Nature-Based Solutions and Biodiversity: Synergies and Implications

Dear Colleagues,

Nature-based solutions (NbS) have been widely proposed and recently implemented to solve an extensive range of social–ecological problems. Although there are different definitions or understandings of what NbS are, there is a certain consensus that these solutions are inspired or supported by ecosystem processes or services and that they should conciliate the provision of enhanced human well-being with benefits to biodiversity.

The potential synergies between biodiversity and NbS are strong. Biodiversity can, on one side, amplify a wide range of solutions that rely on biodiversity-dependent ecosystem services. This is the case for crop pollination, pest control, and carbon sequestration, among others, for which there is already broad support that biodiversity strengthens the service or makes it more resilient and stable over time. Conversely, NbS can also generate suitable conditions for biodiversity maintenance or for avoiding species extinction, at different scales, by expanding the supply of habitats and resources for multiple species or even by increasing landscape connectivity and thus facilitating species flows through the landscape. There are thus extensive opportunities to amplify NbS both by incorporating biodiversity into the solution and by planning NbS to increase their co-benefits to biodiversity.

However, empirical evidence that interventions considered as NbS depend on biodiversity or deliver biodiversity benefits is still scarce and is not part of many NbS evaluations. Understanding these relationships is important to improve NbS design and their effectiveness in solving different social–ecological problems while delivering multiple co-benefits. Ultimately, this is crucial to allow policy makers and environmental managers to make better decisions.

With this Special Issue, we wish to encourage contributions that show the synergies (or potential trade-offs) between NbS and biodiversity, as well as their implications for better NbS design. We look for contributions shedding light on how biodiversity relates to the NbS and how this relationship can be considered in the design of solutions.

We will consider different types of contributions, including empirical or conceptual studies, methodological frameworks, as well as systematic reviews and meta-analyses. We would like to attract studies in different environments (urban, rural, coastal, marine, and riparian, among others), regions (both temperate and tropical), scales (from local to landscape and regional ones), and covering a wide diversity of social–ecological problems, as well as different types of NbS and ecosystem services that support these solutions.

We understand that this will be a critical space to present empirical evidence, debate synergies and trade-offs, and encourage solutions that embrace and benefit biodiversity. We understand that this debate is crucial in reconciling the global agendas that face climate change and the biodiversity crisis, as well as in planning the UN decade for restoration.

Prof. Dr. Jean Paul Metzger
Dr. Patricia G. C. Ruggiero
Guest Editors

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• nature-based solutions
• ecosystem-based adaptation/mitigation
• ecosystem services
• biodiversity
• restoration
• climate change
• landscape management
• social–ecological systems