Can 'nature-based solutions' be more than a buzzword?
By Michael Igoe
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[Nature-based solutions], which describes a wide range of efforts to protect and restore ecosystems that can store carbon, mitigate climate-change impacts, and protect biodiversity, is scattered throughout the COP25 schedule. From the main plenary hall to side events on topics ranging from mangroves to entrepreneurship to cities, nature-based solutions have stood out as one of the more optimistic-sounding components of a negotiation process that is struggling to match the urgency of the climate crisis.
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While few dispute that preserving and investing in natural systems must be a key component of the battle against climate change, the sudden popularity of this broad agenda has raised some questions about what makes it so appealing at a time when global carbon emissions continue to rise and climate predictions grow more dire.
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Some experts and activists warn that without clearer definitions and principles to guide these efforts, the term “nature-based solutions” could be used to justify projects that harm local communities or deflect attention away from the need to pursue rapid reductions in carbon emissions.
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Another persistent concern is that fossil fuel companies and high-emitting countries appear interested in using these kinds of pledges to avoid confronting a more difficult reality — that limiting global warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius requires steep reductions in fossil fuels. Instead, financial institutions have poured an estimated $1.9 trillion into the fossil fuel sector since the Paris Agreement was negotiated in December 2015.
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