Why nature-based solutions are crucial for climate and resilience

NbS are increasingly recognised for their contributions to climate change adaptation/mitigation, disaster risk reduction and resilience building. Through evidence and concrete views and experience from the field, the session explores what NbS, notably restoration and Sustainable Integrated Land Management, bring as climate, environmental, economic and social benefits, and to whom.

UNEP Contribution:

Title: A replicable model for upscaling NbS for disaster and climate resilience – lessons from Kerala, India (TBC) Details: UNEP will present realistic solutions for upscaling NbS for reducing disaster and climate risks in large scale development and DRR programmes, with a practical example from Kerala, India. UNEP will also present how the Kerala model is being replicated at the India national level and the potential for replication in other parts of the world, while sharing field notes on what works and lessons learned.

This first contribution will focus on the need for upscale-able models of NbS to tackle rising numbers of disaster events and their underlying causes, many which are often rooted in environmental degradation. We give the example of the Kerala State programme Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), one of India’s largest development programmes, which involves several types of community-based NbS activities for increasing resilience to disaster and climate risks.

In the second contribution, we give a short overview of the various types of NbS work in practice in Kerala and how they are being implemented to more systematically increase resilience in the State.