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This report explores the scope and application of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) in addressing water and river basin management issues. NbS are actions to protect, sustainably manage, and restore natural or modified ecosystems to simultaneously providing human well-being and biodiversity benefits. NbS is an umbrella term that encompasses several nature-based approaches like Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA), Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) and Ecosystem based Disaster Risk Reduction (Eco-DRR). This report presents seven case studies based on initiatives led by Civil Society Organisations (CSO) and IUCN partners in the GBM river basin, in Bangladesh, India and Nepal. These case studies are analysed to highlight NbS strategies that could be harnessed by natural resource managers and CSOs to address community challenges linked to food security, poverty and water related disasters (floods and riverbank erosion). In terms of addressing societal challenges, more than 50% of the interventions discussed in this report (Case Studies 1 to 4) simultaneously targeted water and food security issues as their primary motivation for the application of Nature-based Solutions. These strategies included: improving the availability of water for irrigation and household use through restoration of wetlands and watersheds and the introduction of efficient irrigation management strategies. The interventions discussed in Case Studies 5, 6 and 7 focused on the application of NbS in disaster risk reduction, and demonstrated the effectiveness of ecological engineering approaches in controlling landslides and river bank erosion.
