Existing guidance and tools for NbS

There is a wide range of guidance material for NbS, from general guidance on how to think about planning an NbS project, to specific guidance on how to apply a defined NbS in a specific country, ecosystem, or context. The following is a non-exhaustive list of NbS guidance, focusing on more general guidance in a Nordic context. 

Global guidance for all ecosystems

Guidance for using the IUCN Global Standard for Nature-based Solutions: A user-friendly framework for the verification, design and scaling up of Nature-based Solutions  

Standards of practice to guide ecosystem restoration: provides key recommendations for the entire restoration process, which can be applicable across all sectors of society, land or sea uses, ecosystems and regions, and to the broad array of ecosystem restoration activities under the UN Decade. The goal of this document is to provide an overview of the Standards of practice.

Natural climate solutions Handbook: A technical guide for assessing nature-based mitigation opportunities in countries 

Handbook of Nature-Based Solutions to Mitigation and Adaptation to Climate Change: The publication will showcase experiences related to NbS from around the world. In particular, it will gather examples of projects, studies and the latest thinking on NbS, which can serve the purpose of inspiring and fostering further works in this key area.

European guidance for all ecosystems

Handbook for the Implementation of NbS for Water Security (EU NAIAD project): guidelines for designing an implementation and financing arrangement

Evaluating the impact of nature-based solutions: A handbook for practitioners. The Handbook aims to provide decision-makers with a comprehensive NBS impact assessment framework, and a robust set of indicators and methodologies to assess impacts of nature-based solutions across 12 societal challenge areas: Climate Resilience; Water Management; Natural and Climate Hazards; Green Space Management; Biodiversity; Air Quality; Place Regeneration; Knowledge and Social Capacity Building for Sustainable Urban Transformation; Participatory Planning and Governance; Social Justice and Social Cohesion; Health and Well-being; New Economic Opportunities and Green Jobs. 

ThinkNature Nature-based solutions handbook: Its main objective is to gather and promote state-of-the-art knowledge regarding Nature-Based Solutions (NbS), comprising a comprehensive guide to all relevant actors. To this end, each aspect of NbS is investigated, from project development to financing and policy making, and is presented in a concise and comprehensive way, in order to be easily understandable. 

Phusicos project: According to nature – NBS guidebook. The project will demonstrate how nature-based solutions provide robust, sustainable and cost-effective measures for reducing the risk of extreme weather events in rural mountain landscapes.

National guidance for Sweden on the implementation of NbS: A tool for climate adaptation and other societal challenges

A national guide for Norwegian municipalities to evaluate when to use NbS, focussing on climate related risks

The A-DVICE handbook focuses on the different kinds of policies, such as strategies, incentive programs and laws that may be useful when planning NbS in the Nordic region. In that handbook, you can read about policies on the local, regional and national levels in the Nordic region. This includes guidance on international goals and obligations, the Nordic policy landscapepolicy integration and cross-sectoral approachesfinancial instrumentseducation, capacity building and awareness raising, voluntary measures and stakeholder engagement, and assessment frameworks for NbS.

European guidance for wetlands & freshwater NbS

EU MERLIN Project: New framework for monitoring systemic impacts of freshwater and wetland restoration actions 

European guidance for urban areas

NbS catalogue: a catalogue of nature-based solutions for urban resilience.The guide has info for different types of cities based on their location in the river basin. To a degree, the position of a city determines the suitability of NbS types. To help select appropriate NbS the catalogue contains 14 NBS categories (NbS families). 

UNALAB technical handbook of nature-based solutions: The UNaLab project has developed a first draft version of its Technical Handbook of NbS. The handbook provides accurate, detailed information on the full range of potentially applicable nature-based solutions to support urban climate and water resilience, their anticipated or demonstrated performance, and their limitations. 

NATWiP Handbook: A handbook for practitioners to promote and inspire implementation of nature-based solutions in peri-urban areas 

UrbanGreenUP: tools and resources for selection of NbS

Guidance from other countries