Nature-Based Solutions

The coalition of four mid-Atlantic states and The Nature Conservancy is partnering with the Nicholas Institute’s Nature Activation Hub to protect and restore high-carbon coastal habitats, peatlands, and forested land using a $421 million Climate Pollution Reduction Grant from the EPA.

Coastal areas draw many visitors and full-time residents with their scenic beauty and recreational opportunities, but they’re vulnerable to many stressors.

Research at the Nicholas Institute examines the economic and scientific challenges that need to be addressed in order to determine whether payments for storing coastal blue carbon may one day help conserve mangroves, seagrass meadows, and salt marshes, and keep them from being converted to other uses and releasing their stores of greenhouse gas.

Conservation organizations and land trusts in North Carolina are increasingly focused on how their work can 1) contribute to humans’ and ecosystems’ resilience and adaptation to climate change, and 2) directly mitigate climate change through carbon storage and sequestration.

NESP has created a set of resources for the natural resource management community which are intended to establish an ecosystem services framework that is flexible, while being standardized, intuitive, and credible.

Nature-based solutions—actions to protect, manage, or restore natural or modified ecosystems to address societal challenges—present opportunities to benefit both people and the environment.

In partnership with a number of federal agencies, NESP developed an online guidebook for incorporating ecosystem services into agency planning processes.

The Nature-Based Solutions Financing Working Group, led by the Nicholas Institute and Environmental Policy Innovation Center, is providing resources for those interested in scaling up nature-based solutions financing through green banks and community lenders.

The Nicholas Institute, partnering with The Harte Research Institute and The Nature Conservancy, works to standardize metrics of restoration success by developing ecosystem service logic models with stakeholders from the five Gulf states, federal agencies, and technical experts.

NESP engages both public and private individuals and organizations to enhance collaboration within the ecosystem services community, including on nature-based solutions. It aims to strengthen coordination of policy, market implementation, and research at the national level.

The Nature Activation Hub at the Nicholas Institute is exploring ideas for a new federal nature statistical strategy to coordinate and streamline nature data sharing and facilitate nature-related decision-making.

Natural capital accounting is a method of assessing natural ecosystems’ contributions to the economy in order to help governments better understand their economies’ reliance upon natural systems.

The hub—hosted by the Nicholas Institute at Duke University—collaborates with experts, stakeholders, and decision-makers to advance nature for the benefit of people and the environment.

Advancing nature-based solutions calls for more information on how effectively these projects contribute to risk reduction and species persistence. Nicholas Institute experts at the Nature Activation Hub are working to address these gaps for restoration and conservation of coastal wetlands and management of inland watersheds.

The Department of the Interior (DOI) Nature-Based Solutions Roadmap is a comprehensive resource to support DOI staff, partners, and anyone interested in implementing nature-based solutions (NBS). This first-of-its-kind reference was created by the Nicholas Institute in collaboration with DOI.

Explore current issues related to nature-based solutions, discover promising practices, and hear from experts working in this field via this webinar series organized by the Nicholas Institute’s National Ecosystem Services Partnership and the Resilience Roadmap project.

The North Carolina Natural and Working Lands Action Plan, part of the North Carolina Climate Risk Assessment and Resilience Plan, was created in response to Executive Order 80 to identify opportunities for North Carolina’s natural and working lands.

Pocosins are a unique type of wetland found in the North Carolina coastal plain. They provide valuable wildlife habitat and store large amounts of carbon in their deep peat soils. There is increasing interest in pocosin restoration as a nature-based solution that will benefit both natural ecosystems and people.

The Nature Activation Hub at the Nicholas Institute has explored how three states in the southeastern United States have attempted to address permitting challenges for one type of nature-based solutions project: living shorelines.

The database is intended to assist those interested in coastal resilience in the southeastern United States to quickly find others doing related work, in order to facilitate collaboration and connection.

Coastal habitats in the United States provide significant environmental, social, and economic benefits, including shoreline protection, carbon sequestration, food provision, and recreational and cultural services.