Embracing nature-based solutions for community benefit – now

Increasingly our collective eyes are being opened to our dependency on the natural world to sustain us entirely and regulate our climate. Seemingly, the penny has also only recently dropped on the fact that the climate crisis and the biodiversity crisis are in fact inextricably linked – one cannot be solved without addressing the other. Both crises stem from the unsustainable practices of our forebears and the current generation, creating a legacy of increasing atmospheric carbon, global warming, accelerated rates of species decline and elevated risk of ecosystem collapse.

Historically, it could be argued that the eventual impact of fuelling the industrial revolution with coal and latterly the rise of the oil industry, was an unknown and could not have been forecast. However, that can no longer be used as an argument or justification. We know only too well the impacts of burning fossil fuels and we understand the world and its processes in microscopic detail.

We also now know what needs to be done to give future generations a chance of living in a stable and healthy world with suitable conditions to adequately provide resources to support a good quality of life for all. That is rapid and deep emissions reductions and decarbonisation at scale, through all means.

But the climate mitigation measures that will provide these conditions rely to a greater or lesser extent on intergenerational altruism – a willingness to change our behaviours, make sacrifices and invest substantially for the wellbeing of future generations.

However, some changes which will contribute to climate mitigation and adaptation do not need to be seen as sacrifices and may not represent significantly more expensive options. What’s more, they may also provide a range of benefits for the here and now, enabling a higher quality of life for the current generation.

For example, nature-based solutions including blue green infrastructure like green walls and roofs and sustainable drainage systems, can provide effective alternatives to traditional engineered approaches while also providing multiple co-benefits, such as: urban shading and cooling, flood risk reduction, habitat provision, carbon sequestration and storage, enhanced placemaking, air filtration, reduced noise pollution, and positive impacts on our physical and mental wellbeing. These are just a few of the many potential benefits we realise from introducing more nature into our developments, enhancing the quality of life now and contributing to the provision of safe and liveable conditions in the future too.