Objectives
The IUCN Global Standard for Nature-based Solutions™ (NbS-GS) provides a robust, evidence-based framework for the consistent and credible application of NbS across sectors and geographies. Structured as a systematic learning and quality assurance tool, the NbS-GS ensures that NbS are applied effectively and sustainably, maximizing their potential to address societal challenges, while delivering measurable benefits for people and nature.
The NbS-GS provides an operational framework to:
- Guide the design and implementation of NbS, fostering continuous improvement to ensure they yield the outcomes desired;
- Identify or assess legitimate NbS interventions, while using a common set of criteria and indicators.
It provides a quality assurance framework to minimize risks, increase security for investment, and maximise the chance for success.
By assessing the level of adherence to the NbS-GS, users can:
- Strengthen the effectiveness of their interventions and the delivery of the expected outcomes;
- Enhance the credibility of their interventions when speaking to decision makers (i.e., policy makers, investors, etc.);
- Promote engagement and communication across sectors, interventions and geographies;
- Inform and promote enabling conditions for NbS mainstreaming, innovation and research.
Target audience and Scope
The NbS-GS is designed for use by stakeholders across diverse sectors, disciplines, and geographic regions, working in both natural and human-modified ecosystems. This includes national governments, city and local governments, planners, businesses, donors, financial institutions including development banks and non-profit organisations, Indigenous Peoples and local communities.
The NbS-GS supports the application of NbS at varying scales — from localized interventions to landscape-level initiatives — highlighting the importance of inclusive, cross-sectoral collaboration for effective and sustainable outcomes.
The NbS-GS sets clear boundaries around what qualifies as an NbS, offering guidance to decision makers to confidently select solutions that can be framed as NbS, to practitioners to identify opportunities for improving interventions to meet the definition and principles of NbS and to policy makers to shape policies and regulations to mainstream NbS and ensure their long-term viability.
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