Building with nature

Abstract

Over the last decades, we have seen the ways that the footprint of human development increasingly affects life on our planet, changing societies, and disrupting ecosystems. On top of that, these developments are being aggravated by man-made climate change. The consequences have raised awareness that something must be done to counter climate change, halt biodiversity loss, and prevent further damage to society and the ecosystems we depend on. The Paris Climate agreement, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction as well as the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration are some concrete examples of global initiatives that aim to tackle these challenges. As the world population continues to grow to an approximate 9.7 billion people in 2050, nearly quadrupling in one century, human pressure on our planet will increase. This drives the necessity to think differently about how we approach infrastructure and socio-economic development, changing towards a sustainable system-based approach. As Henk Ovink, the Dutch special envoy for international water affairs puts it: “today’s social, economic, cultural, and environmental challenges are fundamentally interdependent, as are opportunities for development and growth.” In many of these global initiatives, Naturebased Solutions are considered an essential element to achieve sustainable development. Building with Nature