Key Barriers to Advancing Climate Change Adaptation through Nature-based Solutions: Awareness and Understanding

The document argues that Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are underutilized for climate change adaptation because policy makers and practitioners often perceive them only as biodiversity measures rather than critical tools for flood control, drought mitigation, and coastal protection. It identifies several barriers, including institutional silos, a lack of robust performance metrics, and the prioritization of familiar engineered solutions. To address these, the briefing recommends cross-sectoral communication, the use of participatory and inclusive approaches, and the integration of NbS into educational curricula. It highlights successful initiatives such as the Nature-based Solutions Initiative (NBSI) and specific projects in Grenada, Peru, and Sub-Saharan Africa as models for increasing awareness and mainstreaming NbS.

• Widespread adoption of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) for climate change adaptation is limited by a persistent lack of awareness among investors, practitioners, policy makers, and local communities regarding their function and benefits.
• Decision makers frequently prioritize engineered solutions over NbS because engineered options are more familiar, perceived as more reliable, and believed to provide faster results, despite NbS often being more cost-effective and sustainable in the long term.
• Institutional silos between different sectors prevent the exchange of knowledge, which leads to the exclusion of NbS from financing frameworks, planning, and development and climate policies, increasing the risk of maladaptation and duplication of work.
• The use of NbS is hindered by a lack of robust metrics and scientific evidence that demonstrates their performance and co-benefits compared to other solutions, and existing evidence is often not communicated in ways accessible to decision makers.
• Climate risk and vulnerability assessments often ignore the dependence of assets and people on nature and fail to account for climate impacts on ecosystems, which can lead to underestimated risks and biodiversity loss.
• NbS are not sufficiently integrated into institutional frameworks or educational curricula, leaving professionals who design adaptation options unfamiliar with these tools.
• Participatory, gender-responsive, and inclusive approaches—such as citizen science—are essential for the sustainability and equity of NbS; for example, a mangrove restoration protocol in Grenada successfully involved local communities in data collection.

APA

WWF International (n.d.). Key Barriers to Advancing Climate Change Adaptation through Nature-based Solutions: Awareness and Understanding. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/341/38cnn7dl4t_Technical_Brief_01_Awareness_and_Understanding.pdf

Chicago

WWF International. Key Barriers to Advancing Climate Change Adaptation through Nature-based Solutions: Awareness and Understanding. n.d. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/341/38cnn7dl4t_Technical_Brief_01_Awareness_and_Understanding.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=WWF International |title=Key Barriers to Advancing Climate Change Adaptation through Nature-based Solutions: Awareness and Understanding |url=https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/341/38cnn7dl4t_Technical_Brief_01_Awareness_and_Understanding.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{wwfinternationalndkey, author = {{WWF International}}, title = {{Key Barriers to Advancing Climate Change Adaptation through Nature-based Solutions: Awareness and Understanding}}, institution = {WWF International}, url = {https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/341/38cnn7dl4t_Technical_Brief_01_Awareness_and_Understanding.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }