Nature-based Solutions: New knowledge hub for policy-makers and practitioners

The Agile Sprint on How to Scale up Nature-based Solutions has worked with stakeholders to produce tools, guides and policy briefs to support delivery of high quality nature-based solutions in policy and practice.

Visit the site here: the Nature-based Solutions Knowledge Hub

Our Knowledge Hub will help practitioners and policymakers to plan, design, implement and monitor NbS with multiple long-term benefits, by taking an integrated approach that blends ecological, social and economic considerations. The Hub brings together tools and guidance to help with participatory governance and engagement, funding, designing, mapping and monitoring NbS in the UK, as well as showcasing inspiring case studies. Practitioners, landowners and managers, community groups, and policy-makers, will benefit from the following:

• Recipe for Engagement: a guide to support best practice engagement for governing NbS, while ensuring decision-making is collaborative, participatory, and democratic.
• Funding Programmes Tool: a searchable datable of major funding options available to support NbS in the UK.
• Mapping Opportunities: generate local maps which show the potential of NbS and nature recovery opportunities in your area.
• Biodiversity & Soil Health Metrics Tool: a tool to help with designing a biodiversity and soil health monitoring strategy which will ensure genuine benefits and monitor impact.
• Guidance Tool: a searchable list of useful guidance for implementing NbS.
• Case Studies: an interactive platform showcasing both rural and urban examples delivering NbS in the UK. This page is looking for submissions of missing NbS case studies. Click on the Case Studies link to find out more.
• Policy Briefs: reports produced by the research team highlighting specific opportunities to embed NbS into policy.

The Knowledge Hub is already being used by stakeholders, including the Wildlife Trusts:

“It’s critical that everyone is able to distinguish between high quality projects that do what they should – benefit people, climate and nature – as opposed to poor quality initiatives that are little more than greenwash. The Nature-based Solutions [Knowledge] Hub provides practitioners and policy makers with the tools they need to understand the benefits of NbS, and guide them on how to govern, fund and evaluate NbS. It also give examples of great programmes and projects across the UK that can be used to inspire even more initiatives”.

Kathryn Brown (Director of Climate Change and Evidence at the Wildlife Trusts)

Read more about the research behind the NbS Knowledge Hub by visiting the Sprint page How do we scale up Nature-based Solutions and partner institutions the Nature-based Solutions Initiative and the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery.