Nature-based solutions (NBS), if designed and implemented well, can produce a multitude of benefits simultaneously, including for health and wellbeing, agriculture, water, food and energy production, climate change, economic development, and more. Mainstreaming these solutions through agreed (quality) standards and best practices can help maximise the impact and uptake of nature-based solutions.

The event will focus on the Network Nature semester theme “Nature-based solutions and Standards”, to ensure the quality, effectiveness and scale of implementation that helps deliver the European Green Deal and the challenges related to biodiversity, climate change and socio-economic development.

Exchange of knowledge, capacity building and dialogue across stakeholders and sectors is key to developing joint action for upscaling NBS. NetworkNature hosts an annual event to take stock of achievements across EU-funded projects (mainly H2020, Horizon Europe) and provide the opportunity to learn more about the state-of-the-art developments in NBS evidence, practice and policy.

This event invites the Nature-based solutions community and other interested stakeholders from all target groups, including policymakers, scientific experts, civil society as well as investors and financing institutions, infrastructure planners and builders, landowners and natural resource managers to share and learn about the ways through which nature-based solutions can be upscaled, through policy and practice, how different sectors can contribute, and the role of standards.

The parallel sessions in the afternoon will provide space for an interactive exchange on developing standard(s) around NBS, quality criteria and best practices for integrating NBS more effectively in policy and practice. The sessions will feature presentations, capacity building and idea-sharing by the NBS community of practice, and will build on the results of Horizon 2020 NBS projects and involve the NetworkNature Stakeholder Advisory Board. The aim of these sessions is to learn about the latest developments and success stories in upscaling NBS in policy and practice and to identify opportunities for strengthened engagements and partnerships for NBS.

The event will be held in-person in Brussels, Belgium (venue to be announced).

More information about the programme and venue will be shared shortly.

The NetworkNature Annual Event will be held back-to-back the NBS Hubs Meeting (26th September) and the NetworkNature Taskforces Cluster Meeting (28th September), in Brussels. Participation to these events is open for selected groups.