Levers for accelerating and up-scaling Nature-based Solutions in Latin American cities

Abstract

Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are increasingly proposed to address challenges related to climate change and biodiversity loss, and more recently for their potential to achieve other social goals such as food security and human health. In urban contexts, these strategies are especially relevant and are recognized as comprehensive actions to generate multiple benefits. However, there is still limited evidence on the direct impacts of these strategies and the co-benefits they can generate over time, as well as their capacity to foster transformative systems change. In the case of Latin America, although NbS have gained popularity, understanding them in a local context, as a comprehensive and systemic urban planning tool, along with how to include them in local agendas is one of the biggest challenges. Within the framework of the ENSLAC Project - Enabling Nature-based Solutions Scale-up in Latin American Cities - this research analyzed the formulation, implementation, and monitoring processes of 15 NbS selected from Peru, Colombia, and Ecuador, considered successful in their context, in order to identify levers and good practices that could make them replicable in the region. Differentiating aspects were found that determined their success, such as considering the characteristics of the landscape and ecological context, directly linking NbS to local policy instruments, including capacity building processes, and addressing more than one objective (social and environmental) from the formulation phase. Additionally, some shared challenges include monitoring and quantitative evaluation of impacts.