TOWARDS EQUITABLE & SUSTAINABLE NATURE-BASED SOLUTIONS

Welcome to the dedicated website for the Towards Equitable and Sustainable Nature-based Solutions (TES NbS) project. Here you will find information and resources for all TES NbS research, workshops and other engagements.

About the TES NbS Research Project

Nature-based Solutions (NbS) involve working with nature to promote human well-being and ecosystem benefits, and can support climate mitigation and adaptation actions and reduce climate risk. However, the widespread popularisation of NbS through various northern-driven, high-level campaigns has raised concern amongst scholars in the Global South regarding the appropriateness of some of these solutions in local contexts. This is especially applicable in Africa where many peoples’ livelihoods are heavily dependent on their landscapes and the multiple ecosystem services derived from these landscapes. Furthermore, the impacts of climate change on many of these critical ecosystem services are not yet fully understood. NbS tend to be much more complex and contested in practice than is generally implied in the dominant narratives. The outcomes of these solutions are often mixed and dependent on the institutions, politics, and particularities of place. Little work has been undertaken on the longevity of NbS under a constantly changing climate. The TES NbS project explores the role of NbS in reducing risk and vulnerability to climate change in developing regions, focusing on Southern African Water Towers, which are mountainous areas (including high-lying hills and plateaus) important for water supply to lowland areas (e.g. Viviroli et al. 2007, 2020 and Nel et al. 2017).

Research Question

Thus far, synthesis research has concentrated on the Global North despite numerous NbS interventions and multilateral projects in the Global South. There has been a dominant focus on global benefits of carbon sequestration. There is limited consideration of water-carbon trade-offs, differential benefits and disbenefits, and resilience of NbS and associated outcomes to a changing climate. The TES NbS project therefore aims to answer the overarching question: Will the NbS that have been proposed, planned, and/or implemented in Southern African Water Towers be equitable in terms of the distribution of global versus local benefits; and will the intended benefits be sustained under future climate conditions?

Research Aims and Objectives

The Towards Equitable and Sustainable Nature-based Solutions (TES NbS) project aims to support decision making, planning and implementation processes to ensure that nature-based solutions (NbS) at local levels are more equitable and sustainable through greater awareness of the opportunities, constraints and limits to NbS. 

To achieve this, we have the following four objectives focused on Southern Africa's Water Towers:

1. Determine what needs to be considered when identifying, planning and implementing NbS to maximise equitable social benefits to upstream and downstream vulnerable communities and social groups.

2. Identify the social-ecological limits and constraints of NbS, including the unintended impacts, especially for vulnerable, natural resource dependent groups, that could result from NbS under current and future climate conditions.

3. Build an understanding of the distribution of global versus local NbS benefits, particularly in terms of the trade-offs between water and carbon related ecosystem services.

4. Inform long term decision making by assessing whether intended NbS benefits can be sustained under future climate conditions.