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The COVID-19 pandemic and its global response have resulted in unprecedented and rapid changes to most people’s day-to-day lives. To slow the spread of the virus, governments have implemented the practice of physical distancing (“social distancing”), which includes isolation within the home with limited time spent outdoors. During this extraordinary time, nature around the home may play a key role in mitigating against adverse mental health outcomes due to the pandemic and the measures taken to address it. To assess whether this is the case, we conducted an online questionnaire survey (n = 3,000) in Tokyo, Japan, to quantify the association between five mental health outcomes (depression, life satisfaction, subjective happiness, self-esteem, and loneliness) and two measures of nature experiences (frequency of greenspace use and green view through windows from home). Accounting for sociodemographic and lifestyle variables, we found that the frequency of greenspace use and the existence of green window views from within the home was associated with increased levels of self-esteem, life satisfaction, and subjective happiness and decreased levels of depression, anxiety, and loneliness. Our findings suggest that a regular dose of nature can contribute to the improvement of a wide range of mental health outcomes. With the recent escalation in the prevalence of mental health disorders, and the possible negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on public mental health, our findings have major implications for policy, suggesting that urban nature has great potential to be used as a “nature-based solution” for improved public health.

The strategy of reconnecting rivers with their floodplains currently gains popularity because it not only harnesses natural capacities of floodplains but also increases social co-benefits and biodiversity. In this paper, we present an example of a successfully implemented nature-based solution (NBS) in the Dijle valley in the centre of Belgium. The research objective is to retrospectively assess cost and benefit differences between a technical solution (storm basins) and an alternative NBS, here the restoration of the alluvial floodplain. The method is a comparative social cost–benefit analysis. The case study analysis reveals similar flood security, lower costs, more ecosystem services benefits and higher biodiversity values associated with the NBS option in comparison to the technical alternative. However, the business case for working with NBS depends substantially on the spatial and socio-ecological context. Chances for successful NBS implementation increase in conditions of sufficient space to retain flood water, when flood water is of sufficient quality, and when economic activity and housing in the floodplain is limited.

As in many other parts of the world, the urban areas of the South Asian region are increasingly expanding. While cities today are the heart of commercial, technological and social development, they are also vulnerable to a variety of natural and anthropogenic threats. The complex urban infrastructure, and the ever-expanding population in cities, exacerbate the impacts of climate change and increase the risk of natural hazards. Throughout history, various hydrological disasters including floods, tidal surges, and droughts, and non-hydrological disasters such as earthquakes, landslides, and storms have led to catastrophic social, economic and environmental impacts in numerous South Asian cities. Disaster risk reduction is therefore central to ensure sustainability in urban areas. Although Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are identified as a promising strategy to reduce risk and increase resilience, there appears to be a lack of evidence-based approaches. NbS are measures that can be practiced to obtain benefits of nature for the environmental and community development through conserving, managing, and restoring ecosystems. Against this backdrop, the South Asian cities provide opportunities to evaluate capacities for achieving Nature-based Resilience (NbR) through NbS. This study documents insights from five cities of five different countries of the South Asian region which are subjected to a wide array of disasters: Barishal (Bangladesh), Phuentsholing (Bhutan), Gurugram (India), Kathmandu (Nepal), and Colombo (Sri Lanka). The primary objective of this study is to provide evidence on how NbS are being practiced. Thus, some success stories in cities under consideration are highlighted: restoration of natural canals through integrated development plans and community participation (Barishal), concepts of Gross National Happiness (GNH) and minimal nature interventions (Phuentsholing), “Greening cities’’ including eco-corridors, vegetation belts, biodiversity parks (Gurugram), proper land use planning aims at different disasters (Kathmandu), and wetland restoration and management with multiple benefits (Colombo). These cases could therefore, act as a “proxy” for learning from each other to prepare for and recover from future disasters while building NbR.

The implementation of nature‐based solutions that involve natural processes to mutually decrease flood risk and protect natural ecosystems can be an answer to the demand for resilient flood risk management (FRM). As an example of a nature‐based solution, flood polders have the potential to deliver those benefits; however, a need for innovation is observed in the field of redefining, combining, and reformulating existing approaches to improve the welfare and wellbeing of individuals and communities. This article aims to investigate polder implementation and management processes, perceived as a potential introduction of social innovation in Poland and Hungary, where social innovation in FRM is required but where the introduction of innovative solutions stalls at different stages. Based on a comparative analysis, a set of factors for effective social innovation was formulated regarding formal and legal conditions and economic and social aspects of polder management and implementation. Each of identified factors can either allow or hinder public engagement and successful social innovation.

Nature‐based coastal adaptation is a subset of nature‐based solutions that has to this point focused on the materiality of managing coastal risks: what our coastal protections are made of or where we put things that are in the way of harm. In our collaborative interdisciplinary work, we have been reimagining nature‐based coastal adaptation to start with first principles: how we think about the coast and what makes a good coastal life. In a nature‐based approach our shared sense of what is good and possible, also known as the social imaginary, needs shifting before any physical material. This paper presents a new nested framework for thinking about nature‐based coastal adaptation using five words starting with R: Reimagine, Reserve, Relocate, Restore, Reinforce. We use the nature‐based adaptation option of managed dyke realignment in Bay of Fundy agricultural dykelands to illustrate the utility of the framework in practice but assert its more generic applicability.

Scaled up planning and implementation of nature-based solutions requires better understanding of broad characteristics (typologies) of the current governance and financing landscape, collaborative approaches amidst local complexities, and factors of scalability. An inventory was compiled of water-related ecological infrastructure intervention projects in two river systems in South Africa, incorporating actor, environmental, social, and financial dimensions and benefits. Qualitative participatory analysis revealed eight typologies. Post-hoc classification analysis determined similarities and/or unique characteristics of seven quantitative typologies. Key characterising factors included the complexity/size of financial flows, complexity of partnership/governance arrangements, mandates/goals of actors, type of ecological infrastructure, trade-offs in investment in ecological/built infrastructure, and the model used for social benefits. Identified scalable typologies offer structures suited to increased investment, with other typologies offering specialised local value. A range of ecological infrastructure intervention typologies with differing biophysical and socioeconomic outcomes provide choices for investors with specific goals, and benefits to landscape actors.

Ecosystems are increasingly managed to provide multiple benefits to humans, which often degrades their ecological integrity. This strongly applies to aquatic ecosystems, in which engineering can enhance flood protection, drinking water supply, fisheries and recreation. Although these activities typically increase ecosystem functionality to humans, they often impair key aspects of biodiversity and natural functioning. Classical restoration of such degrading freshwater ecosystems can lead to societal opposition, if returning to a former ecosystem state affects previously acquired ecosystem services. Innovative nature‐based solutions are therefore needed that enhance natural values in ecosystems, without affecting existing services. We present a large‐scale project aiming to increase the ecological integrity of a human‐modified freshwater lake while maintaining its services to humans. The freshwater lake Markermeer in the Netherlands was formed by closing off an estuary for flood protection. The ecological integrity of this lake diminished over time, likely because a declining primary productivity impaired biodiversity at higher trophic levels. This decline is associated with a lack of gradual land–water transitions, strong resuspension of fine sediments, low nutrient availability and lack of dynamics typically to be expected in a natural temperate freshwater lake. Restoring the lake to its former marine state would conflict with current ecosystem services. A nature‐based solution was initiated in 2016, consisting of constructing a five‐island archipelago from the lake's own soft‐sediments called the ‘Marker Wadden’. The project aims to increase the lake's primary production by creating gradual land–water transitions, more heterogeneity in water depths and decreasing turbidity by creating shelter and deep sinks reducing fine‐sediment resuspension by the wind – thus introducing currently missing elements that are typical for natural lakes. We present the underlying ecological framework and first scientific results of this innovative ongoing project. Within 4 years, the Marker Wadden project shows how forward‐looking sustainable development of lake ecosystems using a rewilding approach can enhance natural processes and attract birds and fish, without conflicting with existing ecosystem services. This inspires new directions for halting and reversing the degradation of other vital ecosystems worldwide. Samenvatting Economische ontwikkelingen gaan vaak ten koste van de ecologische integriteit van ecosystemen. Dit geldt zeker voor zoetwater‐ecosystemen die worden ingericht ten behoeve van de waterveiligheid, drinkwatervoorziening, commerciële bevissing of recreatie. Maar wat voor mensen mogelijk een verbetering van de functionaliteit van een rivier of meer betekent, gaat vaak ten koste van de biodiversiteit en ruimte voor natuurlijke processen. Herstel van beschadigde zoetwater‐ecosystemen op klassieke wijze, namelijk het terugkeren naar de situatie van voor het menselijk ingrijpen, kan maatschappelijke weerstand oproepen als dit ten koste gaat van die eerder verworven ecosysteem diensten. Het vergt innovatieve oplossingen gericht op natuurlijke processen om de natuurwaarden te verhogen en tegelijkertijd de functionaliteit voor de mens ervan te behouden. Deze nieuwe vorm van ecosysteemherstel is toegepast in een grootschalig project in het Nederlandse Markermeer. Het Markermeer is in 1975 kunstmatig ontstaan in het voormalig estuarium van De Zuiderzee door bedijking voor de waterveiligheid. De afgelopen decennia is de ecologische waarde van het Markermeer steeds verder achteruitgegaan, waarschijnlijk doordat de primaire productie afneemt, met consequenties voor het hele voedsel web. Deze afname van productiviteit wordt geassocieerd met een gebrek aan natuurlijke land‐water overgangen, slecht doorzicht door continue opwerveling van grote hoeveelheden fijn slib, lage beschikbaarheid van voedingsstoffen en een gebrek aan natuurlijke dynamiek die past bij een natuurlijk gevormd ondiep zoetwatermeer. Klassiek herstel van de ecologische integriteit van het Markermeer via terugkeer naar de voormalige Zuiderzee is inmiddels onmogelijk omdat dit in strijd is met de huidige ecosysteemfuncties. In 2016 is daarom begonnen met een innovatieve vorm van ecosysteemherstel: de bouw van een nieuwe archipel van vijf eilanden, de Marker Wadden. De eilanden hebben als doel de primaire productie van het Markermeer te stimuleren door het toevoegen van karakteristieke elementen van natuurlijke meren die op dit moment in het meer ontbreken. Dit zijn met name geleidelijke land‐waterovergangen, variatie in waterdieptes en luwten tussen de eilanden waar het door de wind opwervelende slib kan bezinken. Hier presenteren we de ecologische achtergrond en eerste wetenschappelijke bevindingen van dit unieke en innovatieve project. Binnen vier jaar laat het Marker Wadden‐project zien hoe natuurontwikkeling volgens een rewilding benadering een stimulans kan geven aan natuurlijke processen. Vogels en vissen blijken het nieuwe gebied direct in gebruik te nemen, terwijl de ecosysteemfuncties voor de mens behouden zijn gebleven. Dit project kan dienen als voorbeeld van een nieuwe vorm van ecosysteemherstel, wat hard nodig is om de huidige achteruitgang van belangrijke ecosystemen wereldwijd ten goede te keren. The Marker Wadden project shows how forward‐looking sustainable development of lake ecosystems using a rewilding approach can enhance natural processes and attract birds and fish, without conflicting with existing ecosystem services. This inspires new directions for halting and reversing the degradation of other vital ecosystems worldwide.

Despite the ecological and socio‐economic benefits of nature‐based solutions (NbS), the application of ecological principles to the design of seawalls (termed ‘seawall eco‐engineering’) to mitigate their impacts remains low. We investigated stakeholder perspectives of, support for and willingness to pay (WTP) for seawall eco‐engineering in one of the most diverse and urbanised harbours in the world, Sydney Harbour, in Australia. Using a series of workshops and surveys targeting the general public, Local Government, built environment and natural environment professionals, we identified and ranked perceived risks and benefits of eco‐engineering seawalls, the most common infrastructure in the Harbour. Additionally, WTP for seawall eco‐engineering was investigated using an existing, large‐scale eco‐engineering project. Overall, workshop participants rated benefits of seawall eco‐engineering to be almost double the risks. The key perceived benefits were increased habitat/biodiversity, improved water quality and enhanced environmental stewardship/awareness. Key perceived risks were potential damage to infrastructure and use of greenwashing to facilitate new development. Across all stakeholder groups, participants were very supportive of statements regarding the benefits of eco‐engineered seawalls and the need for eco‐engineering principles to be included in the design of new seawalls. Despite strong support for seawall eco‐engineering, WTP was estimated at one third of the actual cost and was, in part, attributable to a lack of a shared evidence base from successful projects, and unclear guidance and policy around implementation. Synthesis and applications: Our results showed that establishing rigorous monitoring and evaluation programs that facilitate cost–benefit analyses are critical to enhancing WTP for and uptake of eco‐engineering projects. Furthermore, more cost‐effective technologies and shared funding models may overcome existing financial impediments. We also found integrative legislation may be key to increased implementation of such NbS, given that existing policies were viewed as unsupportive. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Global urbanisation reduces greenery and species richness (biodiversity) and limits opportunities for most children to gain experiences of nature. Disconnecting children from nature has implications for their play, health, well‐being, and comprehension of ecological systems, as well as their engagement with the environment as adults. In the competition for land for built infrastructure, the preservation of remaining greenery is essential to fulfill multiple functions. One way forward is to look for synergies between conservation of biodiversity and children's need for outdoor environments of high quality. In this paper, we synthesize the existing literature on how to understand the many interfaces between children and nature, suggesting perspectives and tools for the management and design of nature‐based play settings. We frame this transdisciplinary perspective using ‘play biotopes‘, as a conceptual framework in which both children's play and species are taken into account. We exemplify how the play biotope framework can be put into practice as part of (1) an overall approach to landscapes made more useful to both children and other species, (2) affordances for play in nature such as branches from dead wood, and (3) a design process of a playground by giving input to nature‐based solutions. A conclusion is that play biotopes as a conceptual framework within nature‐based solutions can help increase play and biodiversity by promoting structures for climbing, making huts and biotopes otherwise overlooked in urban planning. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Nature-based solutions (NBS) find increasing attention as actions to address societal challenges through harnessing ecological processes, yet knowledge gaps exist regarding approaches to landscape planning with NBS. This paper aims to provide suggestions of how planning NBS can be conceptualized and applied in practice. We develop a framework for planning NBS by merging insights from literature and a case study in the Lahn river landscape, Germany. Our framework relates to three key criteria that define NBS, and consists of six steps of planning: Co-define setting, Understand challenges, Create visions and scenarios, Assess potential impacts, Develop solution strategies, and Realize and monitor. Its implementation is guided by five principles, namely Place-specificity, Evidence base, Integration, Equity, and Transdisciplinarity. Drawing on the empirical insights from the case study, we suggest suitable methods and a checklist of supportive procedures for applying the framework in practice. Taken together, our framework can facilitate planning NBS and provides further steps towards mainstreaming.