A shortage of skills in the workforce is one of the greatest obstacles holding back the scaling up of nature-based solutions worldwide, according to a European Commission official.

Barriers exist in technical, standards, governance, and financial areas for nature-based solutions, said Fleur van Ooststrom-Brummel, policy officer of biodiversity and nature-based solutions at the Commission.

“With technical barriers, capacity constraints are definitely at the top of the list,” van Ooststrom-Brummel said during a panel at the EU Business and Nature Summit in Milan last week.

“Skill shortages come up all the time because nature-based solutions are quite a new concept. Especially in terms of engineering and ecological experience, there’s just not enough.”

To try to plug these gaps, the Commission in 2020 launched a €11 million programme called Connecting Nature for Forming Communities in the EU and Abroad, as well as the Green Advisory Service for Sustainable Investments Support programme.

STANDARDS

Nature-based solutions have a “huge lack” of standards, deterring the private sector from investing, van Ooststrom-Brummel said.

To address this issue, the European Committee for Standardisation has begun to create standards in the area, taking into account relevant research by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, she said.

Work on the topic includes a technical committee drafting standards on terminology, technical references, and processes, she said. It aims to develop a protocol for assessing the cost-benefit effectiveness of nature-based solutions, she said.

GOVERNANCE

Governance around nature-based solutions has “fragmented structures”, van Ooststrom-Brummel said.

“Most of the time we’re dealing with a very large physical space, where nature-based solutions are implemented, that spans across the competencies of different ministries and stakeholders.”

“In terms of ownership, private or public, it gets very confusing, and this often results in decisions that favour short-term interventions, leading to long-term biodiversity losses.”

The EU’s overarching Green Deal programme tries to tackle this issue with an integrated approach that considers biodiversity, climate, pollution, and the economy, she said.

The opportunities for investment in nature-based solutions need to be shared more with finance, she continued. Those involved in projects need to focus on broadcasting the opportunities they can provide for offering up marketable goods, while reducing the risk of climate-related damage, she said.

By Thomas Cox – t.cox@carbon-pulse.com

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