Biodiversity: What are Nature-Based Solutions?

Article originally published on 22/01/2019 and updated on 24/10/2024

Adopted in 2022, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework demonstrated the key role of nature-based solutions in overcoming the planet’s current challenges. Nature-based solutions must, no more no less, “restore, maintain and enhance nature’s contributions to people, including ecosystem functions and services, such as regulation of air, water, and climate, soil health, pollination and reduction of disease risk, as well as protection from natural hazards and disasters.”

Can nature perform miracles? Over the last 4.5 billion years, our planet has developed a dynamic and resilient balance, that serves as a breeding ground for solutions and major innovation. Take mangroves, for example: these coastal ecosystems capture large quantities of CO2, provide habitat and resources for many species, prevent coastal erosion and limit the impact of tsunamis.

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However, these solutions are often under-exploited, for a number of reasons, including regulations and standards that offer little incentive, a lack of skills and knowledge in the field, the belief that nature-based solutions are riskier than “gray” infrastructure, and a shortage of funding.

And yet, nature could be our greatest ally in tackling major issues such as climate change, loss of biodiversity, a lack of access to drinking water, epidemics and malnutrition. It could provide over a third of the climate mitigation needed between now and 2030, giving humans a two-in-three chance of keeping global warming below 2°C.

“A cheaper alternative in the long run”

“Using these flexible and adaptable systems also avoids the impact on natural environments caused by traditional engineering infrastructure and means actions can be adapted to deal with climatic uncertainty.  Finally, they benefit biodiversity by including this goal in the design and implementation of these actions,” says Pauline Teillac-Deschamps, Biodiversity Task Team Leader at AFD. “What’s more, nature-based solutions often provide a cheaper alternative in the long run.” The International Union for Conservation of Nature (UICN) estimates that ecosystem services could generate about $170 billion per year in benefits to help fight climate change.

The IUCN put forward this concept in 2009 at the COP15 climate conference in Copenhagen (Denmark), with the aim of giving greater priority to ecosystem preservation in the climate agenda. Since then, the value of this concept has been tried-and-tested in numerous experiments in reforestation, sustainable urban development and the restoration of coastal ecosystems (dunes, lagoons, coral reefs and mangroves) and it is now applied more widely.

AFD’s longstanding support for nature-based solutions

AFD has been promoting nature-based solutions for many years, but it stepped up efforts to incorporate them into projects from 2021 onwards, with its commitment to fully align climate and biodiversity issues. In particular, it provided financial support to the IUCN, via the partnership between France and this membership union, for the creation of its Global Standard for Nature-based Solutions. This common framework helps project developers and investors better understand these solutions, and makes it easier to design and identify quality projects where they have been deployed, as well as to standardize practices.

“In line with the targets of the Global Biodiversity Framework, AFD has undertaken to better incorporate these solutions into all of its sectors, by systematically conducting feasibility studies to identify opportunities for their use in supported projects,” says Pauline Poutrain, climate and biodiversity expert at AFD.

See also: Nature-Based Solutions in Northern China

In the commune of Pout, in Senegal, nature-based solutions are now being implemented to improve groundwater recharge, via €6 million in financing granted by AFD Group. These measures include: planting windbreaks to retain moisture in agricultural soil, developing agroecological practices and restoring vegetation around watercourses.

Mobilizing the private sector

In order to massively scale up these types of projects, in 2024, AFD also joined forces with the Asian Development Bank, to support the Nature Solutions Finance Hub. “It will help us combine our efforts to support high-impact projects in Asia and the Pacific region, by developing innovative financing instruments that mobilize the private sector, and by sharing best practices and the lessons learned between hub partners and governments,” says Pauline Poutrain.

AFD is also promoting research in this field through its Ecopronat program for a pro-nature economy. It covers topics such as restoring and managing wetlands in Uganda, implementing urban projects based on case studies in Rwanda and Ethiopia, as well as scaling up projects in Latin America.