SDSN Northern Europe attend the Nordic conference on nature-based solutions
At the Nordic NBS Conference in September, experts gathered to explore nature-based solutions. SDSN Northern Europe participated to network with members, learn more about NBS in a Nordic context, and share that knowledge widely.
On September 26–27, 2024, SDSN Northern Europe team members Martin Eriksson and Nina Silow attended the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Conference on Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) in Malmö, Sweden.
For two days, filled with presentations, workshops and field visits, researchers, policymakers, and practitioners from across the Nordics gathered to exchange experiences and explore how NBS can address societal challenges while promoting biodiversity, climate resilience, and human well-being.
Key takeaways
The conference provided an overview of how nature-based solutions can be integrated into sustainable development planning to tackle climate change, support ecosystems, and improve quality of life.
Highlights included presentations on the A-DVICE and GuideNBS handbooks, which provide actionable tools for policy development and practical implementation of NBS.
Field visits to Lomma Municipality, the Augustenborg eco-city, and the Nordic Genetic Resource Center (NordGen) showed real-world applications of NBS. These projects demonstrated how nature-based approaches can address challenges like sea-level rise, flooding, and biodiversity loss.
The discussions underscored the importance of cross-sector collaboration and the role of local examples as inspiration for broader implementation.
Why this matters for our members and others
For universities and other knowledge institutions within SDSN Northern Europe, the insights from this conference emphasize the importance of research, innovation, and education in advancing nature-based solutions (NBS).
The A-DVICE and GuideNBS handbooks, presented at the conference, offer frameworks for developing policies and implementing NBS in practice.
Additionally, the field visits and workshops demonstrated how local projects can serve as living labs, providing opportunities for interdisciplinary research, hands-on student learning, and community engagement.
These real-world applications of NBS highlight the potential for universities to partner with municipalities, businesses, and other stakeholders to co-create sustainable solutions and address pressing societal challenges.
We encourage our members to explore the materials shared during the conference. The Nordic examples of NBS serve as valuable lessons and inspiration for those looking to integrate sustainability into their planning and operations.
Nature-based solutions are defined as "actions to protect, conserve, restore, sustainably use and manage natural or modified terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine ecosystems, which address social, economic and environmental challenges effectively and adaptively, while simultaneously providing human well-being, ecosystem services and resilience and biodiversity benefits".