Nature-based solutions for climate change – inquiry launched
21 July 2021
The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee is conducting an inquiry into the role of Nature-based Solutions in mitigating climate change and achieving the UK’s ambition of Net Zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
- Call for evidence
- Send a written submission
- Inquiry: Nature-based Solutions for Climate Change
- Science and Technology Committee
Focus of the inquiry
Nature-based solutions involve protecting, managing, restoring, or creating natural or modified ecosystems, on land or in marine environments. These techniques can mitigate climate change by absorbing greenhouse gases or by reducing emissions from land-use. They also aim to provide co-benefits, such as enhanced protection for biodiversity, health and water security, and increased resilience to extreme weather events and climate change.
The UK is host to many natural ecosystems such as peatlands, seagrasses, and woodlands that have historically been degraded or lost, which could be suitable locations for nature-based solutions. However, successful implementation of nature-based solutions requires careful, site-specific planning, stakeholder engagement, financing and regulation. It remains unclear how large a contribution nature-based solutions could make to mitigating climate change, and how easy it will be to scale them up to fulfil ambitious pledges.
The Committee seeks to understand:
- the potential of nature-based solutions to contribute achieving net-zero emissions in the UK;
- how nature-based solutions can fit into the UK’s broader land use, forestry and agricultural planning; and
- how policy can support the implementation of best-practice techniques to deliver nature based solutions at scale.
As full list of questions can be found in the call for evidence (see link above).
Timeline
The committee has extended the deadline for contributions to 23:59 on Thursday 30 September 2021.