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Nature-based solutions (NBS)

Its 6 cross-references, woven across the glossary's 18 categories

Measures relying on ecosystems to reduce climate risks, such as restoring mangroves or wetlands.

Definition

Nature-based solutions designate actions relying on the protection, management or restoration of ecosystems to reduce risks and provide services, as an alternative or complement to gray infrastructure. Mangroves and coral reefs attenuating cyclonic surge, wetlands absorbing floods, forests stabilizing soils and regulating the water cycle are examples. For insurance, these solutions offer a double interest: they reduce the physical exposure of insured territories, improving insurability, and they constitute a protective asset whose value can be insured as such, as illustrated by pioneering schemes covering reef restoration after a cyclone. Accounting for them requires quantifying the protection service provided, a complex exercise that climate modeling and attribution science are beginning to equip. They directly link biodiversity, the object of the TNFD framework, to catastrophe risk management.

Example

Hypothetical case: a policy insuring the restoration of a coral reef after a hurricane illustrates the direct insurance valuation of a nature-based solution.

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