Advancing nature-based solutions toward sustainability
article
As global warming and environmental challenges escalate, nature-based solutions (NbSs) have emerged as a critical strategy to combat climate change, biod iversity loss, and ecosystem degradation while also providing co-benefits to human well-being and eco nomic resilience (Seddon 2022). These solutions influence key earth system processes, such as carbon, water, and energy cycles, while in turn, their effect iveness is shaped by complex interactions among cli mate change, societal dynamics, and technological progress (Griscom et al 2017). Although NbS hold great promise, especially through practices like con servation, restoration, and sustainable land manage ment, their implementation must be context-specific and guided by principles that ensure social equity, biodiversity protection, and alignment with urgent climate targets (Seddon et al 2021). This special issue of Environmental Research Letters, titled ‘Focus on NbSs Toward Sustainability’, presents 28 studies contributing to the growing body of research on NbS. These papers span diverse geo graphical regions, from global assessments to specific areas such as China, South Africa, U.S., and Europe, and cover diverse ecosystems, including agricultural lands, forests, grasslands, coastal wetlands, and urban areas (figure 1). They offer valuable insights into ecosystem-based climate mitigation, terrestrial eco system resilience, blue-green infrastructure (BGI), and the socio-ecological aspects of sustainable land management. This editorial classifies these contribu tions into four key perspectives and synthesizes their findings to highlight pathways for implementing NbS at multiple scales.
Topics
TNO Identifier
1014416
ISSN
17489326
Publisher
Institute of Physics
Article nr.
60201
Source title
Environmental Research Letters
Pages
1-5