The project report and a policy brief on status of Nordic NBS are now available – read them here!
Clear political priorities, institutional structures, common standards and funding structures are among the key factors for implementing nature-based solutions (NBS) in the Nordics.
While the final report from the S-ITUATION project is right around the corner, the fact sheets from the project are already available!
In these five fact sheets members of the research team present types of NBS that are typically used to solve various problems in specific land-use contexts:
The fact sheets include descriptions of common environmental and societal problems, potential solutions and their benefits. We also present some examples of implemented NBS in the Nordic region. We hope these may serve as inspiration.
Read and download all the S-ITUATION publications from this page
Thursday 24. November we will present the results from S-ITUATION in a webinar series on nature-based solutions.
The webinar series called “Naturbasert sone” are arranged by NIVA on a monthly basis. It is open to everyone who work with, do research on, or just wants to know more about NBS.
On Thursday the topic is NBS in the Nordics, presented by S-ITUATION researchers Leonard Sandin and Ingvild Skumlien Furuseth.
The webinar is in Norwegian and Swedish language. A recording and the presentation will be available after the event.
COP27 is the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as the 27th Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC. Global leaders, policy makers, researchers and civil society gather to combat the impacts of climate change.
Leonard Sandin presenting the reults of S-ITUATION at COP27.
The Nordic co-operation arrange a variety of side events, including on biodiversity and nature-based solutions (NBS).
During the panel debate in the Nordic pavilion, the role of NBS was highlighted as essential to combat the climate and biodiversity crisis simultaneously: “I’m not leaving here without mentioning nature-based solutions” said Norway’s climate and environment minister Espen Barth Eide.
Project leader of S-ITUATION, Leonard Sandin, participated via stream from Oslo. He talked about NBS in the Nordic context and presented key results from our project.
See the presentation in the video player. The slides are available below.
The Nordic ministers on climate and environment committed to promoting nature-based solutions (NBS).
The Nordic ministers met in the Finnish parliament in Helsinki. Foto: Magnus Fröderberg/Norden.org
Wednesday 2 November, researcher and project leader Leonard Sandin presented the S-ITUATION project during the Nordic climate and environment ministers’ meeting in Helsinki.
Leonard Sandin presented the S-ITUATION project in Helsinki
– This is very important and exciting work, which we have carried out together with partners from the other four Nordic countries in order to gain knowledge about how far we have come using NBS in the Nordics, says Sandin.
The aim of S-ITUATION is to describe the status of nature-based solutions in the Nordic region, including current opportunities and challenges. The results will be published in the report “Working with Nature-Based Solutions: Synthesis and mapping of status in the Nordics” later this month.
During the meeting, Norway’s Minister for Climate and Environment Espen Barth Eide stated that the Nordic program will “secure a knowledge base that can contribute to enabling authorities, businesses and civil society in the Nordics to build solid, nature-based solutions. This will help to realize the vision of the Nordic region as the most sustainable region in the world in 2030”.
Will promote NBS internationally
The Nordic ministers adopted a declaration in which they undertake to promote nature-based solutions during the negotiations on a new international nature agreement at COP15 in Montreal later this year.
The declaration encourages actors in the Nordic region to adopt nature-based solutions. It also supports further research on the topic.
S-ITUATION researchers Annette Baattrup-Pedersen, Dominik Zak, Leonard Sandin, Samaneh Nickayin, Ingvild Skumlien Furuseth and Caroline Enge all joined the launch of the Nordic NBS hub i Copenhagen.
Members of the S-ITUATION team met in Copenhagen to attend the launch of the new NetworkNature Nordic hub.
“We live in uncertain times, so working together is more important than ever”
– Jonas Wendel, general secretary of the Nordic Council of Ministers.
The NetworkNature Nordic Hub was launched 13. october 2022. The event started with words of encouragement by the Nordic Council of Ministers, but also with a reminder of the recent publication of a report by WWF showing the decline in global species populations since 1970 by 69 %.
This underlines the need for urgent action on the climate and biodiversity crises.
Jóna Ólavsdóttir presented the new Nordic Hub which is part of the NetworkNature initiative.
Nordic pilot projects
One way of addressing these issues together, is through the implementation of nature-based solutions that provide benefits both for humans and nature.
Now the Nordic research community have better opportunities for networking and learning from each other through a new network.
During the event we also presented the S-ITUATION project and got to learn more about other pilot projects on nature-based solutions in the Nordic programme.
S-ITUATION leader Leonard Sandin presented the project during the event. (Photo: Caroline Enge)
Platform for knowledge exhange
The NetworkNature Nordic hub will be a platform for networking and exchanging knowledge on nature-based solutions in the Nordic region.
It also provides examples of nature-based solutions in the Nordic region and will facilitate events and webinars.
NetworkNature is funded by the EU Horizon 2020 research programme, and is a resource for those who work with NBS to facilitate local, regional and international cooperation.
The Nordic hub is one of several recently established national and regional hubs of the network.
How can we protect society from the extremities of a changing climate while also protecting nature and enhancing biodiversity? We discuss the opportunities and challenges that nature-based solutions pose in the Nordic countries in a new podcast!
S-ITUATION researchers Isabel Seifert-Dähnn, Johanna Alkan-Olsson and Helena Hanson join the conversation with editor of the podcast Nordics.info Nicola Witcombe.
The episode is called “Shaping the Nordic future: Nature and planning”. You can listen to it here:
Engelskkundskaberne er både udbredte og på højt niveau i de nordiske lande, og det er der legitime historiske og sociopolitiske årsager til. Men man bør ikke gå ud fra, at alle er lige dygtige til sproget, eller at der ikke sættes spørgsmålstegn ved sprogets magt og udbredelse. Lyt til denne podcast for at høre mere om det engelske sprog i Norden i dag.Podcasten er skrevet af Eeva Sippola og Elizabeth Peterson, oplæst af Caroline Vogt Hansen og produceret af Nicola Witcombe. Du kan også lytte til den podcast på engelsk eller læse den på engelsk på nordics.info.Lydeffekter fra freesound.org, inklusive talking.wav af ondrosik pg Piano Solo 01 by BergsteinProd (med ændringer i lydstyrke og fading).
S-iTUATION researchers visited a riverbank restoration project in Iceland during a work shop on Nature-based Solutions (photo: Leonard Sandin).
We have been participating in several events presenting some of the work from the S-ITUATION project the last few weeks.
NBS workshop in Iceland
Both S-ITUATION project leader Leonard Sandin and researcher Samaneh Sadat Nickayin participated in a workshop on Nature-based Solutions 5.-6. September in Iceland.
Researcher Samaneh Sadat Nickayin (LBHI) at the NBS workshop in Iceland (photos: Leonard Sandin).
Leonard talked about lessons learned from Europe, while Samaneh gave a presentation on Nature-based Solutions for aquatic ecosystems.
The workshop was arranged by ON Power. Watch a recording or read more about the event on this Facebook page.
Debating NBS at water congress in Denmark
The second week of September, S-ITUATION researchers Ingvild Skumlien Furuseth and Isabel Seifert-Dähn also got to talk a lot about Nature-based Solutions at the IWA World Water Congress & Exhibition in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Researcher Ingvild Skumlien Furuseth (in the red shirt holding a microphone) participated in a debate on NBS at the Nordic Pavillion in Copenhagen (photo: Line Barkved).
Ingvild participated in a debate on Nature-based Solutions in the Nordic Pavillion.
On 1. September, the nominations for the Nordic Council Environment Prize 2022 were announced in an event at the Nordic House in the Faroe Islands.
This was accompanied by a seminar on Nature-based Solutions, where S-ITUATION project leader Leonard Sandin participated online.
Leonard Sandin (on the screen to the left) presented S-ITUATION in the seminar on NBS in the Nordic context.
“The loss of biodiversity and its harmful effects on human health and well-being are becoming increasingly clear. It’s obvious that there’s a growing need for solutions that have nature at their core”, said Sauli Rouhinen, chair of the adjudication committee for the Nordic Council Environment Prize.
Learn more about nature-based solutions in the new webinar series called “Naturbasert sone”. The series aims to present examples and new knowledge, share experiences and discussions on NBS and practical implementation.
In the first event on Thursday 24. March 2022, S-ITUATION project leader Leonard Sandin will talk about why NBS are beneficial and what value they can create for humans and nature. The presenters speak Norwegian, Swedish and Danish.
Naturbasert sone is arranged by S-ITUATION leader NIVA.
Learn more and sign up here (information in Norwegian).
Both humans and ecosystems are vulnerable to more extreme weather conditions. Photo: Flickr / Jon Ragnarsson
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recently published their latest assessment report. The report is about the impacts of climate change on ecosystems, biodiversity, and human communities at global and regional levels. It also looks at the capacities and limits for adapting to climate change.
Nature and climate interdependent
As was already known, the world needs to take immediate action to avoid disastrous climate changes. But we need to do this while also protecting the nature and biodiversity.
As stated in the report, this work “recognizes the interdependence of climate, ecosystems and biodiversity, and human societies and integrates knowledge more strongly across the natural, ecological, social and economic sciences than earlier IPCC assessments”.
This is important, because as we know the climate and nature crises are interconnected, and both needs to be solved together. Nature-based solution is one example of how to integrate climate solutions with measures that protect nature.
The role of nature-based solutions
While the goal is to limit the climate change, we also need to adapt to some of the changes already happening around us, with increasing temperatures and extreme weather.
While not a solution to climate change on its own, nature-based solutions such as restoring rivers, recreating floodplains or using blue-green infrastructure to handle surface water in cities, may help both the ecosystems and humans to adapt.
There are already many initiatives on NBS, with more to come in all the Nordic countries. In S-ITUATION we continue to investigate their effectiveness and how to implement them.
S-ITUATION 