Attachments
Introduction
This section:
• explains why there is a Sphere Unpacked Guide on nature-based solutions;
• outlines how the Unpacked Guide is structured and who it is for;
• introduces the Sphere Handbook.
Why is there a Sphere Unpacked Guide on nature-based solutions?
“Implementing nature-based solutions could reduce the number of people in need of international humanitarian assistance due to climate change and weather-related disasters… By 2030, 150 million people a year could need humanitarian assistance due to floods, droughts, and storms. By 2050, this is expected to rise to 200 million people annually.”
Growing disaster risk, driven in part by largescale environmental degradation, threatens to exceed the humanitarian sector’s capacity to respond in the coming decades. With over 20 million people a year displaced by climate-related natural hazards, there is an urgent need to find new approaches to reducing risk and saving lives. This need is particularly pressing as the nature of emergency response is shifting to longer-term, multigenerational refugee and internally displaced person (IDP) scenarios.
The environment in which people live and work is essential for their health, well-being and recovery from crisis ( see Sphere Handbook: What is Sphere?, p.19), yet it is often overlooked within humanitarian crises. Environmental degradation exacerbates disaster risk and undermines humanitarian and development gains.
Nature-based solutions (NbS) are actions that hold the twin objectives of providing for human well-being and protecting the environment. They are a tangible solution that can build immediate and long-term resilience for those affected by crisis. This Unpacked Guide focuses on NbS for resilience in humanitarian contexts, including for disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation.
What are nature-based solutions (NbS)?
Nature-based solutions are “actions to protect, conserve, restore, sustainably use and manage natural or modified terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine ecosystems, which address social, economic and environmental challenges effectively and adaptively, while simultaneously providing human well-being, ecosystem services and resilience and biodiversity benefits.”
Nature-based solutions is an “umbrella” concept which includes several types of ecosystem-based approaches, such as protection, restoration and sustainable management of natural resources and ecosystems, to address societal challenges such as disasters, human health, and food and water security. They also include natural/green and hybrid (combined natural and engineered/built or ‘grey’) infrastructure (Figure 1).
See Appendix 1: Nature-based solutions: A range of approaches for more information on the various NbS approaches.
Who is this Unpacked Guide for?
If you are interested in integrating environmental considerations that benefit both people and the environment into humanitarian action, then this guide is for you.
It is for humanitarian practitioners working in diverse contexts, such as protracted crises, post-acute shock, or settlements for refugees or internally displaced persons (IDPs), whether in rural, peri-urban or urban environments. These humanitarian practitioners may be involved in the conception, design, implementation, monitoring or evaluation of projects.
In addition, it may be of relevance to national headquarters staff and those responsible for inter-agency coordination and higher-level strategy, as well as to environmental and recovery practitioners outside the humanitarian sector. The strategies outlined in this guide may also be relevant to the work of national and local government agencies, disaster management authorities and other civil protection actors, who are key stakeholders in humanitarian response. See Sphere Thematic Sheet 3: Engaging National Disaster Management Authorities (bit.ly/sphere-ts3-en).
Finally, it is important to note that, while the integration of NbS into humanitarian action can in some cases be done with little external expertise, often it does require specific technical expertise. This guide is oriented towards a broad range of humanitarian practitioners, and where required, you are encouraged to seek the guidance of technical experts familiar with the environment and ecology you are working in.