Harnessing Nature

Role of Nature-Based Solutions in Sustainable Urban Development

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This article highlights the potential of nature-based solutions to address climate change challenges and drive sustainable development in Indian cities. Shivani Agrawal explains how public-private partnerships can play a vital role in scaling up NbS, ensuring a climate-resilient future for urban areas.

As Indian cities grapple with unprecedented environmental challenges posed by climate change, urbanization, and biodiversity loss, conventional development approaches often fall short in providing effective and sustainable solutions. Nature-based solutions (NbS), with their multifaceted and integrated economic, environmental, and social benefits for ecosystems and communities, offer promising avenues for supporting planning approaches aimed at driving sustainable development and building resilience to climate change.

Despite their potential, NbS remain underutilized in mainstream development planning processes in India. This limited integration restricts ecosystems' capacity to build resilience and develop sustainable infrastructure capable of adapting to climate change. It becomes imperative to recognize the role of NbS in sustainable development, examine the limitations of current planning frameworks, and explore strategies for embedding the potential of NbS into development processes to enhance climate resilience.

Growing Relevance of Nature-Based Solutions