Working with nature to protect people: How Nature-Based Solutions reduce climate change and weather-related disasters
Communities across the world are experiencing the growing devastating impacts of climate change and weather-related disasters. The resulting social, economic and environmental impacts are disproportionately affecting the world’s most vulnerable people. Without urgent action to combat climate change, build climate resilience and reduce the risk of climate change and weather-related disasters, these disasters will continue to cause unprecedented damage.
Nature-based Solutions (NbS) have been identified as unique and effective ways to support disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation while also contributing to multiple societal goals, including improvements in human health and well-being, food and water security,
and greenhouse gas emissions reductions. However, NbS are far from reaching their full potential, with initiatives remaining largely small-scale and project based. Faced with the scale of the climate crisis, countries need to start investing in transformational NbS to better manage the ever-increasing risk of disasters.
This report shows that scaling up NbS protects society from some of the most severe consequences of climate change, including the economic cost of losses and
damages; reduces some of the intensity of climate and weather-related disasters, and potentially reduces the number of people in need of international humanitarian
assistance due to climate change. Each year, implementing NbS could provide developing countries with
valuable protection against the economic cost of climate change, estimated to save developing countries at least US$ 104 billion in damages in 2030. Now is a critical moment to unleash the full potential of NbS for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation by supporting their successful implementation and scale-up. IFRC and WWF are joining together to accelerate the implementation of NbS and are calling on governments, the private sector, practitioners, and civil society to act.