06 Dec 2021
15:00

Venue: Online | Webex

Organization: International Union for Conservation of Nature, Geneva Environment Network

The Geneva Nature-based Solutions dialogues aim to facilitate further engagement and discussion among the stakeholders in International Geneva and beyond, in the lead-up to a critical year for nature and society. The dialogues are convened by the Geneva Environment Network and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

About the Dialogues

We are facing a triple planetary crisis – climate change, nature loss and pollution. In this context, Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are a powerful ally to address a societal and environmental challenges. As per IUCN definition, NbS are actions to protect, sustainably manage and restore natural or modified ecosystems that address societal challenges effectively and adaptively, simultaneously providing human well-being and biodiversity benefits.

NbS are a powerful tool to facilitate and catalyse the engagement of cross-sectoral stakeholders to join forces towards the implementation of an ambitious Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) and move towards achieving the CBD 2050 Vision of ‘Living in harmony with nature’.  NbS also offer a pathway for synergies among several multilateral environmental agreements, including for biological diversity (CBD), climate change (UNFCCC), disaster risk reduction (Sendai Framework), desertification (UNCCD) and the wider Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – and for mainstreaming nature conservation into sectoral decision-making processes.

In the lead-up to a critical year for nature and society, NbS offer an opportunity to address a wide range of urgent societal challenges. The year 2021 and the major upcoming negotiations should indeed mark a turning point towards a resilient world for future generations.

Join the Geneva Environment Network and the International Union for Conservation of Nature in a one-year journey, where experts from all over the world and different sectors will discuss throughout the year  how NbS are relevant to various debates ongoing in Geneva.

Previous Sessions

About this Session

The Nature-based Solutions and People Dialogue is the culmination of a year-long journey convened to explore diverse aspects of NbS and their relevance to the world’s most pressing social and environmental challenges.

Nature is fundamental to the well-being of all people. Healthy ecosystems underpin diverse livelihoods and economies, cultures, and the enjoyment of a wide range of human rights, including the right to life. And it is people, through their diverse cultures, forms of knowledge, and agency – recognizing the specific roles and contributions of Indigenous peoples and local communities, women and men and youth – who protect, sustainably manage and restore the ecosystems on which we all depend.

2021 has been a momentous year for enhanced recognition of the interdependency of people, human rights, and nature. In October, the UN Human Rights Council adopted a landmark resolution formally recognizing that a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment is itself a human right (HRC 48/13). The IUCN World Conservation Congress Marseille Manifesto commits to respecting and harnessing the perspectives and agency of all citizens, highlighting the rights and roles of youth, indigenous peoples and local communities and women. Financial pledges for biodiversity and climate action in 2021 have included specific commitments for Indigenous peoples and local communities, in recognition of their critical roles as stewards of nature.

This dialogue session provided an opportunity to discuss and advance rights-based and gender-responsive approaches to Nature-based Solutions for people and the environment. Panelists will share their views and recommendations on how to ensure that Nature-based Solutions engage and support the diverse contributions of all people, with particular attention to the rights and roles of women and men, youth and Indigenous peoples and local communities. Convened just before Human Rights Day – and during the 16 Days global campaign to end gender-based violence – the dialogue will advance understanding of how Nature-based Solutions also can contribute to reducing gender gaps and barriers and to the realization of gender equality and human rights.

As the last dialogue in the 2021 series, the session concludes with reflections on key outcomes drawn from across the Geneva Nature-based Solutions dialogues.

Speakers

By alphabetical order.

Razan AL MUBARAK

IUCN President | Managing Director of the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi | Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund

Ramiro BATZÍN

Director Sotz'il | IUCN Global Counselor for Indigenous Peoples

H.E. Amb. Catalina DEVANDAS

Permanent Mission of the Republic of Costa Rica to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva

Mirna FERNANDEZ

Member of the Steering Committee of the Global Youth Biodiversity Network (GYBN) | Co-founder of the GYBN Bolivian chapter Kaaijayu (GYBN-Bolivia)

Mrinalini RAI

Director of Women4Biodiversity | CBD Women's Caucus

Kristen WALKER PAINEMILLA

Chair IUCN Commission on Environment, Economic and Social Policy (CEESP)

Jenny SPRINGER (moderator)

Director, Global Governance and Rights Programme, IUCN

Summary

Illustration by Daisy Hessenberger / IUCN

Opening Remarks

Welcome Message | Razan Al Mubarak, IUCN President

  • This dialogue is the culmination of a year-long journey and an occasion to celebrate the International Human Rights Day. It’s an opportunity to demonstrate that the moral separation of ourselves from nature, instead of being part of nature, can only lead to the mismanagement of our natural resources. We witness today how unjust environmental conditions imposed on the poorest and the most vulnerable are not only unsustainable but are unethical and unhealthy.
  • The adoption of HRC 48/13 recognizing that a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is a fundamental human right, is a key step forward to bring about major change. As the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights stated, bold action is now required to ensure this resolution serves as a springboard to push for policies that will protect people and nature.
  • The current pandemic has led to significant setbacks for social and economic development. As we start recovery actions, we need to learn from our previous mistakes and prioritize responses that do no harm to both society and nature. By leveraging NbS as a crisis response, we can also go beyond “do no harm” to deriving benefits to people and nature, accelerating towards more sustainable approaches for long-term development and economic growth.
  • Ambition and progress cannot be achieved without collaboration and partnerships across sectors. This is why today we’re calling for action, to break down siloes and create synergies for the common good of people and nature. The IUCN Global Standard on NbS aims to ensure that actions taken can simultaneously conserve ecosystems and address societal challenges. It offers a rigorous, consistent, and accountable framework that will help avoid the misuse of the concept and take this from local to the global scale. The Global Standard is a tool that supports the use of common language as the vehicle for creating cross-sectoral and trustful dialogue to achieve the ambition and progress for our society and generations to come. It requires robust social safeguards must be applied to recognize, respect, and protect human rights and support livelihoods. It emphasizes that Indigenous Peoples and local communities, women, and girls, and those whose rights must be upheld and advanced as part of the actions to conserve nature.

For we cannot achieve environmental justice if we do not strive for economic and social justice, underpinned by the universal goal of attaining human rights and dignity for all, a key outcome of the Marseille Manifesto.

  • The time to act is now. NbS and the ability to contribute to them must be equally accessible. We need all hands on deck to overcome today’s challenges for the well-being of nature and people.

Setting the Stage | Jenny Springer, IUCN

  • Nature is fundamental to the well-being of all people, and underpins the realization of many human rights including the right to life. Recognition of this lens was significantly bolstered by the recognition of the Human Rights Council (resolution 43/18) of the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.
  • It is people through their diverse forms of knowledge and agency, who steward and conserve nature. Securing human rights, with a particular attention to those who face challenges to their rights and contributions, only strengthens nature conservation and sustainable use. Examples of which are inclusive participation, which leads to more informed and robust decisions, and securing rights of Indigenous Peoples to their land and resources.
  • IUCN defines NbS as “actions to protect, sustainably manage and restore natural or modified ecosystems that address societal challenges effectively and adaptively, simultaneously providing human well-being and biodiversity benefits.” NbS focus on and open opportunities to benefit nature and people. From the close connection among nature, people, and human rights, NbS must take a rights-based approach.

Taking a rights-based approach means that NbS should be grounded in human rights standards and aim to promote and protect human rights. It should give particular attention to those facing inequalities and great barriers to their contributions. It should be gender-responsive and inclusive. It should also recognize Indigenous peoples and local communities as key actors with leadership roles in NbS.

  • The IUCN NbS Global Standard was developed to provide guidance on key elements of equitable and effective NbS. It includes Criterion 5 that sets the standard of having inclusive, transparent, and empowering governance processes. Key indicators include: NbS interventions must have feedback and grievance mechanisms. It must involve participation based on mutual respect and equality, and uphold Indigenous Peoples’ rights to Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC). Stakeholders who are affected by NbS should be identified and involved in all processes of the intervention. Decision-making processes document and respond to the rights and interests of all participating and affected stakeholders.
  • These elements provide a foundation to push for rights-based and gender-responsive approach to NbS. We need to recognize that Indigenous peoples are pioneers of NbS and have been doing so for centuries, as it is linked to their intrinsic relationship with nature. The wealth of their intricate knowledge on their diverse ecosystems are a major contribution to NbS. As such, securing rights to collective lands and resources are a vital foundation for the contributions of Indigenous knowledge and governance to NbS.
  • From a rights-based approach on NbS, these should recognize and promote indigenous systems’ use, management and conservation of natural and cultural resources. NbS rely on diverse cultures and knowledge systems, and therefore must ethically engage with and uphold the rights of Indigenous Peoples and their knowledge holders. NbS should integrate actions for appropriate recognition for indigenous rights to lands, territories and resources, and channel direct support to locally-led actions by communities.
  • Regarding NbS and gender equality, we must recognize that all NbS have gender dynamics that shape natural resource management, the access, control and use over resources, and the diversity of knowledge. We also see that diverse women are leading NbS around the world. Therefore, NbS can and must contribute toward gender equality outcomes as part of a rights-based approach.
  • Key aspects of ensuring a gender-responsive approach to NbS include: inclusion of gender consideration throughout NbS projects, overcoming barriers to visibility and voice, gender analysis to inform planning and identify, mitigate risk factors, inclusion of specific actions to address differentiated needs, support for inclusive and participatory natural resource governance, and compliance and coherence with global human rights and gender equality policies and standards.
  • To advance a rights-based and gender-responsive approach to NbS, we need to learn from one another, to work together. The panel today allows us to listen to experts and learn from diverse range of experiences on how to ensure engage and support contributions of all.

Panel Discussion on Nature-based Solutions and People

Protecting Nature and Indigenous Rights through Participation | Ramiro Batzín, Sotz’il & IUCN

  • I want to start by expressing that in our Mayan calendar today marks the energy E, the day of the doad, of the white roads of our peoples, today is the day to undertake future actions and this event is one of them.
  • For indigenous peoples, to speak of NbS is to speak of the reciprocal relationship we have with Mother Nature, Mother Earth, and the balance that must exist between Mother Nature, the human being and the universe. For indigenous peoples these are interrelated and therefore Nature-Based Solutions must have Nature at the heart of their design and implementation.
  • NbS must start by recognizing, respecting and promoting the contributions, knowledge and rights that indigenous peoples have for their lands, territories and resources, as well as their traditional systems of use, management and conservation of natural and cultural resources, which are interrelated in the Ütz K’aslemal or indigenous model of life. In my case, the Kaqchikel Mayan life model. NbS must be added to strengthening indigenous forms of organization, its norms and statutes, our economic, social and cultural systems.
  • Today our mother earth faces the impacts of climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic, which can only be addressed if we apply solutions based on nature, but from an approach based on human rights, indigenous rights, and gender, particularly the participation of women and youth, where self-determination, free prior and informed consent is promoted.
  • At IUCN, the Standard for Nature-Based Solutions tells us about economic generation. It will be necessary to ensure that it is aimed at overcoming the poverty and extreme poverty suffered by millions of people in the world, including indigenous peoples. It talks about sustainable development. Similarly, we will have to ensure that it focuses on the common good and that it changes the model based on capital accumulation. It is time to look at the monetary and non-monetary in a balanced way.

Nature-based solutions must be promoted solely and exclusively to develop a sustainable process of use, management and conservation of nature, since like any instrument, there is a risk that it can be used as a weapon to exploit our resources excessively and violate our rights.

  • The IUCN Nature-Based Solutions Standard must be implemented in an inclusive manner, where indigenous peoples, and especially we IUCN indigenous peoples member organizations, are part of the governance, decision-making and implementation structure.
  • We, the Indigenous Peoples’ Organization members of IUCN, join in monitoring and promoting the fulfillment of the Standard in its proper dimension and in line with the national and international legal framework. We also join in improving and strengthening the process already initiated by IUCN, to ensure that indigenous peoples are recognized and respected as equal and key partners in decision-making related to nature-based solutions and their implementation in a fair, equitable and inclusive manner.
  • I close by saying that for indigenous peoples the Standard of nature-based solutions has to support and know how to live with those birds that sing to us, with the ants that give us the early warning signs, with those trees that give us air, with those oceans full of life. Because those also provide us with solutions for our existence as indigenous peoples and humanity. Matyox.

Empowering People with Disabilities through Nature | Catalina Devandas Aguilar, Permanent Mission of the Republic of Costa Rica in Geneva

  • Thank you for bringing the importance of incorporating human rights-based approach to NbS, and for giving the opportunity to speak about the impact on persons with disabilities, where very often are left behind the equation. How do we make sure that the intersections and interdependencies among human rights, the environment, and NbS are inclusive of persons with disabilities. How can we ensure that every single person, including those with disabilities can exercise and benefit these rights, particularly in the context of HRC 43/18?
  • Despite the enormous impact of biodiversity loss and climate change has on persons with disabilities, it is very rare that they are included in the decision-making. We have many efforts that are normally inaccessible, non-inclusive of their views and needs, or not considering their support measures they need. As such, we are jeopardizing better results for everyone.

All the voices and perspectives need to be on board to create innovation, better outcomes, better governance, and to ensure we are advancing sustainably.

  • As persons with disabilities are more exposed to power cuts, heatwaves, floods, to the harsh impacts of a degrading environment, how do we ensure persons with disabilities thrive in NbS? There are four points:
    • Universal accessibility. We are not going to make sustainable and transformative change unless NbS are accessible to persons with disabilities, not only regarding physical access but access to information and communication. There must be an effort to help the disabled to participate in community projects.
    • Non-discrimination. We cannot move forward if we continue to discriminate persons with disabilities. Stopping discrimination means eliminating barriers, including attitudinal barriers, direct acts of discrimination against persons with disabilities from participating.
    • Broadened participation. From a rights-based approach, we need people to sit together at the same decision-making table. As such, we need to accommodate, especially those that are left behind traditionally, such as persons with disabilities. This means putting place strategies of outreach and allowing for conditions of engagement in a safe and meaningful manner.
    • Networks of support. In discussing NbS, we need to make sure that we enable persons with disabilities to be part of these sustainable solutions. To do so, we need to account that persons with disabilities may need specific forms of support especially within a new environment. This is supposed to be part of the network we are building together. Without this, we won’t be able to succeed.
  • The diverse views and perspectives of persons with disabilities will enrich the discussion, so I thank you for giving us this space. Hopefully this is just one step towards the right direction.

Women & Nature : Fostering Gender Justice | Mrinalini Rai, Women4Biodiversity & CBD Women’s Causus

  • Women matter, and this has been portrayed by those who have taken the floor before me: everybody has a role to play and their contributions must be recognized.

“Gender-based inequalities are pervasive across the world, acting as barriers to equitable and sustainable access, use, control and benefits related to land and natural resources. Women, for example, represent the majority of the world’s poor (Oxfam, 2017), landless (FAO, 2011), illiterate (UN, 2015) and informal as well as unpaid workforces (UN Women, 2016). Even while bearing numerous and key responsibilities for managing natural resources (Jensen & Halle, 2013), women are under-represented in decision-making (UN Women, 2019), especially environmental decision-making (IUCN, 2015), with further inequitable legal rights and significantly restricted access to resources (OECD, 2019).” – Gender-based violence and environment linkages: The violence of inequality (IUCN, 2020)

  • We are talking about a human-rights based approach in biodiversity governance and climate spaces, but we need to step this up. The tools are there, but we are lacking in implementation. How can really ensure that there are policies and actions in place that address the systemic barriers women face in achieving their full potential and becoming the agents of change that we know they are, that we know we are?
  • Women, like Indigenous peoples and local communities, have an important role to play in NbS, particularly in the contributions to their livelihoods, their culture, and their wellbeing. As actions undertaken under the banner of NbS are potentially broad, there needs to be greater clarity on what can – and crucially what cannot – be counted as a NbS. When we speak of Indigenous Peoples, we also need to recognize the knowledge and culture of women, to recognize that women have also contributed to maintaining their relationship with nature. What is required, therefore, is to clarify what principles or safeguards should attach to them. This is related as well to the Global Standard, as it is fully gender-responsive, has accountability measures, and has rights of women and girls safeguarded in the standards across various processes in decision-making.
  • Reducing inequality and addressing gender-based violence are very crucial. As we are in the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, this is the time to discuss and address women’s rights and gender-based violence, particularly within the environmental spaces we work in.
  • For NbS, (carbon) offsetting should be off the table. When we discuss NbS, we look at what nature gives and provides, but nature has linkages as well with Indigenous People’s identities. Therefore, we shouldn’t just look at the economic benefits of nature, but the whole eco-culture (livelihood, food, traditions, culture, etc.).

As such, we also need to harness nature and culture linkages: both scientific and traditional knowledge should be recognized equally. We also need to make sure that there are funding commitments, especially supporting communities and women-led programs. It is the hope that the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment will be considered in future discussions on biodiversity and the climate.

Reimagining Conservation : Inclusive Finance | Kristen Walker, IUCN CEESP

  • What we’ve heard today is the importance of inclusion and the systems with which we work, and how we can reimagine the way we do things. One specific way is in how we operationalize these: we need to understand where resources come from. In Glasgow, we talked about the importance of NbS and the role of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLC) in this context. We also heard a lot of government and philanthropic commitments related to these, such as USD 1.7 billion commitment for IPLC and the USD 5 billion for the Protecting Our Planet Challenge.
  • The big question now is, “How do these resources get to the communities and allow greater access for women?” The important conversation we need to have while looking at NbS and people is how we transform the systems by which we are working. There are many challenges and barriers in accessing these resources. Some of the conversations that we need to have on access aren’t the most exciting: how do you change systems and categorizations when it comes to risk when governments give money to communities? How do we begin dialogues wherein communities are able to do the work they prioritize? The work includes listening more effectively from all these issues. We need to dialogue and discuss from various perspectives, coming together to imagine collectively towards the future we want.

We need to make sure that human rights are enabled, as well as the enabling environments. We need to work hand-in-hand with peoples, communities, organizations, and funders to make sure these resources get to the ground. We cannot have another study that says that less than 1% of climate funding over 10 years goes to IPLC.

  • I challenge everyone in this dialogue to think about how we can imagine conservation and climate change. How can we move collectively? Who are we missing in the table?

Global Youth Position Statement on NbS: The Rights of Future Generations | Mirna Fernandez, GYBN

  • I want to present the Global Youth Position Statement position on NbS, which is a collaboration of the Global Youth Biodiversity Network (GBYN), the youth constituency of the CBD, Youth4Nature, and YOUNGO, the youth constituency of UNFCCC.
  • NbS is gaining momentum, and has been a key pillar of major events: UNSG Climate Action Summit (2019) and GCA Climate Adaptation Summit (2021) and UNFCCC COP26. It has also been featured in the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework discussions and important documents such as the Kunming Declaration.
  • There were also differing discussions in the climate and the biodiversity communities: there are communities that see NbS as opportunities to address the interlinked crises, while others see them as threats. There were also critical concerns that haven’t been addressed.
  • Noticeably missing as well is a united youth voice across the climate and biodiversity communities, while discussions were ongoing.
  • We had a process in creating the statement. We first published an information brief for our communities showing different perspectives on NbS. We also developed a survey we shared with our community with over 1,000 responses, on which we based our statement. The results of which are available here.
  • Some of the key points are the following:

As final message, young people will not tolerate polluters and decision-makers who co-opt and misuse “NbS” to evade their responsibilities. We commit to calling out co-optation and false solutions, as well as the correct implementation of NbS on the ground, alongside the stakeholders, Indigenous Peoples, local communities, women, children.

Q&A

What are the enabling conditions that must be in place to ensure that the rights of Indigenous peoples are safeguarded in the implementation of NbS? | Ramiro Batzín, Sotz’il & IUCN

  • It’s important to recognize that 80% of biodiversity is found in Indigenous territories that occupy 22% of the Earth’s surface. Their role is of particular importance both for the sustainable management of resources and the conservation of the environment and biodiversity. It is urgent to recognize and highlight that Indigenous women play a key role within their peoples in intergenerational transmission of their spiritual traditions, their history, philosophy, and in the defense of land, territory, and natural resources.
  • The territorial right, self-determination, free, prior, and informed consent, and traditional knowledge must be respected.
  • It must be an inclusive process that puts Indigenous Peoples at the center, that it has a specific safeguards on Indigenous rights especially the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, that Indigenous Peoples are in the governance structures and not just in dialogues. That decision makers recognize indigenous knowledge and their contributions and their way of life that they already have and that is a part of NbS.
  • NbS must recognize, respect, and promote the contributions, systems and rights of Indigenous peoples. We must live in harmony with Mother Nature and the Universe. Only in this way we will leave a legacy to our future generations, like the one we received from our grandparents. Thank you.

Conclusion and Key Takeaway Messages

Mrinalini Rai | Women4Biodiversity & CBD Women’s Causus

  • If NbS is to go forward in the context of the CBD’s post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, I do hope that there would be much stronger safeguards and the reference to the contributions of women in the IUCN Standard itself, then reflecting it in a human rights-based approach within the whole structure to make it more enabling, inclusive, and transformative.

Kristen Walker | IUCN CEESP

  • It’s important to ensure that Indigenous leadership is at all scales in looking at NbS, that we’re hearing their voice in the updates, the design, in the transformation of the standards overtime. To ensure that it has an inclusive process, the principles and structures should also be accompanied by funding to support Indigenous Peoples and local communities, women and youth, so that they can execute the solutions and highlight the role they have in these.

Mirna Fernandez | GYBN

  • Our generation has seen unfortunately the promises of the Kyoto Protocol, the MDG and their targets failing. So that is why now, NbS will be featured in policy, especially this year in UNFCCC, where we asked for strong environmental safeguards that would put ecosystems integrity, human rights, among others.

Jenny Springer | IUCN

  • From the outset, we really need to be learning from one another, and finding ways to join hands and work together on collective efforts. This dialogue has been a good start in building that collaboration that we need to enhance going forward.

A Year-Long Journey on NbS: Looking back on the Geneva Nature-based Solutions Dialogues

Outcomes in Numbers

  • We thank the almost 1,000 attendees representing all regions in the world who participated in the Geneva NbS Dialogues from April to December 2021.
  • We held 11 dialogues on a variety of topics and issues related to Nature-based Solutions.
  • We have gathered a total of 83 speakers and moderators across the entire journey.

NbS in the Spotlight

  • The idea was to speak about NbS in a more technical way. NbS is everywhere, but what do we mean by them? By working on these, we are bringing all these sectors and people together to achieve national and national goals. As such, we aimed to highlight Nature-based Solutions ahead of various major negotiations, conferences, international decades, and world day celebrations:

 

Closing Remarks

Nature-based Solutions is a solution to the challenge of meeting our needs, including safeguarding human health, without further jeopardizing biodiversity and the health of the planet.

Humanity’s destruction of nature is driving numerous risks to our well-being and health. Over 7 million die annually from polluted air, and another half a million from contaminated water.

Over this series of dialogues, it has been highlighted several times that we need to advocate transdisciplinary research to help address complex societal challenges and to integrate knowledge from different scientific and non-scientific stakeholders and communities. This is critical to simultaneously reduce the loss of and degradation of biodiversity and to enhance human well-being. It is also important to balance the necessity of what we do now and 2030 to live in harmony with nature by 2050. The next decade is our last chance to transform our relationship with nature.

We have already been facing the consequences of our broken relationship with nature for more than one year now due to COVID-19. The economic consequences have been severe and are foreseen to last over the next several years. Ensuring that the economic recovery is sustainable, green, and replicable as much as possible has been recognized globally.

Moving towards more NbS need to also be about ensuring sustainable, human-centered, and inclusive decent jobs. Conserving biodiversity will not only create jobs, but it will be less costly than non-action.

Many economic activities are directly dependent on nature and the consistent services they provide. For example, agriculture fundamentally depends on nature for soil fertility, pollination, and other factors.

To ensure nature health and to address challenges in a holistic and collaborative way, it is critical to bring together actors from the conservation sector and beyond to see where we can make a move, moving to a just and more equitable future for all, especially for the future generations. It is important to encourage local partnerships and solidarity towards the achievement of our goals. But most important is to rely on scientific and non-scientific knowledge: indigenous, local, traditional knowledge, systems, and practices.

To the end, the growing momentum for Nature-based Solutions is a critical opportunity for reframing the wrong understanding of the relationship between people and nature, and emphasizing how people are part of nature. By improving our relationship with nature, we could jointly walk towards a common goal, a just equal future that responds to the challenge of climate emergency and biodiversity loss. Nature-based Solutions offer an inclusive and holistic framing — based on solid environmental and social safeguards — to uphold human rights, and enable to a transition to a common goal.

– Veronica Ruiz, Programme Manager, Ecosystem-based Disaster Risk Reduction (EcoDRR), IUCN

Video

In addition to the live WebEx and Facebook transmissions, the video will be available on this webpage.

Documents

Links

The update on Nature-based Solutions provides relevant information and the most recent resources, news and articles from the various organizations in international Geneva and other institutions around the world.