There are nature-based solutions to climate change all around us in Ireland. In a recent report commissioned for the Climate Change Advisory Council, we identified 81 different projects, schemes and sites where nature has been used to provide climate solutions while supporting biodiversity and providing benefits to people.
These nature-based solutions range from the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan which aims to “create a landscape where pollinators can survive and thrive” to Bioswales for Flood Protection, in Ashtown, Co Dublin, using green areas for water management to protect urban houses from flooding.
The climate change mess we are in is a consequence of burning millions of years of stored carbon from ancient forests as fossil fuels in a very short time. So far, the functioning of natural ecosystems has buffered us from the worst effects of this explosive release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Oceans have absorbed much of the heat that has been trapped within the atmosphere by greenhouse gases and forests, wetlands, grasslands and marine algae continue to store vast amounts of carbon and to continually remove it from the atmosphere. However, we are seeing rapid changes to the climate because nature cannot keep up with our actions.
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We can do two things to give nature and ourselves a helping hand with climate change: protect and restore ecosystems so they can continue to provide us with critical protection and ecosystem services like pollination and flood protection, and incorporate nature into the solutions that we are developing to stop climate change and adapt to its effects.
We found eight types of nature-based solutions across the country in agro-ecosystems; integrated constructed wetlands, urban greening projects, rivers, peatlands, woodlands, wetlands and marine systems. These systems provided a wide range of benefits to people including carbon capture, water flow reduction and infiltration, coastal protection, pollination, pest control and nitrogen-fixing in the soil.
Some of these nature-based solutions are regularly incorporated into new developments. Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems include a wide range of different ways of slowing rainwater flow and enabling it to infiltrate deeper into the soil, rather than flowing off impervious concrete surfaces into our overburdened wastewater treatment systems.
Sustainable urban drainage can include relatively simple solutions such as rainwater harvesting and use within the garden or larger-scale integrated constructed wetlands which store and treat surface water run-off in permanent or temporary pods while encouraging biodiversity and providing recreational amenities to people.
The most common nature-based solutions are probably those provided on farms. There is a relatively long history of development of agro-ecological solutions to soil fertility, pest control, livestock protection and carbon sequestration on farms. Organic farms use nature-based solutions throughout all their operations, relying on cover crops, nitrogen-fixing plants and manure rather than chemical fertilisers.
More intensive farms may only use nature-based solutions in part of their operations. For example, protecting, correctly managing, restoring and creating new hedgerows provide benefits for the climate, biodiversity and people. Hedgerows provide nesting and food resources for pollinators which are essential to produce crops like oilseed rape and apples and pollinators are essential for the persistence of virtually all natural ecosystems. Hedgerows also protect livestock from weather extremes and resources for predatory insects, spiders, birds and bats which all provide important pest control services.
As nature-based solutions for climate change are a relatively new concept, their full benefits may not be recognised or valued. Some nature-based solutions have a long history of research and a strong evidence base for their effectiveness, but there is considerable uncertainty in the functioning of other types of nature-based solutions.
Engineers, planners and land managers may be reluctant to put in place a solution where there is uncertainty in whether it will do the job it is designed for. Given the scale of the problems that nature-based solutions are being implemented to solve we urgently need to invest in the research that underpins their effectiveness and resilience. A deep understanding of the engineering, ecology, governance, finance and social acceptance is needed to be woven together for the effective development of nature-based solutions.
Yvonne Buckley is co-director of the Co-Centre for Climate + Biodiversity + Water and professor of zoology at Trinity College Dublin
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