Identifying supportive legal frameworks for innovation with and deployment of NbS at relevant scales. A meaningful deployment of NbS needs to be supported by appropriate policy instruments at the national as well as the regional and local levels, in correspondence with a long-term EU strategy and support for NbS, knowledge development and integration, as well as tailored guidance and tools for decision-making. Stakeholder consultations more specifically highlighted the need for clearer integration of and references to NbS in existing national legislative frameworks, e.g., in national building codes, national energy and climate plans, or national nature and landscape protection legislation, and in agricultural policy and funding. In this context, knowledge gaps related to availability of information on the policy and financial incentives and instruments for NbS implementation (including legal, economic, collaboration and awareness raising instruments) and their effectiveness, e.g., for urban governments, or identifying policy instruments to stimulate the demand for NbS, and what criteria to apply in this regard, addressing the challenge of grey, engineered interventions still being the default approach.
European Commission. Directorate General for Research and Innovation. The vital role of nature-based solutions in a nature-positive economy. (Publications Office of the European Union, 2022).
European Commission Directorate-General for Research and Innovation et al. Nature-based solutions: state of the art in EU-funded projects. (Publications Office of the European Union, 2020).
Naumann, S., Röschel, L. & Davis, M. City-level policy and institutional frameworks - A supporting or hindering factor for green and blue infrastructure? Insights from five ENABLE cities. Task 2.3, ENABLE. (2018).
Seddon, N. et al. Understanding the value and limits of nature-based solutions to climate change and other global challenges. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. B Biol. Sci. 375, 20190120 (2020).