What it is
Nature-based solutions (NBS) use the protection, restoration, or improved management of natural ecosystems — forests, wetlands, mangroves, grasslands — to address climate change and other challenges simultaneously. This overlaps with the nature-based removal methods introduced in the Carbon / Climate Data topic (afforestation, soil carbon, blue carbon), but extends further into biodiversity: the variety of life in an ecosystem, which matters for climate resilience because diverse ecosystems tend to be more resistant to shocks and better able to keep providing services like flood control, water filtration, and carbon storage over time. A recurring theme here is that these ecosystems provide co-benefits beyond carbon alone — a restored wetland might sequester carbon, buffer a coastline against storm surge, and support biodiversity all at once, which is part of why NBS projects get evaluated differently than a pure engineered-removal project.
Why it matters
This topic is the natural counterpart to Carbon / Climate Data’s engineered removal methods — the same underlying goal (removing or avoiding carbon) pursued through a very different approach (ecosystem-based rather than industrial), with its own quality and permanence questions related to, but distinct from, the additionality and permanence concepts covered there.