Our key messages :

• “Nature-based Solutions” (NbS) is a new term for an old idea that has been understood and practised for millennia.

• The term “NbS” is vulnerable to greenwashing that could promote monoculture plantations, the commodification of nature, land grabbing, and other impacts on human rights. 

• NbS must not delay the urgently needed decarbonization of our economy. It is critical that mechanisms be put in place to eliminate this risk.

• One of the most dominant NbS narratives overemphasises carbon sequestration through carbon offsetting schemes. NbS must provide benefits for both biodiversity and climate, since they are interlinked, and biodiversity conservation and ecosystem integrity must be centralized within NbS policy, research, and practice.

• For NbS to be effective, they must prioritize local biodiversity conservation, ecosystem integrity, and ecosystem functions, and must be grounded in justice, equity, and inclusion.

• If NbS are to be featured in policy, it requires a legally agreed framework that is recognized and upheld by both the CBD and the UNFCCC to prevent misuses and misinterpretation and to centre community leadership, ecosystem integrity, rights-based approaches, and justice.

• NbS implementation must follow strict binding social and environmental safeguards, with a focus on ecosystem integrity and functions, meaningful participation and free, prior, and informed consent from Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities, human and Indigenous rights, and rights of nature.

• Young people will not tolerate polluters and decision-makers who co-opt and misuse “NbS” to evade their responsibilities - we commit to calling out co-option and false solutions.