Technical Solutions Guidebook

A guidebook supporting practitioners in navigating the technical components of Nature-Based Solutions.

Climate Change Adaptation Health, Wellbeing and Social Value Nature Biodiversity and Environmental Net Gain Nature Based Solutions

Problem Addressed

This solution was sourced in response to UKGBC’s Innovation Challenge: “How can communities and local authorities implement, maintain, and assess the impact of nature-based solutions to enhance climate resilience?”

Designing and implementing nature-based solutions (NBS) on a scale that delivers economic, environmental and social co-benefits, builds resilience and benefits biodiversity is complex with many different issues to consider: What is the best solution for the area? Who will manage it? How will it be financed? Who needs to be involved in the design, implementation and maintenance? How to measure economic, environmental and social impact? Will it support innovation and generate jobs? How to manage change? Even identifying where to start can often be a challenge! The Technical Solutions Guidebook details the technical components that go into the planning, delivery and the long-term stewardship of NBS.

Solution Overview

Technical Solutions is one of the Elements of the Connecting Nature Framework. The Framework helps cities and other organisations to design NBS from a systemic perspective. The Framework was developed as a process tool to help cities and other organisations navigate the path towards the large scale implementation of NBS.

The Technical Solutions Guidebook supports practitioners in navigating the technical components that go into the planning, delivery and the long-term stewardship of NBS. Technical solutions include, for example, the type of NBS selected, the plants selected, anything that takes into account the local circumstances and, when it comes to the stewardship or ongoing management of the NBS, feeding the results of evaluation and on-going measurement into the project is also considered a technical aspect.

The Technical Solutions Guidebook supports practitioners in asking the right questions when considering social, environmental and economic benefits, needs and trade-offs. It builds on the generation of knowledge about local needs and the local context. It also considers impacts, synergies and trade-offs across scales and time.

Company name

Connecting Nature

UK availability

Yes

Solution launch date

2021

Cost Benefit

The resource is open access and free to use. Implementing the activities that the Guidebook supports would, however, have a cost.

Verification & Case Study

Other Elements of the Connecting Nature Framework (Impact Assessment and Reflexive Monitoring) are designed to support the evaluation of NBS and processes involved in its implementation.

Cities in the Connecting Nature project have been using the Connecting Nature Framework to develop and mainstream NBS. This has included the Technical Solutions guidebook. Case Studies of this progress can be found on Oppla and the Connecting Nature website. An example of this is the Stiemer Vallei in Genk, Belgium.