🌳 ThinkNature Project Summary: Supporting Nature-Based Solutions (NBS)
ThinkNature was a Coordination and Support Action (CSA) project designed to coordinate and support the uptake of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) across Europe. Its overarching goal was to contribute to the European Commission’s objectives of economic growth and sustainability by promoting NBS as promising alternatives for addressing major global challenges (e.g., climate change, food security, and social development).
🎯 Main Objective and Specific Goals
The central aim of ThinkNature was the development of a multi-stakeholder communication platform to support the understanding and promotion of NBS.
The project focused on four major domains for NBS application:
- Sustainable Urbanisation of Cities
- Restoration of Ecosystems
- Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation
- Risk Management and Resilience
Specific Objectives Achieved:
The project addressed several specific objectives to facilitate NBS uptake:
- Platform Development: Created the ThinkNature Platform, an integrated web solution for dialogue, interaction, and promotion of successful NBS.
- Capacity Building: Developed and disseminated knowledge tools like the ThinkNature Handbook on NbS (a comprehensive guide) and an NBS Case Study Portfolio (111 case studies).
- Barrier Identification: Identified regulatory, economic, and technical challenges/barriers to NBS deployment through interviews and analysis.
- Business Case: Developed financial tools and process frameworks, specifically the SITE4NBS and RISE4NBS methodologies, to illustrate the business case for NBS.
- Stakeholder Engagement: Established Regional Think and Do Tanks and organized brainstorming forums (e.g., in A Coruña and Paris) to involve stakeholders and influence policy.
💡 Key Results and Impact
ThinkNature’s major achievements and impacts fall into three core areas:
1. Establishing the Science Case and Community of Practice
- Science Case: Achieved through the development of an NBS Classification, the comprehensive Case Study Portfolio, and analysis of the barriers to implementation.
- Community: Built a community of practice using the ThinkNature Platform (which hosts discussion forums) and the established Regional Think and Do Tanks network.
2. NBS Capacity Building and Promotion
- The project successfully delivered a range of educational and outreach materials, including:
- The ThinkNature Handbook (a concise guide on methodologies from project development to financing and policy).
- A series of Webinars and a Summer School covering design, implementation, financing, and governance of NBS.
- A Game App developed as a demonstrator for introductory and explanatory material.
3. Developing the Financial and Market Case
- ThinkNature provided the necessary tools and methodologies (SITE4NBS and RISE4NBS) to illustrate and develop the business case for NBS, enabling decision-makers and market actors to mobilize investment.
- The project also developed an International collaboration strategy and established a list of 126 international partners to promote dialogue and create market synergies for Europe.
The project effectively clustered and coordinated NBS activities across Europe, notably by coordinating dialogue on four task forces: data management, indicators, business/governance, and communication. All final outputs and deliverables are available on the ThinkNature Platform.
