Resource description:
This review asks whether NbS that improve the "sponge functioning" of catchments, their capacity to retain water, delay peak flows and boost groundwater infiltration, are being adequately evaluated for their combined benefits across three goals at once: flood risk reduction, drought risk reduction and biodiversity gain. Focusing on rural landscapes at catchment scale, it reviews nine online NbS case-study databases (4,289 cases in total) alongside wider literature, and finds that quantitative evaluation is fragmented and rarely standard practice, most projects assess only a single goal, and very few document evidence for all three together. It distinguishes four categories of NbS (conservation, restoration, enhancement of ecological functioning, and ecosystem-based adaptation) and sets out four steps to strengthen how NbS are planned, designed, implemented and monitored: better understanding of hydrological processes across the full range from wet to dry extremes, working at landscape scale, improving integrated modelling and upscaling, and using a consistent, stakeholder-relevant set of indicators. It is useful for water managers, planners and policymakers weighing NbS against grey infrastructure and seeking a stronger evidence base for integrated flood, drought and biodiversity outcomes.
Author/Contact:
Ellis Penning, Reinaldo Peñailillo Burgos, Marjolein Mens, Ruben Dahm, and Karin de Bruijn
