Why nature-based solutions?
Scale for Resilience focuses on two core aspects to reach its objectives: Nature-based Solutions and digital tools.
Nature-based Solutions (NbS) for adaptation are often low-cost options that bring environmental, economic and social benefits to a wide range of stakeholders, including women and poor and marginalized groups.
Nature-based solututions are actions to protect, sustainably manage, and restore natural and modified ecosystems, that address societal challenges effectively and adaptively, simultaneously providing human well-beeing and biodiversity benefits.
NbS can have many different forms and sizes depending on context:
Replanting Mangroves to restore ecosystems along fragile coastlines are as much a NbS as the growing parks of Singapore which provide shade, higher air-quality and leisure space for inhabitants, but also the dames protecting the Netherlands from the water-masses of the Atlantic are Nature-based Solutions.
In the context of smallholder farmers NbS or climate solutions mostly refer to ecological agriculture and permaculture. The term NbS entails - against common perceptions – also technical tools which “use” nature and at the same time support eco-systems, but at least do not harm them. Examples are drip irrigation, green houses, solar dryers, water reservoir etc.
EXAMPLES OF NATURE-BASED SOLUTIONS
Agricultural support
Organic fertilizers
Soil conditioning
Rainwater reservoirs
Drainage system
Soil conditioning
Rainwater reservoirs
Drainage system
Ecological support
Substainable forst mgmt.
Filtering dams
Seed banks
Mixed-plant nurseries
Agricultural practices
Organic agriculture
Crop diversification
Crop rotation
Substainable pest mgmt.
Technology
Efficient irrigation
Solar dehydrator
Solar hydroponics
Greenhouses
Piscicultural
These solutions can be very cost-efficient and powerful tools for smallholders, as they not only increase their resilience, but also their productivity – and hence income – and benefit the ecosystems they operate in.
It is this multitude of positive effects, which can be increased by combining certain climate solutions with others, that make the increased spread and use of NbS for adaptation so desirable.
However, due to the many influencing factors it is difficult to finance agricultural activities as it is hard to calculate risks.
This becomes even harder when including in the equation changing climate effects and the potential positive effects of NbS, especially because costs and benefits of NbS depend on the local context. The only solution is sufficient data to calculate risks, but also factor in benefits.
Therefore, one goal of Scale for Resilience is to foster the spread and usage of NbS and therewith the gathering of data in different local context to understand what works and what does not.
Data on positive effects in local context is one important ingredient, the knowledge on how to properly install and use the NbS another.
Therefore, the cooperation with local providers as well as ongoing training and capacity building for the staff of FIs and smallholders is of key importance for a successful adaptation of NbS at scale. For this reason, “Scale for Resilience” seeks to focus not only on the financial value chain, but also facilitating bodies that can provide data and capacity like research centers, providers, farmer associations, to support the financing of NbS.
If we want to fight poverty for good we must build resilient communities
worldwide to avoid that progress made is not overturned by external events
such as climate change or pandemics like COVID19.
Financing assets that support building of resilience farmers communities must become a key theme within impact investing strategies and Race to Resilience is a terrific initiative that enables a diverse set of actors to collaborate towards this important goal.
LUCA TORRE
CO-FOUNDER AND CO-CEO, GAWA CAPITAL
CO-FOUNDER AND CO-CEO, GAWA CAPITAL
The role of technology
Digital MRV systems (Measurement, Reporting, Verification) is a key ingredient of our approach – it provides the basis to monitor, evaluate and report on farming activities and thereby statistically validate the most successful NbS strategies. YAPU Solutions, which is acknowledged as an innovative financing model by the Global Commission on adaptation, has developed a digital platform which supports the credit assessment of FIs by providing an automated analysis, including detailed cashflows of farming activities, the verification of green micro credits, indicators of climate sensitivity, adaptive capacity as well as climate exposure and biodiversity conservation. Scale for Resilience supports the use of digital tools, like the YAPU platform, as enabler of effective adaptation finance. Software is key to make adaptation finance for the financial value chain operational.
On the institutional level
- it facilitates the reduction of complexity in the agricultural risk analysis
- it enables the selection of the most suited nature-based solutions
- it supports the verification of green credits
On investor level
- it helps to provide standardized metrics
- it can report verified green credits
- it provides an ideal basis for dedicated refinancing products
Scale for Resilience asks its member institutions to leverage a digital MRV tool and embark on regular reporting to capture progress regarding formulated pledges.
