Sustainable Investments in Urban and Periurban Environments through Nature-Based Solutions: Novel Approaches and Methods

Dear Colleagues,

About half of the world’s GDP is moderately or highly dependent on nature and healthy ecosystems. However, it is estimated that one million plant and animal species are facing extinction, and, generally, natural capital stocks per capita have declined by nearly 40% between 1992 and 2014. There are calls to leave behind a finite resource deployment-based economy and move towards a regenerative economy that is more respectful of nature. Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) can lead this paradigm shift, as they are increasingly internationally recognized as a fundamental part of action for climate and biodiversity and are highly financed by both the public and private sectors. Indeed, many businesses support NBSs already, especially via tree planting and implementing urban forests. Still, no established methodology to finance NBSs and maintain them across extended lifespans is presented in the literature. Notably, there is a need to support decision-making processes with accessible frameworks integrating economic–environmental aspects to encourage nature-positive investments.

This Special Issue will focus on innovative frameworks for financing and maintaining forests in cities, industrial areas, the urban–rural interface, commercial sites, degraded lands, and brownfields. Particularly, this Special Issue seeks to integrate research, techniques, and tools to investige the impact of investments on ecosystems and the related return for businesses and society. The topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Multiple aspects of the environmental–economic accounting of the ecosystem services provided by urban forests/trees, green spaces, and nature-based solutions;
• Engagement practices in planning and design mechanisms to support new urban forests/trees, green spaces, and nature-based solutions;
• Public–private partnership for financing and maintaining urban forests/trees, green spaces, and nature-based solutions;
• Environmental impact assessment and related compensation measures;
• State-of-the-art financing instruments for NBS implementation and maintenance;
• State-of-the-art forest inclusion in regenerative economy processes and approaches.

Dr. Francesco Sica
Dr. Maria Rosaria Sessa
Dr. Francesco Tajani
Dr. Debora Anelli
Prof. Dr. Alessio Russo
Dr. Maria Rosaria Guarini 
Dr. Elena Di Pirro
Guest Editors

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• integrated assessment methods
• ecosystem services assessment
• sustainable finance criteria
• real estate market
• impact investment decisions
• urban forests/trees