The latest IPCC reports (AR6) highlight the urgency of taking decisive and immediate action to
address the interlinked challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental pollution.
Furthermore, AR6 Working Group II on adaptation specifically calls out the important role of naturebased
solutions (NbS) for “water-based adaptation.” At the same time, freshwater biodiversity — a key
indicator of ecosystem health — is being lost at an alarming rate. According to the World Wildlife Fund’s
2022 Living Planet report, global freshwater species populations have declined by an average of over
80% in the past 50 years.1 One of the many negative impacts of this catastrophic loss is that it undercuts
our ability to effectively adapt to climate change. Adding to this crisis, traditional conservation measures
which attempt to preserve existing habitat or restore degraded ecosystems are being undermined by
an uncertain climate future in which replicating or maintaining past environmental conditions may no
longer be possible. We argue that a new paradigm for biodiversity conservation, one that emphasizes
ecosystem resilience rather than restoration, may be in order.
“Nature-based Resilience” demonstrates the important contribution freshwater NbS can make in
achieving climate and biodiversity targets, while also reducing water-based pollution. However, we
also argue that in order to realize the multiple benefits of freshwater NbS, we must transform the ways
in which we manage freshwater ecosystems, moving from an exclusive emphasis on efficiency and
preservation towards managing for resilience. This report builds on IUCN’s foundational work on NbS,
as well as the 2020 publication “Locking Carbon in Wetlands” from AGWA and Wetlands International,
which demonstrated the value of wetlands as key contributors to mitigation action and argued for the
inclusion of freshwater wetlands in national climate plans, the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration
2021-2030, as well as SDG 6.2 This new report will expand on that call to action regarding the role of
freshwater ecosystems for resilience to include benefits for biodiversity and pollution reduction.
Guidance around NbS for nature-based resilience is particularly salient in 2022 following COP26,
which created new momentum for adaptation and ecosystem restoration. Over 80% of Parties have
included NbS in their updated 2020/2021 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)3 under the
Paris Agreement and are now seeking guidance and funding for implementation. At the same time, the
upcoming COP 15.2 to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) will review the achievement and
delivery of the CBD’s Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and take a final decision on the post-
2020 Global Biodiversity Framework with implications for ecosystem restoration and the potential
upscaling of NbS for biodiversity. Freshwater NbS is a particular area of confluence between the two
global agendas, and this paper seeks to demonstrate solutions that address these interlinked crises in a
coordinated and coherent manner.
We caution that freshwater NbS should not be viewed as a panacea for these complex global challenges.
In each case, local environmental and socioeconomic factors mediate the healthy function of a given
watershed, meaning that the NbS case studies presented in this paper will be more effective and
practical to implement in some areas than others. However, given the important role that freshwater
ecosystems play in regulating and provisioning life on earth, we strongly believe that freshwater NbS are
a critical component of national climate change, biodiversity, and sustainable development planning.