Nature-Based Solutions最新文献

Statement of problem

Green gentrification is an emerging issue, where Urban green space (UGS) upgrades lead to higher living costs, displacing lower-income residents, raising concerns about accessibility, sustainability, and equity. This phenomena challenges the inclusive and equitable development of urban environments.

Purpose

Through an integrative analysis of existing literature, this study aims to address a significant gap in current research by exploring how Nature-Based Solutions (NbS) can more effectively counteract the adverse effects of UGS gentrification.

Method

Utilizing a scoping literature review, the research analyzes articles from 2015 to 2024 to synthesize insights for a more equitable urban development.

Results

Findings reveal diverse lessons learned and strategies for countering green gentrification across different urban settings worldwide. However, a significant number of studies predominantly focus on the Global North, primarily in Europe and North America, which may lead to a regional bias.

Practical implications

The results provide insights for policymakers, urban planners, and communities, guiding the creation of more inclusive and sustainable urban green spaces.

Future directions

Further research should focus on developing quantitative metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of NbS in mitigating urban gentrification and expanding the geographic focus to include more underrepresented regions.

Cyanobacteria, also named blue-green algae, are one of the main oxygen producers in the oceans. This is developed through photosynthesis, a process in which solar power and carbon dioxide are captured to ensure the survival and proliferation of these microorganisms. Parallelly, cyanobacteria are outstanding candidates for transitioning towards cyclic recovery processes, as they can; i) easily propagate in waste effluents containing pollutants that they can remove, and ii) accumulate bioproducts, including blue pigments which are very scarce. Altogether, they suppose a sustainable subject for the manufacturing of biomaterials. This personal project called MATERCyan, aims to explore the potential of cyanobacteria to produce biodegradable materials and bio-based pigments, targeting to investigate the potential use of local waste sources for their formulation. Moreover, it focuses on assessing the durability of these pigments over time, by “immortalizing” them in natural matrixes. Finally, it pretends to encourage community building, as well as to fill the gap between scientists and local artists through the diffusion of simple and sustainable recipes.

Effective disaster risk reduction measures are vital to coastal communities around the world. While nature-based solutions provide coastal communities with a promising alternative to traditional engineering-based solutions; these solutions are often overlooked by communities when planning and implementing disaster risk reduction measures. This study builds upon the literature that demonstrates the effectiveness of coral reef conservation to mitigate coastal flood risk. Our approach utilizes freely available tools and data to quantify the economic value of coral reef conservation for the Hawaiian Islands. We explore a scenario that depicts coastal flooding if the upper 1 m of the coral reef were to be lost. The study analyzes the Average Annual Loss (AAL) and losses avoided based on a series of 4 coastal flood scenario return periods with and without coral reefs. This case study finds that the preservation of the upper 1 m of coral reefs for the main islands of Hawaiʻi provides the state with $629 million in annual losses avoided to buildings. A hot spot analysis of the losses avoided identifies areas where conservation efforts could be prioritized. Our findings provide additional support to the use of nature-based solutions as an effective disaster risk reduction measure, and provides communities and stakeholders with a methodology that can be implemented using readily available data and tools.

Nature-based solutions (NbS) can address urban infrastructure challenges exacerbated by climate change (e.g., flooding) and contribute to citizens’ quality of life, supporting both environmental and social policy goals. Despite those advantages, NbS can be a difficult ‘sell’ for policy makers in a wider context of social uncertainty and austerity. To support greater insight into the issues affecting market uptake, this scoping study draws on data from a EU Horizons project. The experience of government and business stakeholders in six cities (Liverpool, Valladolid, Izmir, Mantua, Ludwigsburg, and Medellin), serve as illustrative cases of market uptake from the NbS provider perspective. Drawing on interview, survey and secondary data, three strategic drivers (and barriers) of NbS investment emerged: Socio-cultural, financial and governance. At operational level, four types of NbS (Grand, customized, large scale and niche) and four types of strategic opportunities emerged: Tolerable (low cost: low benefit), Ruinous (high cost: low benefit), Best case (low cost: high benefit) and Aspirational (high cost: high benefit). On the supply side, funding and maintenance capabilities are the primary barriers to NbS implementation. On the demand side, insight into public perception of NbS is crucial. Drawing from this data, the three pillars of successful NbS projects are: (1) Relevant policy frameworks (global, national and municipal), (2) supporting mechanisms and resources for public-private partnerships and (3) engaging all stakeholders through targeted communications emphasizing all forms of value.

Background

In the face of escalating soil erosion exacerbated by intense rainfall in tropical climates, the quest for sustainable and effective erosion control techniques is paramount. Nature-based solutions (NbS) using bioengineering strategies have emerged as a potential avenue, yet their efficacy and adaptability in such environmental conditions are not fully explored.

Objective

This study seeks to bridge the research gap by evaluating the effectiveness of a bioengineering approach, which involved a strategic plantation of Pigeonpea, Sesame, and Cowpea, as an NbS for soil erosion control under the challenging conditions of tropical climates. It emphasizes the rhizospheric characteristics of these species and their potential to offer a sustainable and environmentally friendly solution to soil erosion.

Methods

Employing a random block experimental design, the study compared the performance of Pigeonpea, Sesame, and Cowpea against conventional biosynthetic erosion control methods across various plots. Over 25 rainfall events, comprehensive data collection was undertaken, encompassing 150 measures of precipitation, surface runoff, and soil loss mass. Results: The findings reveal bioengineering solution's comparable, if not superior, effectiveness to conventional techniques, marked by minimal soil loss and enhanced water infiltration capabilities. Analysis of Covariance showcased a very large effect size, significantly underscoring bioengineering's efficacy in soil loss control. Notably, bioengineering's contribution extends beyond erosion control, fostering aquifer recharge and preventing sedimentation in water bodies.

Conclusions

This strategic plantation of Pigeonpea, Sesame, and Cowpea stands out as a promising NbS for soil erosion control in tropical climates, characterized by its sustainable approach and minimal environmental footprint. The study advocates for the broader integration of Pigeonpea, Sesame, and Cowpea in soil conservation practices, highlighting its potential to transform erosion control strategies towards greater environmental sustainability and effectiveness.

Art is an amorphous field of operations that continuously sheds revered traditions and adds unprecedented innovations. It is, therefore, primed to offer original solutions to entrenched problems, such as those associated with urban foodways. Assessing the significance of the novel forms of expression that artistic license often entails entering uncharted cultural territories, then surveying the new terrains for the insights they contain. The five contemporary artists who are featured in this essay affirm this observation. The artworks they produced bypassed traditional still lifes and rural landscapes. Instead, they interrogated the particularities of current urban foodways.

I treated these artworks to two concurrent paths of inquiry. One involved assessing the content of the artists’ urban food anxiteies and solutions. The other involved relating this content to the unconventional art strategies they employed to convey their creative food-generating initiatives. Methodology, therefore, constitutes an essential component of their creative practices. Their innovative strategies offer pragmatic solutions regarding urban food dilemmas that far exceed the cultural arena of art.

For example, although all five artists live amid urban abundance, their focus zeroed in on food insecurity. Their artworks not only expose potential shortages and citizen vulnerabilities; they also propose security-bolstering solutions. Significantly, those solutions are not vested in broad-scale systems of production and distribution. Instead, the responsibility is entrusted to individual citizens. Their artworks introduce schemes for gaining food security that are both modest and innovative. They are modest because they are scaled to individuals, neighborhoods, and communities. They are innovative because these domestically scaled initiatives offer novel nature-based urban food solutions. For this reason, the artworks discussed on the following pages could contribute to future NBS urban food approaches. Some seem suitable for scaling up. Others demonstrate the need to relax regulations that inhibit experimentation. A few might bolster broad-scale institutional policies designed to facilitate independent food production. All replace stress with confidence.

Short rotation willow (SRW) is a land management strategy involving the cultivation of rapidly growing, biomass-rich herbaceous-woody plants. This practice holds promise for renewable energy production, water quality preservation, carbon sequestration, greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation, enhancement of soil extracellular enzyme activities (EEAs), and promotion of overall soil health. The rapid growth of SRW demands substantial water and nutrient resources, posing concerns when cultivated in marginal riparian lands within the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR), potentially leading to alterations in groundwater table (GWT) depth fluctuations, elevated soil salinity levels, and disruptions to biogeochemical cycles. Hence, this study comprehensively evaluated the effects of establishing SRW as a degraded marginal riparian land use practice in the PPR and attempted to answer several vital questions in the field and microcosm scale on soil hydrology, salinity, nutrients, soil organic carbon (SOC), GHG emissions, and EEAs involved in biogeochemical cycling. In a field experiment, the effects of SRW were evaluated by measuring the depth to GWT, groundwater and soil electrical conductivity (EC), macronutrients (N, P, K, and S), and SOC content in different fractions and chemical compositions during the first rotation (3-year cycle) compared with adjacent annual crop and pasture in two semi-arid PPR sites. In a microcosm experiment, GHG (CO₂, CH_4, and N₂O) emissions and EEAs [β-glucosidase (BG), N-acetyl glucosaminidase (NAG), and alkaline phosphatase (AP)] were measured in intact soil cores treated with declining water tables and different groundwater salinity levels. No consistent land use impacts on GWT or soil EC were observed between sites. Land use in site B significantly impacted GWT depth, implying site-specific factors, such as topography and soil characteristics, may be dominant over land use effects. Under SRW, the levels of macronutrients in the soil varied but did not significantly reduce the overall nutrient content of the soil. Total SOC was highest in pasture; light fraction organic carbon and particulate organic carbon followed a similar land use pattern, i.e., pasture > SRW = annual crop. Land uses affected GHG emissions significantly in the order of pasture > annual crop = SRW. GHG emission varied with salinity and GWT but there was no interaction with land use practices. Soil EEAs were significantly impacted by different land uses, i.e., pasture > annual crop = SRW, suggesting that the effects resulted from associated SOC. Our microcosm experiment suggests that the SRW land use practice holds promise as a sustainable Nature-Based Solution for enhancing climate resiliency in PPR. It exhibits a lower global warming potential compared to annual crop and pasture. Therefore, widespread implementation of the SRW land use practice in degraded marginal land could help mitigate the effects of climate chan