Spotlight on social equity, finance and scale: promises and pitfalls of nature-based solutions

The document introduces a series of briefs examining nature-based solutions (NbS), arguing that while NbS offer alternatives to fossil fuel-based infrastructure and provide climate and biodiversity benefits, there is a lack of critical reflection on their social and economic sustainability. The series aims to address how NbS can be implemented without reinforcing existing inequalities or creating 'winners and losers'.

• Nature-based solutions (NbS) are physical measures designed to protect, manage, and restore ecosystems to address societal challenges and provide biodiversity benefits, offering an alternative to hard infrastructure or fossil fuel-based solutions.
• Despite an increase in publications in 2020 regarding the effectiveness of NbS, there remains a significant lack of critical analysis concerning their social and economic sustainability, particularly regarding how benefits are distributed across different social groups, timescales, and geographies.
• If social equity and justice are not integrated into the governance and implementation of NbS, these projects risk reinforcing existing injustices and creating disparate outcomes of winners and losers.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2021). Spotlight on social equity, finance and scale: promises and pitfalls of nature-based solutions. https://www.sei.org/publications/spotlight-social-equity-finance-scale-promises-pitfalls-nature-based-solutions/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Spotlight on social equity, finance and scale: promises and pitfalls of nature-based solutions. 2021. https://www.sei.org/publications/spotlight-social-equity-finance-scale-promises-pitfalls-nature-based-solutions/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Spotlight on social equity, finance and scale: promises and pitfalls of nature-based solutions |date=7 June 2021 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/spotlight-social-equity-finance-scale-promises-pitfalls-nature-based-solutions/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2021spotlight, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Spotlight on social equity, finance and scale: promises and pitfalls of nature-based solutions}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2021}, month = jun, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/spotlight-social-equity-finance-scale-promises-pitfalls-nature-based-solutions/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }