Skip to main content
Knowledge4Policy
Knowledge for policy
Supporting policy with scientific evidence

We mobilise people and resources to create, curate, make sense of and use knowledge to inform policymaking across Europe.

  • Publication | 2021
ASAP Technical Series: Nature-based solutions
Global Food and Nutrition Security

The nature-based solutions (NbS) concept emerged during the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change fifteenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 15) in 2009. It was developed from the ecosystem-based adaptation concept, which integrates biodiversity and ecosystem services as part of an overall adaptation strategy, but shifts from focusing solely on nature (ecosystem-based adaptation) to focusing on people and nature (NbS). NbS put in perspective the fact that people can proactively protect, manage or restore natural ecosystems while significantly contributing to addressing six major societal challenges: climate change, food security, water security, human health, disaster risk, and social and economic development. The concept of NbS is increasingly being applied. At least 66 per cent of Paris Agreement signatories include some form of NbS-related interventions to help achieve their climate change mitigation and/ or adaptation goals in their nationally determined contributions.