Nature-Based Solutions, Climate Mitigation, Biodiversity Conservation

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Background

There is growing awareness that ‘nature-based solutions’ (NbS) can help reduce climate change risk by slowing down further warming, supporting biodiversity, and securing ecosystem services. NbS involve working with and enhancing nature to help address societal challenges. They encompass a wide range of actions, such as the protection and management of natural and semi-natural ecosystems, the incorporation of green and blue infrastructure in urban areas, and the application of ecosystem-based principles to agricultural systems. The concept is grounded in the knowledge that healthy natural and managed ecosystems produce a diverse range of services on which human wellbeing depends, from storing carbon, controlling floods, and stabilizing shorelines and slopes to providing clean air and water, food, fuel, medicines and genetic resources (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. 2005).

NbS is an ‘umbrella concept ’for other established nature-based approaches such as ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) and ecosystem-based mitigation, eco-disaster risk reduction, and green infrastructure (Nature. 2017).

More recently, the term ‘natural climate solutions (NCS)’ entered the lexicon (Griscom BW et al. 2017). NCS also falls under the umbrella of NbS but refers explicitly to conservation and management actions that reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from ecosystems and harness their potential to store carbon (Griscom BW et al. 2017; Griscom BW et al. 2019; Fargione JE et al. 2018).

Nature Based Solutions (NBS) are inspired and supported by a living nature. They are designed to address various environmental challenges and maximize other environmental, social, and economic co-benefits. They can improve resilience in nature and communities to natural disasters and climate change, by offering cost-effective options for adapting to and reducing the risk of climate change and pollution. Inspiration and support from nature can also
stimulate scientific innovation and strengthen the economy. Trade-offs, however, can arise if climate mitigation policy encourages NbS with low biodiversity value, such as afforestation with non-native monocultures. Nature Based Solutions involve various aspects like Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Use (AFOLU), as well as Marine assets. Thus NBS include both green and blue nature such as forest and ocean, respectively, as well as species on land and in the water—in terms of solutions to climate change risk. Forests and oceans can capture and store carbon in the long term. With the absorption of 93% of human-induced heat, the ocean can be seen as the main climate regulator.

We welcome submissions covering, but not limited to, the following themes:

- The link between Growth Policy, Pollution, and Climate Change;

- The role of the Open and Deep Ocean in climate mitigation: Valuation and Governance;

- The role and value of Coastal Blue Carbon;

- Role of Mammals in carbon and ecosystem services.

Keywords: nature-based solutions, Blue carbon, Open Ocean, Deep Ocean, Ocean Governance

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