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A growing recognition of the value of ecosystem services and the wider socio-economic and socio-cultural benefits provided by natural systems has spurred a shift in urban policy and planning discourse, aiming to integrate these considerations into decision-making processes. At the European level, the term ‘nature-based solution’ (NbS) has been coined to refer to the variety of ways in which nature and natural systems can be used to address sustainability challenges. This report examines whether and how EU and Member State (MS) policy frameworks address NbS and related concepts, and how these are taken up in current policy frameworks on the European Union and MS levels.
The report, which has been carried out with the H2020-funded NATURVATION project, utilised desk research and expert interviews to identify relevant EU and MS policy instruments across a range of sectors and gather impressions about the national policy discourse and upcoming developments. In the context of this report, ‘policy instruments’ refers to different directives, strategies, programmes and financing instruments at EU and MS level. A targeted analysis then explored how NbS are addressed in each instrument. The EU review included 23 strategies, directives and dedicated funding instruments, while the MS review included a range of German, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Hungarian and English instruments.
The analysis revealed that while multiple MS and EU policy instruments explicitly acknowledge NbS-related concepts, they rarely contain quantitative and measurable targets relating to NbS deployment and quality. Furthermore, relevant policies often require no or only voluntary action in this regard. The reviewed policy frameworks also largely neglect urban areas when considering NbS and - when included - focus heavily on maintaining and restoring existing green and blue areas as opposed to deploying NbS to create new green and blue spaces.
Several processes are in place at the EU and MS levels which hold promise regarding increased future support for NbS deployment across Europe. However, room remains for increased crosssectoral integration of NbS-related concepts and increased provisioning of funds as a means to generate concrete implementation action, increase the knowledge and evidence base, and foster wider support and awareness of NbS as a multifunctional approach to addressing multiple societal challenges.
Taking these findings into account, it can be concluded that that the degree of ambition as well as the extent and type of support vary greatly across MS and between the MS and EU levels. While the current policy mix provides a starting point for supporting/promoting NbS, there is significant potential on both an EU and MS level to strengthen the level of ambition and degree of support across sectoral policy instruments in order to create new and optimise existing (urban) NbS interventions.