Articles

Nature-based solutions are a quick and cost-effective way to transform our surroundings to become more sustainable and will be a key element in building more resilient and healthy societies. They are a safe and sound investment as case studies from Bologna, Glasgow, Copenhagen and Hamburg prove...

In Europe, almost one-third of the landscape is covered by cities, villages, agriculture and forests. There are lots of different types of trees, bur also damaged forest areas due to human activities and climate change consequences. At the European level a series of political commitments are...

At the September IUCN UK Peatland Programme/LIFE Conference film night, the North Pennines AONB Partnership launched its new film: PeatLIFE People .

The documentary-style film shows some views of UK's peatland landscapes and the work of the Pennine PeatLIFE project and, as said by the...

The “ Water Framework Directive” (DIR 2000/60/EC) has radically changed the policies of European countries regarding water, which throughout the 1900s were mainly aimed at facilitating its use for human activities and protecting public health from the risks associated with pollution. The...

European cities are invited to submit an Expression of Interest to become a stop on the Connecting Nature Roadshow - a mobile exhibition showcasing innovative solutions to co-create, implement and manage nature based-solutions.

The Roadshow will customize interactive workshops...

On 1st December, the European Business Statement was officially delivered to the European Commission at the EBNS 2021.

The statement calls businesses and policy makers to mainstream biodiversity in all decisions and policies. In particular, the European businesses are called upon to...

The Border Meuse Initiative, wich kicked off 30 years ago in the Netherlands, has demonstrated how rewilding can make socio-economic and environmental benefits. Restoring natural landscapes is one of the most effective and cheapest ways of addressing challenges such as climate change and...

As part of the NetworkNature semester ‘ Nature-based solutions for ecosystem restoration ’, which aims to create opportunities for local, regional and international cooperation on nature-based solutions and to explore how ecosystem restoration can contribute to biodiversity conservation whilst...

How can stakeholders balance the potential risks, drawbacks and concerns of the Nature-Based Solutions Framework with its benefits and opportunities? A brief is now available pertaining to this very topic. As a partnership between Global Youth Biodiversity Network, Youth4Nature and YOUNGO, the...

The new report "Nature-based solutions for climate change mitigation", authored by experts from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the International Union or Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) finds the...

The new Horizon2020 funded NICE project aims to promote the use of nature-based solutions for circular urban water management. The project will generate knowledge for the design and implementation of NbS with the goal of closing urban water loops. The solutions will capture water,...

How can nature-based solutions enter everyday vocabulary? How can nature-based solutions become mainstream to restore habitats, bring back biodiversity and lead to the improved well-being of our communities? Which are the knowledge and implementation gaps that are limiting the use of nature-...

New awarenesses are emerging today: the need to curb the growth of GHG emissions for global economic recovery and the destruction of the natural world. Natural Climate Solutions (NCS) help address both these problems and increase resilience to climate change. NCS are conservation, restoration...

Food isn’t just fuel – it connects us all.

Whether it’s in the form of urban agriculture initiatives, underground or rooftop farms, community gardens or healthy cooking workshops, millions of city dwellers around the world are already bringing the food they eat closer to the cities they...

CITIES TALK NATURE is a community of municipal practitioners and interested organisations from Latin America and Europe. Its goal is to promote the restoration of ecosystems in cities and communities on both sides of the Atlantic through nature-based solutions through a series of online...

Nature-based solutions are a promising vehicle for ecosystem restoration and for strengthening resilience to climate change impacts. Yet, to achieve the desired impacts, coordinated action and planning across scales and sectors are required. For this reason Network Nature invites you to join an...

The Open Rivers Program was officially launched on October 8, 2021, thanks to an investment of 42.5 million euros in six years by Arcadia, a charity fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin. The motivation of this Programme lies in the fact that European rivers are the most fragmented in the...

The Planet’s ecosystems, climate and biodiversity, are on the brink of default and world leaders are increasingly looking towards the financial sector for solutions. In the run up to key international negotiations on climate this year and biodiversity in the 2022, the financial sector can...

Editorial for March 2021 edition of NetworkNature Newsletter.

Environmental degradation impacts on the well-being of an estimated 3.2 billion people globally whilst the loss of ecosystem services leads to a reduction of more than 10% of our global economic output ( UNEP, 2021 ). A...

A new report on Nature-based Solutions business models is now available. The report titled, “State of the Art and Latest Advances in Exploring Business Models for Nature-Based Solutions” was created by the EU NbS Clustering Task Force 3, coordinated by NetworkNature and offers insight...

Coastal dunes are high-value areas of biodiversity, providing a home to rare flora and offering protection to coasts against storms. They can, however, be vulnerable to degradation and should therefore be protected. The challenge lies in the changing nature of dunes as an ecosystem...

The new IPCC special report on effects of global warming above pre-industrial levels , sounds an alarm on the irreversible negative impacts of human activity on our own habitat. In order to to steer away from a climate catastrophe, scientists state that stark and immediate cuts on emissions are...

Nature should be at the heart of our cities, because they are the places where we work, play and engage. Today, more than 55% of the world's population lives in cities and this figure is likely to continue to grow, as urbanization is growing at an unprecedented rate and this contributes...

Nature-based solutions (NbS) help address the effects of climate change in an integrated way, such as biodiversity loss and poverty.

If done well, nature-based solutions could be the key to protecting, sustainably managing and restoring ecosystems, in cost-effective ways while addressing...

A new paper has been published on the Ecosystem Services Journal on using ecosystem services to measure the degree to which a solution is nature-based.

Recently, Nature-based Solutions have gained increasing interest as a broad concept which encompasses several fields (sociology,...

The first draft of a new global framework on biodiversity was released by the Secretariat of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to guide actions around the world until 2030 for the conservation and protection of nature and its essential services to people. At the end of...

Economic entities are increasingly regognizing that nature is tied to all activities and that the state of the environment also affects the economy. OECD launched a new policy guide for finance, economic and environment ministes titled ' Biodiversity, natural capital and the economy ' in May...

The Final report from phase II of the INCA project shows that EU’s ecosystems generated an annual flow of selected seven ecosystem services at the value of € 172 billion.

Ecosystem accounting - Making nature count

How much do ecosystems contribute to our economy and wellbeing?...

During the NetworkNature semester ‘ Nature-based solutions in light of the pandemic ’ we have explored how these solutions affect health and well-being. There is increasing research and findings indicating that among the many benefits of natural spaces, are improvements to mental and physical...

The main work programme of Horizon Europe for the period 2021-2022 has been adopted by the European Commission. The programme outlines the objectives and specific topic areas that will receive a total of €14.7 billion in funding. Further to help accelerating the green and digital transitions in...

The 2021 Transformative Action Award is now accepting applications from cities, regions, and civil society organisations who are pioneering transformative actions to create sustainable, resilient, and liveable cities.

The actions taken reflect local or regional contributions to the...

The restoration of degraded environments offers beneficial impacts to alleviate stress, improve mental health, to mitigate pollution and provide spaces for contemplation, socialization and physical activity. The COVID-19 pandemic has further emphasized the importance of nature for collective...

There is currently an active debate in the role that nature-based solutions should take in the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. Some parties advocate for the great potential of nature-based solutions to advance the protection sustainable using and restoration of biodiversity, while...

The United Nations has dedicated May 22nd each year as The International Day for Biological Diversity , to increase awareness and understanding of biodiversity. The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has set the theme for Biodiversity Day 2021 as “ We’re part of the...

The concept of therapeutic or healing gardens is both modern and ancient. Ancient Egyptian, Persian and Greek gardens were all considered healing environments and all of them had well established guidelines in relation with the knowledge of that time and, most important, people were aware of...

New European Commission Carbon Farming Initiative

On the 27th of April 2021, the European Commission published a ‘ Technical Guidance Handbook: Setting up and implementing results-based carbon farming mechanisms in the EU ’ This guide is the result of a two-year study on how best to set...

The European Environment Agency presents a new report that gives valuable insights in how working with nature can help prevent the worst impacts of climate change, and biodiversity and ecosystem loss. Nature-based solutions offer multiple ways to do this. Science and policy have begun to...

Nature-based solutions are an increasingly popular means for tackling urban sustainability challenges. Nonetheless, there’s no one-size-fits-all method for every city, even when we are dealing with the same topic. Here are a few points/tips/inspirational stories you could learn from when taking...

UNEP has opened a call for best practices on investment in nature-based solutions, under their State of Finance for Nature initiative.

Contribute to shaping the financing landscape for nature-based solutions, by submitting best practices, to help demonstrate how investing in nature-...

As a result of the COVID19 pandemic, we have seen an increase in stress, poor mental health and domestic violence. And we have seen an increase in the visits to green and blue spaces, leading at times to overcrowding in these spaces. In a city like Barcelona, Collserola, a large urban forest...

In cities, the built and natural environment are important determinants of health, particularly among groups that are disadvantaged by relative poverty, unemployment, low status, gender, ethnicity and disability (WHO, 2012). Evidence of the impact of green and blue space provided by Nature-based...

In the wake of the pandemic, the realization that access to nature is crucial for well-being has dawned on many. Although the pandemic stems from nature, the role of human-led destruction of natural environments is a major causal factor, and thus a potential solution lies in re-establishing a...

News originally published on the GrowGreen website . Republished with permission from GrowGreen.

Download the summary and the full report produced by IUCN for GrowGreen on the Chinese Sponge Cities Programme.

Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei Province , is well-known as the “...

News originally published on the GrowGreen website . Republished with permission from GrowGreen.

The new Espai Verd Benicalap (Green Space Benicalap), located in the Benicalap neighborhood in València, has been inaugurated with an open day for citizens. This project is one of the...