Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are actions that protect, sustainably manage, and restore natural or modified ecosystems, and that effectively and adaptively address societal challenges, while simultaneously benefitting biodiversity and human well-being.
Nature-based Solutions are considered alternatives to human-made infrastructures. They integrate conservation and protection of biodiversity as a basis, or a goal. In the context of land restoration and conservation, agroforestry practices – the integration of trees and shrubs into farming landscapes for conservation and profit – are perfect examples of nature-based solutions.
Agroforestry practices have multiple proven benefits:
Small-scale agroforestry farming is common in many developing countries, where systems have often evolved through adaption to local conditions over the centuries.
EverGreen Agriculture, one form of agroforestry, is a transformational concept for the regreening of agriculture in the 21st Century. It is an affordable and accessible nature-based solution for regenerating degraded land, and for increasing household food production and cash income.
Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) is a simple, scalable, sustainable land management approach that empowers farmers to stop and reverse land degradation through regrowing trees on farmlands, on grazing lands, and in degraded forests – without requiring any external inputs or expensive equipment.
Assisted Natural Regeneration (ANR) is a simple, low-cost forest restoration method that can effectively convert deforested lands of degraded vegetation to more productive forests. It is similar to Farmer-Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR), with the only difference being that ANR is applied to degraded forestlands and rangelands, while FMNR is practiced on croplands.
A safe integration of food and energy production may be one of the best ways to improve global food and energy security and simultaneously reduce poverty in a climate smart way.