Unlocking Nature-Based Solutions

This report outlines the findings of a multi-stakeholder workshop on implementing nature-based solutions (NbS) in Indian cities. It identifies a critical gap in national and state-level policy frameworks, which leads to fragmented, pilot-scale projects. The document advocates for an integrated policy approach to address systemic barriers in governance, finance, design, and maintenance, emphasizing the need for ecological valuation to unlock diverse funding and localized design to ensure effectiveness.

• The primary structural obstacle to scaling nature-based solutions (NbS) in India is the absence of a comprehensive, integrated policy framework at the national or state level. Without this anchoring, current efforts are fragmented, consisting of isolated pilots characterized by inconsistent standards, underutilized financial mechanisms, and unclear mandates.
• Mainstreaming NbS requires a shift in financial architecture to assign economic value to ecological functions. This valuation would allow for the mobilization of diverse funding streams—including ESG, private sector investment, CSR, philanthropic capital, and blended finance—by quantifying co-benefits such as reduced cooling energy demand, improved groundwater recharge, and lower disaster recovery costs from mitigated flood damage.
• The adoption of NbS is hindered by systemic barriers across four key levers: design and implementation (lack of technical standards and spatial data), governance (institutional fragmentation and unclear mandates), finance and incentives (weak incentives and underdeveloped sustainable financing models), and operations and maintenance (underfunding and lack of community engagement).
• Effective NbS implementation must be locally grounded and context-sensitive, as the success of these interventions depends on specific urban morphology, hydrology, socio-spatial density, and climate zones.

APA

RMI (2025). Unlocking Nature-Based Solutions. https://rmi.org/resources/unlocking-nature-based-solutions/

Chicago

RMI. Unlocking Nature-Based Solutions. 2025. https://rmi.org/resources/unlocking-nature-based-solutions/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=Unlocking Nature-Based Solutions |date=28 August 2025 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/unlocking-nature-based-solutions/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2025unlocking, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{Unlocking Nature-Based Solutions}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2025}, month = aug, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/unlocking-nature-based-solutions/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }