What are some examples of NbS?

Nature-based Solutions utilise the benefits of thriving ecosystems to support communities, enhance infrastructure, and ensure a resilient and biodiverse future. 

By protecting, restoring, and sustainably managing landscapes, NbS can tackle issues such as climate change, disaster risk reduction, food and water security, biodiversity loss, and public health. 

These solutions work by enhancing the natural processes and functions of ecosystems, delivering a wide range of benefits. By integrating nature into our responses to societal challenges, NbS provide positive outcomes for people, the economy, and the environment. 

NbS can include interventions such as: 

• integrating trees and shrubs on farmland to enhance soil health, increase crop resilience, support pollinators, and diversify farm income 

• collaborating with traditional custodians to reintroduce cultural burning practices to maintain landscape health, reduce wildfire risk, enhance biodiversity, and preserve cultural heritage 

• managing weeds to restore native habitats, support biodiversity, and improve ecosystem health and resilience. 

How are NbS used in waterway management?

NbS can be used as a way of protecting, managing or restoring some natural function and resilience in modified systems while taking historic and ongoing human-induced change into consideration.  

NbS offer an approach which aligns with many fundamental principles of waterway management for sustainable catchment outcomes, including;

• Vegetation is essential for long-term bank stability, flood resilience, habitat, and water quality, and restoring native riparian vegetation is part of best-practice stream and river rehabilitation.

• Erosion is a natural process, and planning should provide buffers based on river type and likely erosion processes. 

• Address the underlying causes of erosion by restoring disrupted environmental processes. 

• Site actions should improve resilience to future floods by restoring natural processes and strengthening riverbanks. 

• Only intervene if erosion threatens valuable assets, as natural recovery is often better and less disruptive. 

• Prefer catchment-scale approaches using strategic planning and, where space is limited, hybrid solutions that combine hard structures (e.g. rock) with vegetation. 

What will this evaluation process look at?

Delivering NbS is at the heart of what we do, however, the focus is typically on outcomes for biodiversity and ecosystems. Delivering NbS with a clear focus on reducing climate and disaster risk is less common and, in this context, there is limited robust evidence available in relation to the economic benefits and social impacts of NbS. 

This evidence gap poses a challenge in attracting investment to scale-up projects such as these. As a result, traditional ‘grey’ infrastructure such as concrete flood barriers or drainage systems are still used most of the time, even where nature-based solutions could offer significant advantages. 

What types of NbS will be used at trial sites?

The evaluation process undertaken as part of this project is a critical step in identifying which nature-based solutions should be used at trial sites. This approach ensures the most effective and impactful interventions are prioritised for implementation. 

Following the assessment, the types of NbS implemented may include: 

• streamside revegetation and weed management 

• access control, for example stock or vehicle exclusion and alternative water points 

• riverbank modification and / or realignment for erosion management 

• bank armouring using nature-based methods such as rocks and / or logs 

• re-engagement of wetlands through removal of levees and / or drains