Nature-Based Solutions for Disaster Risk Reduction: Evidence, Limits, and Local Realities

Nature-based solutions (NbS) have gained significant traction in disaster risk reduction policy, offering a pathway for interventions that aim to be cost-efficient and environmentally sustainable. Initiatives such as mangrove restoration to buffer coastal flooding, urban greening to mitigate extreme heat, and watershed management to regulate water flow are increasingly written into national strategies and international frameworks for their ability to reduce disaster risk while preserving broader ecosystem function. Whether these interventions deliver on their promise depends not only on the technology, but on how, where, and for whom they are implemented. NbS projects have at times displaced the communities they intended to protect, excluded marginalized groups from planning and benefit, and triggered green gentrification in urban contexts.

This session invites empirical and conceptual contributions that engage critically and constructively with nature-based solutions across a range of hazard contexts and geographies. We welcome work that examines what nature-based approaches can and cannot do, where they have succeeded and under what conditions, and how they interact with existing social and institutional structures. Contributions may draw on case study evidence, comparative analysis, systematic review, or critical conceptual work, and are encouraged to move beyond proof-of-concept to address scalability, governance, and equity. Work that centers community perspectives, Indigenous knowledge systems, or the political economy of NbS adoption is particularly welcome. We invite submissions from researchers, practitioners, and policymakers working across disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation.