Implementing Nature-Based Solutions in Rural Landscapes: Barriers Experienced in the PHUSICOS Project

Mari Olsen,Idoia Arauzo,Anders Solheim,Turid Wullf-Knutsen,Vittoria Capobianco,Eva Garcia Balaguer,Bjørn Kalsnes,Amy Oen,James Michael Strout,Nicola Del Seppia

doi:10.3390/su13031461

Abstract

Nature-based solutions (NBS) are becoming increasingly important in both the EU and individual countries’ political agendas, as a sustainable means to reduce the risk posed by hydrometeorological hazards. However, as the use of NBS is increasing, a number of barriers regarding their practical implementation also become apparent. A number of review studies have summarized and classified barriers, mainly in urban settings. PHUSICOS is a Horizon 2020 Innovation Action to demonstrate the use of NBS in rural and mountain landscapes. Large-scale demonstrator case sites with several sub-projects are established in Italy, Norway and in the French and Spanish Pyrenees. The present paper describes the project’s NBS measures and their experienced barriers, some of which have resulted in full cancellation of the planned interventions. Many of the barriers experienced in rural settings have the same root causes as the ones described from urban areas, and the main barrier-creating mechanisms are institutional factors, resistance among stakeholders and technical and economic issues. The key element, however, is the lack of knowledge about the ability of NBS to deliver a series of co-benefits in addition to their risk-reducing effects and that long-term thinking is required to see the effect of many of these co-benefits.

Highlights

Nature-based solutions (NBS) is a collective term for solutions that are based on natural processes and ecosystems to solve different types of societal challenges
The five-year project (May 2018–April 2023) is an Innovation Action, with the objective of demonstrating the effectiveness of NBS and their ability to reduce the impacts from small, frequent events in rural mountain landscapes
While the objective of the PHUSICOS project is to demonstrate the effectiveness and upscaling potential of NBS interventions in rural landscapes, the objectives of this paper are to present a selection of NBS that are slated for implementation at several European case study sites as well as to present and subsequently discuss barriers experienced for the practical implementation of these

Summary

Introduction

Nature-based solutions (NBS) is a collective term for solutions that are based on natural processes and ecosystems to solve different types of societal challenges. A wide range of definitions of NBS exist, as identified by Sarabi et al [1], the European Commission’s (EC) current definition is the presiding definition applied in the present study [2], “Solutions that are inspired and supported by nature, which are cost-effective, simultaneously provide environmental, social and economic benefits and help build resilience. Such solutions bring more, and more diverse, nature and natural features and processes into cities, landscapes and seascapes, through locally adapted, resource-efficient and systemic interventions”. An important aspect of NBS is that they, in addition to reducing risk from natural hazards, can deliver multiple other benefits [4]

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