Blogs and Features
Stories and Insights from the Field
Explore examples from across the World Bank’s portfolio showcasing how nature-based solutions (NBS) are being applied to address climate challenges, reduce disaster risk, and support sustainable development frameworks. The blogs and feature stories below draw upon a variety of field experiences, technical expertise, and policy engagements to highlight the practical integration of NBS on the ground.
Learn more about our work through real-world examples that demonstrate the value of embedding nature into development planning and implementation.
Spotlight
Nature-based Coastal Resilience: A Catalogue for Jobs and Local EconomiesCoastal zones are economic powerhouses, supporting millions of jobs in fisheries, tourism, ports, and manufacturing and hosting nearly 40% of the world’s population. Yet coastal communities and industries are increasingly vulnerable to rising sea levels, stronger storms, and rapid erosion. These risks are further exacerbated by the degradation of coastal ecosystems that once provided protection and services to people and economies.
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The NBS Opportunity Scan: Observing the Earth to Design Natural Solutions for Coastal ResilienceMore than a third of the global population resides within 100 kilometers of the coast. These areas are becoming increasingly exposed to climate-related challenges. In addition, rapid urbanization places growing pressure on coastal ecosystems such as mangroves and coral reefs, and undermines the resilience of coastal communities. Rising exposure to floods, storms, coastal erosion, and sea-level rise are driving annual economic losses in the billions.
Mobilizing Nature-Based Solutions for Disaster and Climate ResilienceCountries around the globe are facing increasing risks from climate change, natural disasters, and biodiversity loss. In response, the World Bank is helping client countries scale nature-based solutions (NBS), innovative and cost-effective measures that draw on natural systems to tackle these inter-related challenges.
Charting a green, resilient, and inclusive development path for MadagascarMadagascar conjures up images of rich, unique biodiversity, dense forests, and the longest coastline in Africa. And so, it would come as a surprise to learn that Madagascar is one of only 22 out of 146 countries where wealth per capita—a measure of sustainability of growth—declined between 1995 and 2018, and that this decline was driven by the low productivity of the country’s natural capital base.
India’s Road to Resiliency: Why climate proofing India’s road network is vital to secure sustainable developmentIn August 2018, Kerala, a tropical and low-lying state in southern India was consumed by the worst monsoon floods in over a century. Torrents of rain loosened soil, rock and vegetation from the hilltops, igniting a slurry of landslides that swallowed entire villages, displacing more than a million people from their homes.
Cities Look to Nature for Climate SolutionsTwelve years ago, a powerful, La Niña-fueled storm brought torrential rain to Colombia. Massive flooding and landslides caused hundreds of deaths. The capital city, Bogotá, experienced one of the worst emergencies in its history when its namesake river, Rio Bogotá, overflowed and reclaimed its floodplain.
