Re-NbS: Redefining nature-based solutions using ecological and governance perspectives
Nature-based Solutions (NbS) offer actions to work with nature, to address societal challenges and provide benefits for both human well-being and biodiversity. The Re-NbS project will use a decolonial lens to understand the historical roots of the concept and how NbS has been adapted to the Global South context.
Nature-based solutions were initially introduced in the Global North but are now widely adopted, including in the Global South. Here, NbS are applied for coastal protection and carbon storage through, for example, mangroves. Interestingly, there is a tendency for countries in the Global North to involve in designing and implementing mangrove NbS in the Global South. These facts raise critical questions of whether this North-South collaboration integrates local knowledge and considers inclusivity in the process, implements good governance, and achieves expected socio-ecological impacts.
This project will use the decolonization lens to understand historical roots of the concept and how NbS has been adapted to the Global South context. Ecological restorations and socio-ecological system governance will be used as umbrella concepts, where interactions between societal and ecological systems become the core 'issues to govern’.
The project is funded by Utrecht University and runs from 2023 to 2027.
Valuable insights for society
This project is tailored to delivering real-life impact by addressing socio-ecological issues in NbS implementation in the Global South. It goes beyond interdisciplinary approaches, employing transdisciplinary methods to engage stakeholders fully. This involves informing, consulting, and co-creating with stakeholders to assess perceptions, feasibility, and effectiveness of NbS. With these processes in mind, NbS implementation in the Global South can be not only ecologically effective but also socially just, as the ‘solution’ is supposed to be.