Greening Water Risks

Natural Assurance Schemes

Elena López-Gunn, Peter van der Keur, Nora Van Cauwenbergh, Philippe Le Coent, Raffaele Giordano

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN: 9783031253072
• eBook ISBN: 9783031253089
• Edition: 0
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Ecology
• Index: Biological Sciences

Confronted with an increase in floods, droughts and other natural hazards, cities and regions are alert to find climate proof solutions that overcome the limitations of traditional grey infrastructure.
Nature-based solutions are proposed as a valid way to address risk and adapt to climate change while increasing resilience through the multiple benefits they generate. However, in spite of the widespread academic and political support for NBS, their implementation is lacking. As key barriers to implementation there are institutional and regulatory barriers, an absence of clear evaluation of NBS performance, funding/financing barriers and knowledge and acceptance barriers.
This Open Access book provides a hands-on guide to overcome these barriers, through the stepwise creation of nature-assurance schemes that operationalize the insurance value of ecosystems. At the basis thereof is an integrated biophysical, economic and social assessment which is integrated with implementation considerations through the generation of business models and blended funding and financing schemes.
This book will be of interest to practitioners and researchers who want to better understand how to operationalize the insurance value of ecosystems. The book provides 9 DEMO examples on the application of this method across different scales: urban, medium and large catchments and target both floods and droughts.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Front Matter
• 1. Concepts in Water Security, Natural Assurance Schemes and Nature-Based Solutions
• 2. A Reader’s Guide to Natural Assurance Schemes
• 3. Insurance and the Natural Assurance Value (of Ecosystems) in Risk Prevention and Reduction
• 4. Methodologies to Assess and Map the Biophysical Effectiveness of Nature Based Solutions
• 5. Participatory Modelling for NBS Co-design and Implementation
• 6. Economic Assessment of Nature-Based Solutions for Water-Related Risks
• 7. Designing Natural Assurance Schemes with Integrated Decision Support and Adaptive Planning
• 8. NAS Canvas: Identifying Business Models to Support Implementation of Natural Assurance Schemes
• 9. Closing the Implementation Gap of NBS for Water Security: Developing an Implementation Strategy for Natural Assurance Schemes
• 10. Reducing Water Related Risks in the Lower Danube Through Nature Based Solution Design: A Stakeholder Participatory Process
• 11. Multidisciplinary Assessment of Nature-Based Strategies to Address Groundwater Overexploitation and Drought Risk in Medina Del Campo Groundwater Body
• 12. Natural Flood Management in the Thames Basin: Building Evidence for What Will and Will Not Work
• 13. Giving Room to the River: A Nature-Based Solution for Flash Flood Hazards? The Brague River Case Study (France)
• 14. Can NBS Address the Challenges of an Urbanized Mediterranean Catchment? The Lez Case Study
• 15. Glinščica for All: Exploring the Potential of NBS in Slovenia: Barriers and Opportunities
• 16. The Opportunities and Challenges for Urban NBS: Lessons from Implementing the Urban Waterbuffer in Rotterdam
• 17. Urban River Restoration, a Scenario for Copenhagen
• 18. Enabling Effective Engagement, Investment and Implementation of Natural Assurance Systems for Water and Climate Security
• 19. The Natural Assurance Schemes Methodological Approach – From Assessment to Implementation
• 20. Looking into the Future: Natural Assurance Schemes for Resilience