The Nepal Weekly 
September 23, 2025
Nature based Solutions (NbS) sounds like a new concept which has been practiced in some countries for a few projects. So as, NbS is a new terminology for many. However, linking to climate change actions, sustainable development goals and so on its gaining popularity and expanding faster.
NbS are actions to protect, sustainably manage, or restore natural ecosystems that address environmental, social, economic, and gender related challenges while simultaneously providing human well-being and biodiversity benefits. For example, NbS like springshed management, and rangeland management for multiple benefits, can lead to significant improvements in ecosystem health, water security, and community livelihoods security. These interventions not only restore natural habitats and sustain multiple ecosystem services, but also enhance the resilience of communities to climate impacts and trigger inclusive participation and partnerships.
It is to note that NbS are actions addressing key societal challenges through the protection, sustainable management and restoration of both natural and modified ecosystems, benefiting both biodiversity and human well-being. NbS have significant, but currently underutilised potential to help address global challenges such as climate change, human health, food and water security, natural disasters and biodiversity loss. An IUCN report found that NbS projects were not large enough in scale, that the NbS approach was insufficiently integrated into policy, and that more collaborative NbS projects were needed for increased efficiency, as mentioned in a report by Cohen – Shacham in 2019.
If delivered appropriately, NbS can significantly contribute to addressing multiple societal challenges. For example, NbS have the potential to supply up to 37% of our climate change mitigation needs, states in a report by Griscom et al., 2017. They can also reduce the negative effects of the climate crisis on people and nature by decreasing the impact of disasters and providing resilience to communities. Moreover, researchers claim that NbS can also help address biodiversity loss, for example through forest landscape restoration.
Governments, communities, business and NGOs are increasingly embracing the NbS approach. For instance, two-thirds of the governments supporting the Paris Agreement included NbS actions in their national climate plans.
However, until now, there has been a lack of clear parameters defining NbS and a common framework. Such a framework is essential in order to increase the scale and impact of the NbS approach, to prevent unanticipated negative outcomes or misuse, and help funding agencies, policy makers and other stakeholders assess the effectiveness of interventions.
Increased demand and use of NbS has led to cases of misuse of the NbS concept, where even good intentions can result in harm to nature and people. In the worst-case scenarios, misuse runs the risk of damaging biodiversity, eroding the nature that we depend upon for services such as clean water and food. For example, a tree-planting climate mitigation project using just one non-native species could create poor soils, ultimately degrading biodiversity and making it more costly or impossible to sustain the forest in the future. Similarly, restoring a mangrove forest to reduce the risk of storm damage could be doomed from the start if upstream and downstream processes are not considered. Lack of consideration of water use can lead to restored ecosystems using too much water, creating pressure on local communities. Failure to take into account social and economic factors has meant that even seemingly successful pilot applications of NbS have ultimately not been sustainable outside of the timeframe of a project.
NbS also have taken place in Nepal with applicating in some notable programmes. As Nepal is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change impacts. Climate change impacts have manifested in the country in the form of impacts to agriculture, biodiversity, water and energy resources as well as hydro-meteorological disasters such as floods, landslides, droughts and other extreme weather events as well as slow weather events.
NbS are considered robust and alternative measures to restore the degraded ecosystem, slope and riverbank protection. Nature based Solutions hold immense potential to prove sustainable and effective solutions for climate change mitigation and adaptation and ultimately to reduce climate-induced loss and damage.
Although, discourse around Nature-based Solutions is new in Nepal, there have been some initiatives that have integrated Nature-based Solutions. Local governments in Nepal, such as those in Kavre and Dhankuta Municipality, are actively engaging in springshed management to combat water insecurity. However, small-scale efforts cannot match the pace of growing water insecurity across Nepal. It is crucial to accelerate the deployment of NbS with greater urgency and efficiency. Key constraints for scaling include insufficient financing, limited capabilities for impact financing, and policy enablers supporting wider scale adoption.
Private sector involvement is therefore vital for scaling NbS. Furthermore, by investing in a Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI)- responsive NbS and private enterprises, BFIs can not only help countries achieve their national objectives and commitments to global biodiversity, climate and sustainable development goals but also improve corporate sustainability, enhanced brand reputation, and derive long-term economic returns. Furthermore, such engagement can catalyse public-private partnerships, leverage additional funding and expertise needed for local governments to push wider scale adoption of NbS.
A workshop event being organised by the Himalayan Resilience Enabling Action Programme (HI-REAP) of ICIMOD to engage Banking and Financial Institutions (BFI), environmental practitioners, and select local government representatives (mayors) from Nepal. The initiative aims to explore co-finance for scaling of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) such as springshed management, and rangeland management for multiple benefits.
It is also worth mention that HI-REAP is working to promote NbS for socio-ecological resilience, low-carbon economies, and improved air quality in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Nepal, building on knowledge and learning from China. The programme aims to ensure communities are better prepared to cope with shocks and more able to adapt to change. This engagement with BFI is expected to be a pioneering effort to scaling of NbS in Nepal.
