To celebrate World Water Day 2018 we have created a showcase of the top nature-based resources on the portal. The breadth of this knowledge shows the true potential of nature-based approaches to build flood resilience: from using ecosystem services to reduce disaster risk to the value in prioritising green infrastructure during recovery. There’s also a few case studies to show how these approaches have been used in practice.
We hope you find this showcase instructive and inspiring. Remember, to get in touch if you have any more questions or your own resources to share.
Nature for disaster risk reduction
- A Guide to Selecting Ecosystem Service Models for Decision-Making: Lessons from Sub-Saharan Africa, by the World Resources Institute. While there are over 80 tools for modelling ecosystem services, nearly all are of limited use to actual decision-makers who find themselves having to make choices about natural resource management. This document assesses the different models available and offers guidance in choosing the right one to help you make an informed decision.
- Urban resilience and sustainability through peri-urban ecosystems: Integrating climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction. By the Gorakhpur Environmental Action Group. Cities depend on their local environment and ecosystem for resilience against disasters and climate change. This guide offers case studies and training modules to help you recognise, promote and utilise ecosystem services to promote resilient development for cities and towns.
- Natural & Nature-Based Flood Management: A Green Guide, by WWF. This guide was developed to help support communities using natural and nature-based methods of flood risk management at a local level. It provides practical guidance and tools to understand the local context of flood risk and also describes a number of natural flood management methods.
- Implementing nature-based flood protection: Principles and implementation guidance, by The World Bank. This document firstly describes the key considerations to bear in mind when planning nature-based solutions to flood risk management. It goes on to then offer guidance on implementing these plans describing the timeline and activities needed.
- Green infrastructure and flood management: Promoting cost-efficient flood risk reduction via green infrastructure solutions, by The European Environment Agency This report presents various options for reducing the risks of flooding with green infrastructure solutions in European floodplains and presents improved evidence for the financial justification of green investments. The findings are based on a number of case studies, whose evidence shows the benefits of green infrastructure over grey infrastructure.
Nature in disaster recovery and rebuilding
- Opportunities for green recovery and reconstruction: An introduction, by the American Red Cross and the World Wide Fund For Nature. This toolkit is designed to increase awareness and knowledge of environmentally sustainable disaster response approaches. It aims to allow decision-makers to make the best of the opportunity rebuilding efforts represent to restore communities in a more environmentally and socially sustainable way.
- Building back safer and greener: A guide to sound environmental practices for disaster recovery in Nepal, by WWF Nepal. This guide was developed from the Hariyo Ban Program and outlines the way in which adverse environmental impacts can be avoided after disasters, and how good practices can be promoted. It considers how, and by who, the environmental and social settings should be considered following a disaster to ensure resilience for the next one.
Best practice and case studies
- Ecosystems protecting infrastructure and communities: lessons learned and guidelines for implementation, by IUCN. This is a collection of case studies from the global Ecosystems Protecting Infrastructure and Communities project. This initiative was implemented from 2012 – 2017 with pilot sites in six countries from three regions. The publication provides a detailed description of the project’s operational approach and draws lessons from the case studies to inform and guide best practices to implement integrated ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction and ecosystem-based adaptation.
- Building ecosystem resilience in Ethiopia’s Somali Region, By Wetlands International. This animation showcases the integrated approach used to build flood and drought resilience in the Horn of Africa, that links disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation, and ecosystem management and restoration.
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