
Mongabay series: Nature-based Solutions
Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are actions to protect, sustainably manage, and restore natural and modified ecosystems that address societal challenges effectively and adaptively, simultaneously providing “human well-being and biodiversity benefits,” according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. In an essay, University of Oxford’s Nature-based Solutions Initiative Director Nathalie Seddon underscored that to “qualify as an NbS, an action must sustainably provide one or more benefits for people while causing no loss of biodiversity or ecological integrity compared to the pre-intervention state.” To be sustainable and equitable, NbS must also be designed, implemented, managed and monitored by or in partnership with indigenous peoples and local communities through a process that fully respects and champions local rights and knowledge, and generates local benefits, the essay adds. NbS is an ‘umbrella concept’ for other established ‘nature-based’ approaches such as ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) and ecosystem based mitigation, eco-disaster risk reduction and green infrastructure. More recently, the term ‘natural climate solutions (NCS)’ entered the lexicon. NCS also falls under the umbrella of NbS, but refers explicitly to conservation and management actions that reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from ecosystems and harness their potential to store carbon. This series attempts to highlight the Nature-based Solutions from around India while ensuring credibility, impacts as well as pitfalls and limitations of such solutions.


The role of urban foraging in building climate-resilient food systems

Biodiversity, human rights safeguards are crucial to nature-based solutions, say critics

Passive restoration of Kashmir’s forests has improved soil structure and carbon sink

[Commentary] Forestry, people and India’s renewed NDC commitments

India is pitching for a 30 by 30 vision at the Montreal biodiversity COP

Large grass-munching herbivores can stabilise soil carbon

[Commentary] Documenting the flora and fauna of Phalee to mitigate the impact of forest fires

Coconut-based integrated farming could help sequester carbon, improve farm productivity: study

The planet has lost 83% of its freshwater aquatic life in 50 years, finds report

[Commentary] Mobilising resources for biodiversity conservation in the far eastern Himalayas

The potential of Kashmir’s springs for climate resilience

The reality of saving young mangroves in the Sundarbans

[Interview] Just representation in climate policies empowers women, says Saudamini Das

Climate resilient millets boost livelihood opportunities for Odisha’s tribal women

Exploring biochar as a nature-based solution to reduce greenhouse gas emissions

Wrong trees in wrong places wastes tree plantation budget, finds study

Himalayan medicinal plants under threat due to climate change

[Commentary] A city on marsh: Why Indian coastal cities need to design and build with nature

[Photos] Lessons from a 74-year-old farmer who switched to organic sugarcane farming
Special series
Wetland Champions
- [Commentary] India establishes the largest network of Ramsar Sites in South Asia
- [Commentary] Wetland champions: Promise from the grassroots
- The story of Jakkur lake sets an example for inclusive rejuvenation projects
- Welcome to Tsomgo lake: Please don’t litter

Environment And Health
- Brahmapuram fumes over waste
- Transgender activists highlight the impacts of climate change and environmental issues on the community
- Stubble burning is back, smothering north India with concerns for the upcoming winter
- Humans are contaminating Earth’s waterways with medicines, pharmaceutical ingredients

Almost Famous Species
- India garners international support to save two endangered freshwater turtles
- What protecting the slender loris could mean for forest communities in Tamil Nadu
- [Video] Hangul, the shy Kashmiri deer, is facing the threat of extinction as its habitat shrinks
- Identifying individual mugger crocodiles using drone technology to minimise conflicts

India's Iconic Landscapes
- Ain’t no mountain high enough: alien invasive plants increasing in higher elevations
- Unplanned, faulty buildings tremble under weather events in the fragile Himalayan regions
- Nourishing soils of Kashmir’s karewas crumble under infrastructure
- Shielding hijol, a floodplain tree, from climate impacts

Beyond Protected Areas
- Habitat preservation in the Western Ghats can help enhance biodiversity in the hotspot
- Climate change and catfight in the Himalayas: tigers, leopards venture into snow leopard land
- Mapping connectivity and human-elephant conflict in Karnataka
- Despite efforts and funds, human-wildlife conflict in Uttarakhand is not contained

Conserving Agro-biodiversity
- Thirunelly’s seed festival celebrates traditional climate-resilient seeds and farm produce
- [Explainer] Why is 2023 the International Year of Millets? What do we achieve by celebrating such years?
- Nations adopt Global Biodiversity Framework amid concerns over watered-down targets
- [Commentary] A renewed CGIAR can better support South Asia to determine its food future

Just Transitions
- Incentives to boost demand, increase in e-buses in Tamil Nadu’s latest EV policy
- Electricity transition in India’s renewable-rich states needs to accelerate, says study
- [Interview] Ajay Kumar Rastogi on leading India’s first just transition task force
- Helping wildlife navigate road and railway infrastructure
