban centers are hotspots where water can trigger progress. In Rotterdam, several stakeholders have come together to develop several areas to leverage the adaptive capacity of water, as this video shows.

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Urban agroforestry in the Ouagadougou green belt
Case Study

The green belt of urban agriculture in Ouagadougou

The green belt in Ouagadougou, is being regenerated as part of a regreening strategy with support provided in 2021. It is an interesting case on the role of urban agriculture in regreening strategies, which is not always adopted. 
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The Story of Al Baydha: A Regenerative Agriculture in the Saudi Desert. قصة مشروع البيضاء
Case Study

The Story of Al Baydha: A Regenerative Agriculture in the Saudi Desert. قصة مشروع البيضاء

The final update from Al Baydha Project Co-founder Neal Spackman, 9 years in. How desertification resulted from the loss of an indigenous land management system, and how the land has changed since all inputs to the project were ceased in 2016. 

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Mangrove restoration in Bangladesh
Article

Inexpensive & open-source sensors could dramatically improve the success of mangrove plantation schemes.

Many mangrove restoration projects fail because the wrong mangrove trees are being planted in the wrong locations. Mini Buoys are small and cost-effective monitors that can be placed in the field. Their information can guide where best to plant mangrove trees, and improve the success rate of restoration.

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Green rice paddy field and limestone mountains with sunlight in Vang Vieng, Laos
Article

Conceiving the Mekong Delta as a living body; exploring different delta-making practices

This article summarises the three practices shaping the Mekong Delta: the delta exploitation practice, delta management practice, and the delta as a living body, gives life to nature, crops and people.

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Parana Delta
Case Study

Paraná Delta in Argentina - Climate adaptation practices - Lighthouse case study

The Paraná Delta, Argentina has long been neglected. However, agreements between national and provincial governments have led to the setting up of a network of bases in national parks to conserve wetlands and support sustainable socio-economic activities.

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The power of three: mangroves, seagrass and coral
Article

The power of three: the interconnected system of mangroves, seagrass and coral reefs

Interventions on nature-based solutions need to be systemic. Here we explore the system of mangroves-seagrass - coral reef, and the importance of addressing this as a system. The success of one ecosystem is linked to that of the others, and each performs different functions.

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Sanlihe River Park /VCG Photo
Article

Restoration projects of water bodies that once were disappeared

In this article we have collected a list of restored water bodies from urban areas around the world. Restoring old water bodies is an important resilience measure, to adapt to climate change and to strive for sustainable development in urban areas.

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Integrated urban planning for water sensitive cities and flood prevention
Case Study

Integrated Design and Planning Strategy for Flood Resilient Housing in Nepal

This conceptual poster presents integrated approaches as framework for building design and planning for flood prone areas of Nepal. It concludes with design recommendations for resilience.

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South Limburg urban landscape
Article

Water for recovery of the climate - A knowledge exchange between Limburg, Slovakia and Norway

GCA facilitated a knowledge exchange between the Slovakian and Norwegian experts and the Water Authority in South Limburg in the Netherlands. This was initiated in order to support the Authority in its efforts to learn and innovate to address flood risks.

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Testing of rain bed
Article

Testing Rainbeds in Oslo - Correcting Technical Design Issues

Several rain beds and open storm water solutions have been implemented in Oslo, Norway. This video shows testing storm water retention in two urban rain-gardens in Oslo. It shows show this ensured that the design flaws could be detected and corrected. 

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Oslo Vahlsgade at the Botanical Garden Credits Berit Roald NTB Scanpix
Case Study

Policy on open stormwater in Oslo - a game changer

The Oslo municipality policy on stormwater has turned out to be a game changer for the city's green spaces and water management. 

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Floating city development
Article

Sustainable Floating City Development

To cope with the future challenges of the growing world population and land scarcity, new solutions to build cities and grow food should be developed. Building floating structures on water could be a solution to gain the space we need for urbanization and food production.

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Man working in a Mangrove
Mangroves are an important nature based solution for coastal areas to protect from storms and erosion, but also providing important habitats for fish and other animals. Photo:Tenedos (istock)

Landscapes

Cape Town was near day zero in 2018. The drought that threatened to turn off the taps in Cape Town was made three times more likely by global warming, according to a study. Credit picture perfect istock.
Landing Page

Urban Resilience

Disasters, climate change, and rapid urbanization pose a serious risk to the provision of urban water services including safe drinking water, sanitation, and safe drainage.

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Cross Cutting

A river basin in a mountanous region.
Landing Page

River Basins

Collaboration in a river basin is needed to share increasingly scarce resources, manage water related risks emerging from various land uses and prevent flooding by linking upstream and downstream activities. Upstream areas need to ensure spatial planning that is mitigating floods for downstream areas. 

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