Nature Based Solutions

Many propose nature-based solutions as an integrative remedy to urban ills. However, evidence shows that they have limitations:

climate change adaptation and mitigation effectiveness

Baró, Francesc, and Erik Gómez-Baggethun. ‘Assessing the Potential of Regulating Ecosystem Services as Nature-Based Solutions in Urban Areas’. In Nature-Based Solutions to Climate Change Adaptation in Urban Areas: Linkages between Science, Policy and Practice, edited by Nadja Kabisch, Horst Korn, Jutta Stadler, and Aletta Bonn, 139–58. Cham: Springer, 2017.

worsening of social and environmental injustices through gentrification (Kabisch; Kostila).

Kabisch, Nadja, Niki Frantzeskaki, Staphan Pauleit, Sandra Naumann, Davis Davis, Martina Artmann, Dagmar Haase, et al. ‘Nature-Based Solutions to Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation in Urban Areas: Perspectives on Indicators, Knowledge Gaps, Barriers, and Opportunities for Action’. Ecology and Society 21, no. 2 (2016). https://doi.org/10/f8v5qf.

Kotsila, Panagiota, Isabelle Anguelovski, Francesc Baró, Johannes Langemeyer, Filka Sekulova, and James JT Connolly. ‘Nature-Based Solutions as Discursive Tools and Contested Practices in Urban Nature’s Neoliberalisation Processes’. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space 4, no. 2 (2021): 252–74. https://doi.org/10/ggkx3n.

inherent anthropocentrism that prioritises human needs and utilitarian interests over the needs and interests of other species and ecosystems (Eggermont). 1

The assessment of outcomes through the notion of ‘ecosystem services’.

Ecosystem services focus on humans by definition.

Costanza, Robert, Rudolf de Groot, Leon Braat, Ida Kubiszewski, Lorenzo Fioramonti, Paul Sutton, Steve Farber, and Monica Grasso. ‘Twenty Years of Ecosystem Services: How Far Have We Come and How Far Do We Still Need to Go?’ Ecosystem Services 28 (2017): 1–16. https://doi.org/10/gcn8nv.

Faivre et al. definition states that ‘ecosystem services are the contributions that ecosystems … make to human well-being’.

Faivre, Nicolas, Marco Fritz, Tiago Freitas, Birgit de Boissezon, and Sofie Vandewoestijne. ‘Nature-Based Solutions in the EU: Innovating with Nature to Address Social, Economic and Environmental Challenges’. Environmental Research 159 (2017): 509–18. https://doi.org/10/gfpqpq.

Some aim to expand this to cover more than the economic benefits of nature (Bush; Kenter; Schröter). However, human needs remain prioritised above those of other forms of life. This literature, Bush, for example, acknowledges the need for new appraoches to include nonhumans. 2

Bush, Judy, and Andréanne Doyon. ‘Building Urban Resilience with Nature-Based Solutions: How Can Urban Planning Contribute?’ Cities 95 (2019): 102483. https://doi.org/10/ggkvhr.

Kenter, Jasper O. ‘IPBES: Don’t Throw Out the Baby Whilst Keeping the Bathwater; Put People’s Values Central, Not Nature’s Contributions’. Ecosystem Services 33 (2018): 40–43. https://doi.org/10/gfb4n7.

Three questions for nature-based solutions suggested by Maller:

Who and what is already in this place?
Who and what else should be in this place?
And, who else and what else in this place should benefit from this project?

Maller, Cecily. ‘Re-Orienting Nature-Based Solutions with More-Than-Human Thinking’. Cities 113 (2021): 103155. https://doi.org/10/gk94tz.

Footnotes

Schröter, Matthias, Emma H. van der Zanden, Alexander P. E. van Oudenhoven, Roy P. Remme, Hector M. Serna-Chavez, Rudolf S. de Groot, and Paul Opdam. ‘Ecosystem Services as a Contested Concept: A Synthesis of Critique and Counter-Arguments’. Conservation Letters 7, no. 6 (2014): 514–23. https://doi.org/10/f6t49q.˄
Eggermont, Hilde, Estelle Balian, José Manuel N. Azevedo, Victor Beumer, Tomas Brodin, Joachim Claudet, Bruno Fady, et al. ‘Nature-Based Solutions: New Influence for Environmental Management and Research in Europe’. GAIA - Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society 24, no. 4 (2015): 243–48. https://doi.org/10/f3pvt5.˄

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