4. Societal challenges
One of the main points of NbS is that they are implemented to meet societal challenges. In this chapter we give examples of these societal challenges and how they can be addressed by NbS for biodiversity enhancement, climate change mitigation and adaptation, disaster risk and preparedness, economic development, food security, human health and wellbeing, social justice and capacity building, and water management.
4.1 Biodiversity enhancement
Biodiversity enhancement refers to actions and strategies aimed at increasing the variety of life in all its forms, including species diversity, genetic variation, and ecosystem diversity.
Addressing biodiversity in nature-based solutions
Evaluating biodiversity net-gain when implementing a NbS requires a thorough understanding of the characteristics of the ecosystem in question before biodiversity targets can be set. A so-called baseline assessment must include information about the ecological state, the main drivers for biodiversity loss, and potential for improvement. This information should have a scientific basis while also making use of local knowledge. Working at the landscape and/or the catchment scale, considering ecological principles (e.g., bottlenecks and founder events, sink habitats, ecological traps, population dynamics, trophic cascades, large-scale ecological processes) can help to maximize the positive ecological and biodiversity impact on local ecosystems and enhance long-term sustainability.
The evaluation of biodiversity enhancement is not always as straightforward as it sounds, and the following factors should always be considered when evaluating biodiversity enhancement in NbS:
- Scale: NbS implementation may cause a species increase locally, but without considering this increase in a wider regional or even global context, it is difficult to evaluate the biodiversity benefit. For example, if the NbS favors common species at the expense of uncommon, or endemic species, an increase in species richness cannot be considered a benefit for biodiversity as a whole. The implementation of NbS should therefore consider potential conflicts associated with the protection of species or habitats of special interest (e.g., species listed in the annexes to the Habitats Directive; IUCN red listed species).
- Target species: It is important to consider which species are and are not desired as an outcome of an implemented NbS. A lower number of desired target species (e.g. species being typical for the ecosystem, red-listed species, or keystone species) may often be a more desirable outcome than a large number of undesirable species. A large number of species that are common everywhere, or even worse, invasive to the region, are not generally a desirable outcome for biodiversity.
- Context dependency (ecosystem type/local legislation): The evaluation of biodiversity enhancement for the same NbS may differ depending on the region. For example, rewetting of former wetlands can mediate both an increase and a decrease in species richness, depending on the characteristics of the area and the rewetting approach. If an area has potential to regain characteristics of a poor fen (low productivity), an increase in species richness may not be considered a biodiversity enhancement if this is a result of a high amount of nutrients in the water used for rewetting. Local legislation may help set goals for the desired biodiversity outcomes, for example if there are existing management plans for specific species or habitat types.
- Connectivity: To ensure the long-term persistence of the identified target species, it is important to consider landscape connectivity. If a population of species is isolated and unable to move to other areas to feed or reproduce, it is less likely to be able to survive over time. It is therefore always better to have the whole landscape in mind – e.g. are areas available nearby that can serve as corridors for dispersal or as foraging areas? Are barriers existing that may hinder species dispersal, feeding and/or reproduction? Ideally, NbS should improve biodiversity over the long term and across a large area by linking conservation efforts with more specific NbS measures within the region.
To ensure that the NbS is meeting its goals for biodiversity enhancement, it is also essential to have monitoring in place to follow up on these goals. Better monitoring will help us to learn more about the efficacy of different NbS in the Nordic region and inform management plans to halt biodiversity declines.
4.2 Climate change adaptation and mitigation
Climate change is a long-term change in temperature and weather patterns and is currently one of the biggest challenges for life on earth. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) defines climate change mitigation as an “intervention to reduce the sources or enhance the sinks of greenhouse gases” (Edenhofer, et al. 2014). Climate change adaptation, on the other hand, involves adjustments and changes by humans and natural systems in response to actual or anticipated changes in climate. The ultimate goal of climate change adaptation and mitigation is to limit the negative impacts or maximize the potential benefits caused by climate change.
Together, climate change mitigation and adaptation are key components of climate resilience. By reducing future climate risks through mitigation and preparing for existing and anticipated impacts through adaptation, we can build a more resilient foundation for dealing with current and future climate change. In this context it should also be noted that while adapting to a changing climate is essential, it should not overshadow our efforts in climate change mitigation.
Addressing climate change adaptation and mitigation with nature-based solutions
NbS can be highly effective in supporting both climate change adaptation and mitigation and for building climate resilience (Dumitru and Wendling, 2021). For example, NbS can help to decrease greenhouse gas emissions related to land use change, capture and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere (i.e. mitigation), or improve the ability of ecosystems to withstand the effects of climate change, such as flooding, sea-level rise, drought and heatwaves (i.e. adaptation).
- Land use (agriculture, forestry etc.) results in a large proportion of global emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide – better land management and conservation can help reduce these emissions.
- Healthy ecosystems can act as natural carbon sinks by absorbing carbon dioxide – conservation, restoration and sustainable management of wetlands, forests and oceans can contribute to improved carbon storage.
- Intact ecosystems can also help communities become more resilient to extreme weather events and climate-related disasters.
Figure 5. Mitigation hierarchy for NbS
Figure 5. Mitigation hierarchy for NbS
Measuring the efficacy of a NbS for climate change mitigation can be difficult and will be dependent on the starting point before the NbS is implemented. Also, the effectiveness of NbS can vary depending on the specific ecosystem type and implementation approach, which needs to be considered. Some examples of possible indicators for evaluating the success of an NbS related to climate mitigation and climate resilience can be:
- total carbon removed or stored in vegetation and soil per unit area per unit time
- avoided greenhouse gas emissions from reduced building energy consumption
- monthly mean value of daily maximum/minimum temperature
- heatwave incidence: Days with temperature above the 90th percentile threshold value for that specific site
For NbS related to climate mitigation, quantifying carbon storage in soils, vegetation, or wetlands, is a key indicator (Dumitru and Wendling, 2021), as it provides direct evidence of carbon dioxide mitigation benefits. In urban areas, looking at reduction in urban heat island effects through monitoring temperature changes in areas with NbS interventions compared to areas without can also provide information on mitigation effects. Such cooling effects can help reduce energy use for cooling and mitigate emissions indirectly (if fossil energy sources are used).
Examples of effects of NbS related to climate change adaptation and climate resilience can be e.g., reduction in flood hazards. Measuring the change in flood-prone areas or flood intensity after implementing NbS can serve as an indicator of their effectiveness. NbS aimed at improving drought resilience, could be traced by looking at changes in water availability during dry periods, soil moisture retention, or crop yields in drought-prone areas (Dubo et al., 2021). NbS being implemented to address heatwaves, particularly in urban areas, could be documented by looking at changes in urban heat island effects or reductions in peak temperatures during heatwaves.
As mentioned, the effectiveness of NbS can vary depending on the local context, and a combination of indicators may be necessary to fully assess their impacts related to climate change. As is the case for any NbS, when addressing climate change adaptation and mitigation, cross-sector involvement is very important. To ensure that the NbS is meeting its goals for climate change adaptation and mitigation, it is also essential to have monitoring in place. Also see Chapter 4.3 below – NbS with a focus on disaster risk and preparedness.
Examples of NbS with a focus on climate change adaptation and mitigation
Many of the NbS described in the handbook have the potential to address climate change adaptation and mitigation. The following is a selection of these:
- No tillage: No, or reduced, tillage refers to the practice of sowing or planting the new crop, after harvest, without first tilling the soil.
- Closer-to-nature forest management: multipurpose forest management that addresses global societal challenges.
- Restoration and revegetation: restoring vegetation where vegetation has completely disappeared or restore degraded vegetation.
- Rain gardens and swales: Rain gardens and swales can mitigate the effects of frequent rainfall and snowmelt by slowing and filtering stormwater runoff. These structures can help prevent flooding, reduce pollution entering waterways, and recharge groundwater.
- Rewetting: Former wetlands that have been drained for human activities are rewetted applying different types of NbS that restore the natural hydrology of the area.
- Floodplain reconnection: Floodplain can be reconnected to its surrounding by applying different types of NbS that reconnect the hydrological connectivity between the river and the floodplain.
4.3 Disaster risk and preparedness
Disaster risk refers to the potential loss of life, injury, or destruction and damage from a disaster in a given time period. Disaster risk is usually expressed as a function of three key components: Disaster Risk = Hazard x Exposure x Vulnerability.
- Hazards: a process, phenomenon or human activity that may cause a loss of life, injury, or other negative impacts.
- Exposure: the presence of people, assets, systems, or other elements in hazard-prone areas.
- Vulnerability: the conditions determined by physical, social, economic, and environmental factors that increase the susceptibility to the impacts of hazards.
Some examples of disaster risks in Nordic countries are hazards such as extreme weather events, storms, forest fires, and landslides. Disaster risks are not limited to natural or ecological hazards. They can also involve risks related to technology failure, dam ruptures, pandemics or other infrastructure failures, power outages, or water supply disruptions.
Disaster preparedness refers to the knowledge and capacities developed by governments, response and recovery organisations, communities, and individuals to anticipate, respond to, and recover from the impacts of likely, imminent, or current disasters (European Commission, n.d.). Preparedness activities aim to build the capacities needed to manage all types of emergencies effectively and achieve orderly transitions from response to sustained recovery.
Key aspects of disaster preparedness include: | ||
|---|---|---|
Contingency planning: developing arrangements in advance of potentially hazardous events | Capacity building: increasing knowledge and abilities of various actors to manage risks and emergencies | Early warning systems: implementing systems to provide timely alerts about potential hazards |
Resource management: stockpiling equipment and supplies and arranging for their coordination and distribution | Training and exercises: conducting drills and simulations to test and improve response capacities | Public information: developing arrangements for communication and evacuation |
Nordic countries are working to enhance their resilience to various disaster risks and improve their preparedness and ability to respond. An example is the Nordic Group for Public Health Preparedness, known also as the Svalbard Group.
Addressing disaster risk and preparedness with nature-based solutions
Nature-based solutions can play a role in disaster risk management (IFRC, n.d.; IUCN, 2017). In terms of hazards, NbS can help prevent or mitigate natural hazards. For example, forests and vegetation can stabilize slopes and reduce the risk of landslides. In terms of exposure, NbS can limit people’s exposure to the hazards, for example protecting and restoring coastal vegetation and sand dunes can provide protection from storm surges and strong winds to coastal communities. In terms of vulnerability, NbS can help reduce overall vulnerability to disasters through supporting community well-being and generating environmental benefits.
Internationally, the concept of comprehensive disaster and climate risk management (CRM) now includes NbS as an integral part of planning for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation.
- By protecting and restoring ecosystems, communities can build resilience against future disasters.
- Providing cost-effective solutions to reducing disaster risks, complementing conventional measures .
- Providing multiple benefits as nature-based solutions aim to address various societal challenges simultaneously, such as disaster risk, climate change, food security, and water security.
To ensure that the NbS is meeting its goals for disaster risk and preparedness, it is essential to have systems for long-term monitoring and assessment in place.
Examples of NbS with a focus on disaster risk and preparedness
NbS for disaster risk management in a Nordic context can be adapted to the Nordic climate and landscape. They can leverage the natural landscape and biodiversity to mitigate the risks of floods, landslides, and coastal erosion. Such NbS can also provide co-benefits such as enhancing biodiversity, improving water quality, and contributing to human well-being. Some examples are:
- Revegetation and restoration of vegetation in mountain ecosystems: In steep terrains, reforestation and sustainable forest management practices can help reduce the risk of landslides. Tree roots can help stabilise the soil and prevent erosion, particularly after heavy rain or snowmelt.
- Reducing grazing pressure allows vegetation to recover, promoting stronger root systems that help stabilize the soil and prevent erosion. This can be particularly effective in areas prone to landslides, flooding, or wind erosion, as healthier vegetation creates a natural barrier to these risks.
- Prescribed burning: can reduce the risk of uncontrolled forest fires.
- Restoration and management of drained forested and afforested wetland and peatlands: can by acting as natural sponges absorbing excess water from heavy or prolonged rainfall and snowmelt help decreasing peak flows and downstream flooding risks. Rain gardens and swales or other nature-based stormwater structures: can help slow down and retain urban stormwater during heavy rain, which can overwhelm the urban drainage systems and cause urban flooding while also contributing to urban biodiversity and air quality improvements.
- Green and blue-green roofs: can help mitigate local stormwater flood risks and damages while also contributing to urban biodiversity and air quality improvements.
- River daylighting by removing pipes and closing of artificial channels can help mitigate flooding.
- Restoring natural waterways: can provide flood protection and enhance aquatic ecosystems.
- Reconnecting rivers to floodplains: can protect downstream areas from flooding by providing additional storage capacity for waters when inundating.
- (Re-)establishment of shallow lakes and ponds: can protect downstream areas from flooding in periods with high levels of precipitation, because of their capacity to store water.
4.4 Economic development
Economic development can be defined in many ways, but it involves the transformation of an economy in a country, region or community which improves the well-being and quality of life of the population. This typically involves increasing income levels, reducing poverty, creating jobs, improving access to education and healthcare, and improving living standards and environmental conditions.
Addressing economic development with nature-based solutions
Economic and social development is one of the most understudied societal challenges when it comes to how it can be addressed with nature-based solutions (Dunlop et al., 2024). However, NbS can support economic development in several ways.
Securing good environmental conditions is important for any economic sector, as all sectors are dependent on the provision of natural capital assets either directly or through their supply chains (World Economic Forum, 2020). Protecting and restoring ecosystems are therefore crucial to reduce financial risks caused by nature and biodiversity loss and provide sustainable jobs. A nature-based approach to climate change adaptation and disaster risk preparedness can also create more resilient landscapes, hence reducing damage to society and the economy (Lafortezza et al., 2018).
In an urban setting, investing in NbS can improve the urban environment and living conditions, which in turn can boost local property values, job creation and public health. Working with nature-based solutions can furthermore provide jobs, from planning to implementation and on-going maintenance and care. A recent study found that the demand for nature-based enterprises is on the rise (Tedeschini et al., 2024). Nature-based enterprises are driven by a mission to work with and for nature to address societal challenges and biodiversity loss. These enterprises use nature as a core element of their services.
Nature-based solutions should, by definition, address societal challenges while providing benefits for human well-being, ecosystem services and biodiversity. However, when working with NbS, one can easily forget to accommodate for ecosystem service provision that benefits human well-being and the economy. It is therefore important to pay attention to these aspects and make trade-offs when needed. Moreover, while improving the urban environment can boost the local economy, it can also cause “green gentrification” due to increased desirability to live in greener urban areas, with resulting increases in property prices, but this varies with proximity to city center, type and size of green space (Quinton et al., 2024).
Urban greening requires careful consideration and planning strategies for the improvement to benefit the targeted area without excluding or displacing population groups (Anguelovski et al., 2022; Bressane et al., 2024). For more information, see chapter 4.7 on social justice and capacity building. While NbS offer several opportunities for economic development, it can also, in some cases, pose challenges for certain sectors, such as forestry and agriculture, where profitability might be affected. Recognizing and addressing such potential impacts is essential to ensure a balanced approach.
To ensure that the NbS is meeting its goals for economic development, it is also essential to have monitoring in place. Monitoring of economic development can include indicators to monitor property values, number of new businesses and jobs created, retail and commercial activity, gross value added to local economy, recreational monetary value, or overall economic, social and health wellbeing in proximity to NbS.
4.5 Food security
Food should be accessible to all, safe and locally appropriate, and reliable through time and across space (IUCN, 2017).
Addressing food security with NbS
There are many conventional solutions that can address food security, such as improving access to food and improving incentives for local food production. However, food security is best addressed by combining conventional solutions with NbS that make better use of existing ecosystems, such as wetland restoration, agroforestry, and other NbS commonly used in cultural landscapes. NbS should be multi-faceted and use a holistic view to adapt food production to environmental and climate change, as well as keep in mind local issues that lead to reduced food security.
There are many ways to address food security issues, for example:
- Protecting or restoring ecosystems that can deliver ecosystem services that help ensure food security in case of natural disasters, political instability, or because of climate change.
- Protecting wild genetic resources.
- Protecting food crops from pests and diseases.
- Managing wild species.
- Managing water used for irrigation of crops.
- Addressing land tenure issues that can lead to food insecurity.
- Reducing reliance on imported food staples.
Examples of NbS with a focus on food security
- Crop rotation and intercropping: Crop rotation is the change of crops between harvests. This can be from one year to another or, depending on climate and crop type, several times over a season. Intercropping refers to when two or more crops are grown at the same time on the same piece of land. This may reduce soil and nutrient run-off through reduced exposed soil and improve soil health.
- No tillage: No, or reduced, tillage refers to the practice of sowing or planting the new crop after harvest without first tilling the soil. This reduces soil run-off, greenhouse gas emissions and improves soil health.
- Perennial crops: Perennial crops are crops that are not tilled after harvest but planted and then harvested year after year without replanting the crop. Most used examples are fruit trees and berry bushes. Soil health, pollinator and bird habitat can be potential nature benefits of such practice. Perennial cereal crops have not yet been fully developed.
- Mulching: Mulching is a collection of NbS that focuses on covering the soil and adding nutrients and organic matter to it. This can be compost, chopped plant material, or even living mulch in form of intercropping plants that grow under the main crop. This may reduce watering requirements, improve soil health and enable better waste management and nutrient recycling.
4.6 Human health and wellbeing
The World Health Organization defines human health as “…a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (Schramme, 2023).
Addressing human health and wellbeing in nature-based solutions
Healthy ecosystems, climate and biodiversity have been recognized as important determinants of human health and wellbeing. For instance, natural environments provide noise and heat regulation, promote physical activity, lower stress and give faster psychological recovery, improve air and water quality, provide cultural ecosystem services such as social interactions, aesthetics, recreation, spiritual values, and a sense of place. Natural areas are also a source of medicines and other pharmaceutical products which directly contribute to improved human health.
Human health and well-being is underrepresented in the research on NbS. Research tends to be skewed towards urban environments, and few studies assess the full range of human well-being benefits. Implementation of NbS should thus be followed up with monitoring of a broad range of human health and well-being outcomes. Documenting the specific well-being benefits of NbS would likely increase public support for such initiatives and can fall within the remit of a “one health” approach to ecosystem services. The World Health Organisation (WHO) describes One Health as “an integrated, unifying approach that aims to sustainably balance and optimize the health of people, animals and ecosystems.”
Though there are often many indirect ways in which NbS can improve human health, there are a variety of considerations that should be made when planning NbS addressing human health and wellbeing specifically. The IUCN and the WHO have made ten recommendations for ensuring human health and wellbeing in NbS:
- Biodiversity, healthy ecosystems, and a stable climate are essential to achieving good health outcomes.
- Educate and empower health professionals to engage in NbS.
- Redesign food systems to be nature-positive, resilient and to sustain healthy communities.
- Use nature-based solutions to support access to safe water, sanitation, hygiene, and waste management.
- Integrate urban ecosystems with public health planning.
- Redesign energy and transport systems to integrate green-gray infrastructure to support health.
- Place equity at the centre of the design, governance, and implementation of nature-based solutions for health.
- Empower Indigenous Peoples and under-resourced communities to safeguard human health and well-being.
- Support/enable youth leadership and innovation in nature and health decision-making.
- Finance inclusive NbS that prioritize health outcomes.
4.7 Social justice and capacity building
Social justice is to have a fair and equitable distribution of resources, benefits and costs, and the power to make decisions in all parts of society (Abbott, 2014). Key elements are transparency and inclusive participation with particular attention to the needs of vulnerable and marginalised communities.
Capacity building is about developing skills, knowledge, and resources with and for different actors – communities, organisations, and institutions to effectively plan, design, implement, and maintain NbS (UN, n.d.). This includes strengthening local expertise, fostering partnerships and creating supportive governance structures.
In NbS, social justice means ensuring fair access to natural resources and their benefits for all people. This includes inclusion in conservation and restoration activities or other measures. It also addresses inequalities related to who is affected by environmental degradation, for example different levels of exposure to air pollution among different socio-economic settings (Strandell et al., 2024). The aim of capacity building is to ensure fair, inclusive, and empowering processes that provide diverse actors with the opportunities and tools needed to participate in and benefit from NbS while addressing existing inequalities and enhancing resilience (World Bank, 2023).
Addressing social justice and capacity building in nature-based solutions
NbS can support equitable access to clean water and disaster resilience, which, depending on the socio-economic context may disproportionately affect vulnerable communities. In flood-prone areas or areas in risk of droughts, marginalized populations often suffer the most, and nature-based interventions can mitigate these effects, ensuring more inclusive and fair access to natural resources.
Community engagement and empowerment: NbS can involve local communities in planning and implementation, fostering a sense of ownership and empowering them to manage their natural resources sustainably, but again, this will depend on the socio-economic context. However, a participatory approach generally reduces inequality by giving all stakeholders, including underrepresented groups, a voice in decision-making processes.
It is therefore important to pay attention to who will benefit from the NbS. It should be identified if vulnerable or marginalized groups may be affected by barriers to participating in or benefiting from the NbS project. Barriers to inclusion physical, financial, informational, attitudinal, institutional. The project should carefully consider how benefits from the NbS will be distributed and take actions to ensure that all, marginalized groups in particular, can access them equitably. This may involve targeted outreach, tailored program design, or setting specific inclusion targets.
NbS can involve local communities in planning and implementation, fostering a sense of ownership and empowering them to manage their natural resources sustainably, but this also depends on the socio-economic context. However, a participatory approach generally reduces inequality by giving all stakeholders, including underrepresented groups, a voice in decision-making processes.
Local engagement can ensure that the NbS is aligned with local priorities and complement existing programs or services. Cross-sector partnerships can contribute to this by leveraging diverse expertise and resources for implementation.
Capacity building measures can ensure participation and enhance empowerment. Such measures need to be tailored to the socio-economic context of the NbS initiative. Working with local experts and leaders is relevant when developing and delivering training, but local power relations should also be considered. Ongoing support can be provided by offering a range of resources and communication channels to support engagement and skill development beyond one-off training.
It is particularly relevant to equip practitioners with knowledge and skills to select, adapt, implement and evaluate NbS in their specific context. Improving awareness, providing resources, and creating mechanisms for local action and ownership and supporting bottom-up initiatives is key. The resource limitations of community organizations need to be considered when designing capacity-building efforts. It is important to be considerate of the existing power dynamics and work towards an equitable distribution of power in co-design processes.
4.8 Water management
Water management involves the processes of planning, developing, distributing, and managing the use of water resources. It involves a range of practices to control water availability, quality, and distribution to meet human and environmental needs, balancing competing demands such as domestic use, agriculture, industry, and ecosystem conservation.
NbS are increasingly recognized as integral to a sustainable water management, as multiple objectives such as flood and drought mitigation, water quality improvement, biodiversity conservation, and climate resilience can be addressed that will create a more resilient and balanced water cycle. Sound water management can therefore support and provide a wide range of ecosystem services including provisioning services (food, fuel, genetic material), regulating services (flood regulation, water purification, erosion regulation), supporting services (nutrient cycling) and cultural services (recreational, educational and aesthetic).
Addressing water management in nature-based solutions
Water management and NbS are closely linked, as NbS leverages natural processes to address water-related challenges in sustainable ways. By utilizing or restoring natural ecosystems, NbS offer alternative or complementary solutions to traditional, engineered approaches in water management. These methods enhance resilience, promote biodiversity, and provide cost-effective, adaptable solutions to water-related issues. For example, NbS like restoring wetlands and floodplains absorb and slow floodwaters, reducing the risk of floods in downstream areas and enhance the infiltration of water to the groundwater thereby increasing the recharging of aquifers. At the same time these areas can treat and retain pollutants from runoff before it reaches the rivers or groundwaters thereby enhancing water quality. To effectively address water management through NbS, it is essential to adopt large-scale, catchment-level planning, as many benefits will naturally manifest downstream of the NbS implementation area.
Predicting the efficacy of different NbS for water management can be challenging, as outcomes depend on the project area's initial characteristics and the scale of the challenges the NbS aims to address. Therefore, it is recommended to use modeling tools or similar approaches before implementation to assess whether the NbS can achieve sufficient impact and to set realistic goals. These could involve goals related to for example:
- capacity to store and retain precipitation water relative to the dynamics of the precipitation events (duration and magnitude)
- capacity to purify water which will depend on the quality and quantity of the water entering the area and local characteristics of the soil including the infiltration capacity
- nitrogen and phosphorus concentration or load
- metal concentration or load
Examples of NbS with a focus on water management
- Remeandering: A previously straightened or channelized stream is returned to a more natural, meandering (curving) planform.
- Raising riverbed level: The stream bed level of a previously cut down stream is elevated to reconnect the river with the surrounding area.
- Ditch and drain blocking and filling: Man-made drainage ditches and drains that were originally constructed to lower the water table for purposes like agriculture are obstructed or filled completely.
- Disconnect functioning drainpipes: Artificial drainage systems are disconnected to prevent the water from entering directly into the stream.
- Rewetting: Former wetlands that have been drained for human activities are rewetted applying different types of NbS that restore the natural hydrology of the area.
- Floodplain reconnection: Floodplain can be reconnected to its surrounding by applying different types of NbS that reconnect the hydrological connectivity between the river and the floodplain.
- (Re-)establishment of shallow lakes and ponds: Small, shallow bodies of water are created in areas where they have been lost, degraded, or were not previously present.