Welcome to the policy handbook
The Nordic NBS policy handbook provides advice and suggestions for approaches to develop policies aiming at mainstreaming and upscaling the use of nature-based solutions (NBS). It is mainly targeted toward policy- and decision-makers at local, regional, or national levels in the Nordic region, yet other actors such as the private sector and organisations can also find relevant inputs and examples. The handbook can serve as both an inspiration and a source of practical tips and insights. The handbook may also be useful to anyone who is interested in learning more about policies supporting NBS.
The Nordic NBS policy handbook is created by Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA), Norion Consult, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Ensucon AB and University of Iceland, who are all partners in the A-DVICE project (2022-2024). It was commissioned by the Nordic Council of Ministers. For more information about the project, visit www.nordicsituation.com/a-dvice
Why a policy handbook for the Nordic countries?
NBS require joint efforts across disciplines, sectors, and governance levels to deliver a range of co-benefits. Although NBS have been recognised as contributing to international climate and biodiversity goals (European Commission, n.d.a; CBD Secretariat, n.d.), the concept is still not widely used in all Nordic countries. Obstacles such as lack of knowledge on how to design NBS, uncertainties about their performance, lack of funding, weak collaboration with stakeholders, lack of sufficient regulations and governance practices are some of the challenges that can hinder mainstreaming of NBS. Well-designed policies and targeted policy instruments are needed to accelerate the uptake of NBS and build an evidence base of their performance.
The Nordic vision is to become the most sustainable and integrated region in the world by 2030 (Nordic Co-operation, 2019). The Nordic countries already have a good foundation of policies and instruments facilitating nature and biodiversity protection and key solutions to build on. This potential is quickly developing. While there are differences between the Nordic countries in terms of governance systems and legislations, there are also many common prerequisites. Existing policies that support NBS in the Nordic countries show that there is much to learn from each other, such as the development of climate adaptation strategies, building knowledge and capacity, financing of NBS, as well as integrating NBS in policy and planning. Network Nature has also established a Nordic Hub as a platform for exchanging knowledge and experiences contributing to addressing local barriers to NBS, which is administered by the coordinator of the Nordic Council of Ministers' Nature-based solutions programme in the Nordic region.
What to expect from the handbook?
The Nordic policy handbook is about NBS and effective policies to support, mainstream and upscale them. It presents examples of existing policies, legislation and policy instruments that are already supporting or have the potential to support wider NBS implementation. Potential users in public administrations and other experts in the Nordics have been consulted during the development of the handbook. The handbook summarises practices and provides examples that the readers can learn from and be inspired by across countries, nature types, sectors, and governance levels.
We appreciate any feedback and inputs on the contents of the handbook. Please visit the website www.nbspolicy.org to let us know your opinion.
How to navigate this handbook
To make it easier to navigate, the online handbook is structured according to different dimensions and categories, including governance levels, societal challenges and type of policy instruments, which the user of the handbook can select based on their interest.
Decisions affecting the use and implementation of NBS can be made in a range of different policy domains and on different governance levels. Some topics addressed in the handbook are common to most policies supporting NBS, such as stakeholder engagement, organisation, and financing mechanisms. Others may be more relevant for a specific sector or governance level.
Users of the online handbook can search for different topics and filter the content according to what tags and categories they find most useful. The advice in the online handbook is tagged with different categories that users can use to filter and search for relevant information.
The advice included in the online NBS policy handbook follows this hierarchy:
- Cross-cutting advice:Some advice is more general and can apply to most sectors, ecosystems and societal challenges.
- Advice for specific issues:Some advice is more specific and usually concerns specific challenges, governance levels, sectors or types of policy instruments.
- Examples on how it can be addressed:Examples of NBS policies in the Nordic countries are provided to illustrate the advice and potential solutions. For each set of advice, there may be several examples from different Nordic countries.
For more details on how to implement NBS in practice, the handbook also links to the GuideNBS handbook (available at www.nbsguide.org) which has been developed in parallel with the NBS policy handbook.
Important notes for the users of the handbook
- Application of best practices should always consider what might be possible given the unique social, ecological, and administrative contexts. The handbook provides suggestions and examples, but their transferability might depend on the unique circumstances of the different countries. NBS and policies supporting them should always be designed with the local context in mind.
- Policies change continuously, and the handbook does not aim to cover all policy fields, nor provide a complete overview of all existing NBS policies in all Nordic countries. It rather aims to give concrete suggestions and inputs by highlighting good practices and examples to learn from. We also acknowledge that depending on the time of publication and access, there will be new developments and information that may not be included.
About the handbook
The Nordic NBS policy handbook is created by Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA), Norion Consult, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Ensucon AB and University of Iceland, who are all partners in the A-DVICE project (2022-2024). It was commissioned by the Nordic Council of Ministers. For more information about the project, visit www.nordicsituation.com/a-dvice
A TemaNord report from the project will be published in by the end of 2024.
Authors
Caroline Gundersen Enge,1 Ingvild Skumlien Furuseth,1 Elvira Borgman,2 Maria Dubovik,3Ásdís Björk Gunnarsdóttir,4 Victoria Pehrsson,5 Line Johanne Barkved,1 Lára Hrönn Hlynsdóttir,4 Hafdís Hanna Ægisdóttir,4 Salar Valinia,5 Sara Lisa Egebæk,2 Amalie Engelbrecht Hansen,2 Kristian Jørgensen,2 Carmen Antuña Rozado,3 Lassi Warsta,3 Isabel Seifert-Dähnn.1
1 Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA)
2 Norion Consult
3 VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland
4 University of Iceland
5 Ensucon AB
How to cite
Enge, C.G.; Furuseth, I.S.; Borgman, E.; Dubovik, M.; Gunnarsdóttir, Á.B.; Pehrsson, V.; Barkved, L.J.; Hlynsdóttir, L.H.; Ægisdóttir, H.H.; Valinia, S.; Egebæk, S.L.; Hansen, A.E., Jørgensen, K.; Rozado, C.A.; Warsta, L. and Seifert-Dähnn, I. (2024). Nordic policy handbook for nature-based solutions. Online handbook. https://www.nbspolicy.org/
Acknowledgements
We wish to thank:
The members of the NCM steering committee and the project reference group for providing feedback and inputs during the project. The interviewees and workshop participants for their time contributing to building the project’s background materials. The IUCN European Regional Office for providing feedback on this report document. Project team members Laura Wendling (SINTEF, previously VTT), Louise Quistgaard (Ensucon), Rikke Fischer-Bogason (Norion), as well as Saskia Trubach (NIVA), Jemmima Knight (NIVA), Gabrielle Hairabedian (NIVA) and Sara Plassnig (NIVA) for their contributions to the project.
Funding
The A-DVICE project is part of the Nordic programme on nature-based solutions, which is funded by the Nordic Council of ministers. More information about the programme: www.norden.org/en/project/nature-based-solutions