Be Bold: taking action to accelerate and scale the use of Nature-based Solutions in Aotearoa

Nature-based Solutions should be considered one of New Zealand’s greatest tools in the response to climate change risks.

Aotearoa New Zealand and the rest of the world currently face the interconnected crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, and land degradation. However, the effects are not evenly distributed. Some vulnerable communities, industries, and habitats exposed to more severe risks than others.

Climate change is already impacting New Zealand’s natural environment, exacerbating and adding to the pressures that threaten our unique biodiversity and iconic landscapes, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. As our climate continues to change, we face a future where extreme climate-related natural hazards are projected to become more frequent and intense. This requires urgent action; and it is essential that integrated solutions are scaled to address these interconnected crises effectively, equitably and economically.

Healthy functioning natural ecosystems act as the first line of defence against flooding, coastal inundation, and wildfire. A thriving natural environment is a fundamental climate change adaptation that goes beyond traditional risk management approaches to provide significant co-benefits for biodiversity and human wellbeing.

Nature-based Solutions (NbS) for climate change adaptation have the potential to effectively mitigate or avoid the impacts of acute climate change risks in New Zealand. Actions to protect, conserve, restore, and sustainably use natural ecosystems can be applied to enhance resilience to the impacts of climate change.

As an umbrella concept, Nature-based Solutions include a number of approaches including green infrastructure, ecosystem-based adaptation, water-sensitive urban design, and ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction. Approaches relating to NbS have been developed from a number of different sources, but they share a focus on enhancing biodiversity and ecosystem services and aim to address societal challenges.

By applying existing conservation and restoration practices, Nature-based Solutions can be enabled through practical activities such as restoring wetlands and coastal ecosystems, reducing predator and browser pressures, and integrating green spaces into urban areas. Nature-based Solutions can be implemented across a diversity of land uses and spatial scales, from small interventions within an urban environment to landscape-scale restoration. Healthy ecosystems buffer us from the impacts of climate change and contribute to our social, economic, and cultural wellbeing.

Climate change poses significant cultural, spiritual, economic, and physical risks to iwi, hapū, and Māori, and the inclusion of mātauranga Māori will be integral to progressing high-quality Nature-based Solutions in New Zealand.

New Zealand is actively pursuing a “Green Transition" with a goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, focusing on renewable energy, electrification, and reducing emissions from various sectors, including agriculture and waste. 

The need for clarity on NbS challenges and opportunities has increased as the Government looks to accelerate NbS within the Green Transition. Nature-based solutions are a specific component of the government’s Climate and Biodiversity Strategies, the second Emissions Reduction Plan, the National Adaptation Plan, and Green Financing conversations, including the Sustainable Finance Strategy, Green Taxonomy, and biodiversity credit markets. Nature-based Solutions also feature in several international trade agreements, including the NZ/EU Free Trade Agreement.

Nature-based Solutions for Climate Adaptation: Roadmap for Scaling Use in Aotearoa New Zealand, sets out the actions required to accelerate and scale the use of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) in Aotearoa New Zealand for climate change adaptation. The report was prepared by Boffa Miskell for the Ministry for the Environment, in collaboration with a wide and engaged group of adaptation and NbS advisors and is designed to inform policy development and on-the-ground practices.

The report identifies a range of barriers and opportunities across four key areas: Knowledge, Technical, Policy and Financial. The roadmap is intended to provide a cohesive strategic direction to government and community organisations that fund, resource, and undertake NbS research and development.

Aligning under the four key opportunity areas the roadmap identifies the priority research needs, tool development, policy actions, and engagement required nationally. 

Nature-based Solutions for Climate Adaptation: Roadmap for Scaling Use in Aotearoa New Zealand sets out seven strategic actions across the four opportunity objectives of Knowledge, Technical, Policy, and Financial. These seven actions are scoped to address the system challenges currently experienced by NbS practitioners in New Zealand and have been packaged into discrete areas of work to enable an adaptive delivery. 

Accordingly, each action may be implemented independent of other actions and still deliver significant impacts and benefits to the emerging NbS community of practice. However, for a greatest benefit approach to strategically scaling the use of Nature-based Solutions in New Zealand, actions should seek to be delivered in full, with reference to the relevant climate change and biodiversity milestones coming in the next four years.

As New Zealand seeks to scale its use of Nature-based Solutions for climate change adaptation, key learnings and examples from global NbS leaders can be applied to increase the pace and value of our work. By examining the current state of Nature-based Solutions nationally and applying international lessons learned, New Zealand can leverage off the growing NbS evidence-base and effectively integrate with an ever more connected international NbS community of practice.

With an economy that is strongly reliant and connected to the natural environment — including tourism, agriculture, forestry, and fisheries — Nature-based Solutions should be considered one of New Zealand’s greatest tools in the response to climate change risks, but deliberate system-scale changes must be achieved for NbS to be implemented in a cohesive strategy that will address these challenges equitably, efficiently, and effectively.

Read Nature-based Solutions for Climate Adaptation: Roadmap for scaling use in Aotearoa New Zealand here