NetworkNature will highlight a timely topic in the nature-based solutions field with its semester themes, identified in consultation with the nature-based solutions community. Each semester NetworkNature will focus on a specific theme, gathering and disseminating information from a wide range of stakeholders to raise awareness and increase knowledge and collaboration in relation to the chosen topic. Further NetworkNature will attend relevant events locally and internationally to raise awareness about the topic and promote work and research conducted.
The fourth NetworkNature semester theme was 'Nature-based Solutions and Education’. The focus of this semester was to use creative ways of engaging artists in presenting NbS for a wider audience via comics. The expert in this semester together with an NbS jury selected seven NbS Comics to feature on NetworkNature. These comics illustrate diverse NbS topics and address a range of themes such as resilience, climate adaptation, and disaster risk reduction. Additionally, many new publications on the NbS Education Landscape have been added to the NetworkNature Resource Repository, for example the GYBN Policy Brief on Transformative education.
Stay tuned for one more exciting semester theme output: a NetworkNature policy Brief on NbS and Education written in collaboration with the Horizon Europe NbS EduWorld Project. This brief will highlight the multi-level governance approach needed to ensure integration of NbS in environmental education curriculum in schools and in vocational training. It will also explore the various barriers and enabling conditions as well as highlight success stories.
The third NetworkNature semester theme was 'Nature-based solutions and Standards' covering quality aspects; how quality is measured, reported and monitored. Learn more by reading the concept brief and outcome report.
The second semester theme that ran from September 2021 to March 2022, covered Ecosystem Restoration, a crucial topic with the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration shaping a sustainable future for us for years to come. Find more about the theme in the NetworkNature Concept Brief and Outcomes Report below.
The first semester theme March to July 2021 was `Nature-based solutions in light of the pandemic‘. Taking nature into consideration as not merely the cause of- but rather as a solution to – the pandemic is crucial to help us support well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic and to prevent future ones. During this semester NetworkNature explored how nature-based solutions interact with health in various spheres: The possibilities to curtail pandemics with biodiversity-driven nature-based solutions acting as buffers for food-and waterborne diseases and zoonoses. The relation between nature-based solutions and human- and ecosystem well-being. The interlinkages between nature-based solutions and socio-economic recovery post COVID-19 pandemic. The semester took into consideration the role nature-based solutions play in various phases of the pandemic, especially exploring how nature-based solutions can protect and restore degraded ecosystems, help address the disconnect between humans and nature, and increase understanding and respect towards nature.
Read the semester outcomes brief here for main findings and expert opinions.
