Research Ideas and Outcomes :
Forum Paper
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Corresponding author: Mario V Balzan (mario.balzan@mcast.edu.mt), Anna Sapundzhieva (anna.sap@pensoft.net)
Received: 25 Sep 2020 | Published: 29 Sep 2020
© 2020 Mario V Balzan, Judita Tomaskinova, Marcus Collier, Lynn Dicks, Davide Geneletti, Miriam Grace, Davide Longato, Renata Sadula, Pavel Stoev, Anna Sapundzhieva
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Balzan MV, Tomaskinova J, Collier MJ, Dicks L, Geneletti D, Grace M, Longato D, Sadula R, Stoev P, Sapundzhieva A (2020) Building capacity for mainstreaming nature-based solutions into environmental policy and landscape planning. Research Ideas and Outcomes 6: e58970. https://doi.org/10.3897/rio.6.e58970
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Nature-based solutions (NBS) is a term often used to refer to adequate green infrastructure that provides multiple benefits to society whilst addressing societal challenges. They are defined as actions to protect, sustainably manage and restore natural or modified ecosystems that address societal challenges effectively and adaptively, simultaneously providing human well-being and biodiversity benefits. Malta, the smallest member state of the EU, has been characterised by rapid economic growth and urbanisation and Maltese citizens had the highest rate of exposure to pollution, grime or other environmental problems, in the EU. The project ReNature aims to establish and implement a nature-based solutions research strategy for Malta with a vision to promote research and innovation and develop sustainable solutions whilst improving human well-being and tackling environmental challenges. Here, we introduce the opening of ReNature collection of research articles in the Open Access Research Ideas and Outcomes (RIO) journal to publish unconventional research outputs and training materials. It will host key outputs relating to the sustainable use of biodiversity, biodiversity – ecosystem functioning, green infrastructure and ecosystem service assessments across rural-urban gradients, equitable access to the benefits derived from nature in cities and socio-environmental justice, payments for ecosystem services, and designing nature-based solutions.
nature-based solutions, ecology, ecosystem services, learning materials, trainings, biodiversity, capacity building
A growing recognition of the socio-cultural and economic benefits provided by nature has led to a surge in policy and research initiatives that aim to better integrate nature in cities and landscapes to address key societal challenges. The term ‘nature-based solutions’ is often used to refer to adequate green infrastructure that provides multiple benefits to society whilst addressing societal challenges. Within nature-based solutions approaches, ‘nature’ (ecosystems or biodiversity) is seen as a solution to our societal and environmental challenges, rather than something to protect and conserve which have been the focus of traditional legislation and policy initiatives.
Nature-based solutions (NBS) are defined as actions to protect, sustainably manage and restore natural or modified ecosystems that address societal challenges effectively and adaptively, simultaneously providing human well-being and biodiversity benefits (
A key characteristic that distinguishes nature-based solutions interventions from other ‘nature-based approaches’ is that they are used to address key societal challenges. Societal challenges arise from a combination of natural and anthropogenic factors, and include climate change, disaster risk, economic and social development, human health, food security, water security and environmental degradation and biodiversity loss (
Nature-based solutions have become a key priority to mainstream environmental protection and sustainable use of biodiversity at global (
The challenge of putting together socio-economic demands and environmental challenges are particularly felt in Malta, the smallest member state of the European Union (EU). With a land area of around 316 km2 (Fig.
The project ReNature aims to establish and implement a nature-based solutions research strategy for Malta with a vision to promote research and innovation and develop sustainable solutions whilst improving human well-being and tackling environmental challenges. The strategy is complemented by a newly-developed research and practitioners’ cluster to act on it, with a vision to stimulate both scientific excellence and innovation capacity to promote action towards the Sustainable Development Goals. More specifically, the objectives of the ReNature project are to:
strengthen collaborations across the science-policy interface and stimulate common research projects and information flow among the different players;
provide opportunities for capacity-building to enable Maltese entities to collaborate and link up with third parties for the development of excellent scientific research in the nature-based solutions sector;
develop the evidence-base for landscape and urban planning to better integrate nature-based solutions approaches;
carry out a knowledge synthesis for policy-making and share a developed, evidence-based compendium, consisting of research data and peer-reviewed publications from collaborative research, in open access repositories;
extend the partnership by clustering with ongoing and future projects on nature-based solutions at European scale, and
provide solutions and alternatives to national authorities, policy-makers and businesses on the implementation of nature-based solutions.
ReNature has established collaborative research and capacity-building initiatives between the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology (MCAST), as a tertiary and research organisation based in Malta, and the Trinity College Dublin (Ireland); University of Trento (Italy); University of East Anglia and University of Cambridge (United Kingdom), and Pensoft Publishers (Bulgaria). The activities carried out have included training and networking events aimed at building up the research capacity and at promoting research excellence in the field of nature-based solutions. The ReNature team has organised four training courses, attended by academics and relevant stakeholders, focussed on topics relating to: biodiversity and land monitoring; mainstreaming nature-based solutions in planning and policy-making; nature-based solutions in urban planning; and nature-based solutions in rural landscapes. The main objective of these capacity building activities is to create a space for open and inspiring discussion among project partners, academics, practitioners and stakeholders. One PhD Summer School (the Renaturing Cities: Interdisciplinary Summer School) was organised with the support of the COST Action Circular City. The First ReNature Summer School was aimed at providing participants with an understanding of the features and potential of NBS in the context of a holistic approach towards landscape sustainability, and has also included “problem-based” learning sessions aimed at stimulating professional development and further cooperation among students also in the aftermath.
Open science is one of the key pillars of the ReNature project, which has already openly shared access to developed training material and scientific outcomes. Similarly, the ReNature Nature-based Solutions Compendium has collated information about nature-based solutions in Malta and shared data openly with all interested users and practitioners (
The ReNature RIO Collection will host key outputs relating to the sustainable use of biodiversity, biodiversity – ecosystem functioning, green infrastructure and ecosystem service assessments across rural-urban gradients, equitable access to the benefits derived from nature in cities and socio-environmental justice, payments for ecosystem services, and designing nature-based solutions. Reports from workshops attended by students, early career researchers and policy makers from all over the world will accumulate further empirical knowledge on the ReNature subjects. This Collection will continue to be developed further as the ReNature project continues to promote open innovation whilst effectively engaging communities in the co-development and exchange of knowledge for nature-based solutions implementation.
The ReNature project receives funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 809988.