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. For example, coastal marsh restoration can protect nearby infrastructure from storms and provide nursery habitat for fish, while fuel management in forests can reduce health risks from wildfires and enhance native plant communities.
However, uncertainty about these projects’ performance and reliability continues to be a barrier for widespread implementation, indicating the need for comprehensive evaluation of nature-based solutions activities and outcomes. This information could be used to develop engineering standards, assess projects’ cost-benefit ratios, and inform decisions about where and how to invest in nature-based solutions.
The Nicholas Institute is engaged in several efforts to facilitate evaluation of nature-based solutions, including an assessment of 27 nature-based solutions project and publication databases and ongoing work aimed at improving collection and organization of effectiveness data for nature-based solutions projects.
Evaluation of Publicly Accessible Nature-Based Solutions Databases as Sources for Evidence of Effectiveness
Key recommendations include making databases downloadable, adding standardized geographic and project attributes, and improving measurement of effectiveness. Better data accessibility and consistency are essential for developing design standards and scaling up NBS implementation.
