The goal of this report and the online handbook has been to develop an online handbook and best-practice toolbox which can be used as a knowledge base for NbS practitioners across the Nordic countries. This report is a shortened and adapted version of the Nordic online guide for Nature-based solutions implementation where the online guide includes a larger set of NbS applications across the six ecosystems included in the project as well as the main societal challenges, and how these could be dealt with using NbS.
Chapter 3 explains what NbS are, summarizes a number of online guidances for NbS, including existing standards, policies and laws, the cost-benefits of NbS, and gives advice on the monitoring and evaluation of NbS outcomes.
Chapter 4 gives examples of societal challenges and how they can be addressed by NbS.
Chapter 5 describes the six ecosystem types included in the guide and gives examples of NbS that can be implemented in these ecosystems.
Chapter 6 provides examples of different types of NbS that can be found in the online handbook; creation and restoration of marine gardens, crop rotation, deadwood enrichment, revegetation and restoration of terrestrial vegetation, green and blue-green roofs, rewetting of wetlands, and restoration.
Chapter 7 offers some conclusions on the implementation of NbS in the Nordics.
When implementing NbS, is it important to follow the mitigation hierarchy (see e.g.,
chapters 4.2 Climate change adaptation and mitigation, and
6.5 Revegetation and restoration of terrestrial vegetation). The priority is to protect and conserve non-degraded ecosystems including natural functions and processes and avoid the loss of these ecosystems. In areas where nature and ecosystems have already been degraded, restoration actions should be used. As a last resort, and if none of these options are available, re-creation of nature or solutions based on elements of nature and natural processes can be implemented.