What is the issue?
In order to avoid risk and damage, and to build resilience to natural disasters, natural infrastructure solutions are increasingly being considered and implemented.
Natural Infrastructures:
- They are planned and managed natural or semi-natural systems, which can provide benefits or even replace a functionality that is traditionally provided by grey infrastructures.
- These natural or green infrastructures can be areas such as forests, agricultural lands, estuaries, coastal landscapes and wetlands.
- These solutions comprises coastal ecosystem (mangroves, coral reefs) for coastline protection from storms; watershed restoration for water quality regulation; afforestation for carbon sequestration; habitat restoration or conservation for pollination; phyto-remediation to rehabilitate contaminated soil and water.
Do we need a multi-pronged approach?
- At the local level, NI solutions include permeable pavements, trees and rainwater harvesting systems.
- Vegetative solutions consist of green roofs, rain gardens, and bio-swales, which can be used in cities and industrial parks to balance storm water conveyance systems.
- Rain gardens capture rainwater in a depression in the ground, and prevent flash floods and erosion in streams by slowing down storm water.
- Bioswales are made along roadsides so that rainwater from the road flows towards them and percolates into the ground.
- NI solutions include constructed wetlands that are used for industrial processed water and waste-water treatment, substituting traditional waste-water treatment infrastructure.
- Oyster reefs and seagrass beds can decrease erosion and protect coastal areas from storms, while also filtering contaminated seawater and supporting local fisheries.
What are the benefits?
- A well-managed forest can regulate water for drinking, agriculture and energy, store carbon, support pollinators and provide recreational and tourism opportunities.
- Further, it can increase biodiversity and improve storm resilience.
- NI can help avoid water pollution that would otherwise need to pass through a conventional water treatment plant, thus reducing costs.
- They often require less initial capital investment and reduced operations and maintenance costs. These solutions often require fewer human resources for oversight.
- As more businesses invest in NI solutions, the demand for related skills will increase, resulting in new job opportunities.
What is the significance?
- We are now working towards achievement of several historic milestones, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement.
- Mapping and assessing NI solutions is essential to ensure that their true values are considered in policies and decision-making across sectors.
- Businesses can integrate disaster risk into their management practices as indicated in the recently adopted ‘Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction’.
- Decision-makers increasingly have access to tools and information such as the Natural Capital Protocol, World Bank WAVES programme, and WBCSD Natural Infrastructure for Business platform.
What should be done?
- There is a need to strengthen informational cooperation between cities or countries across both the developed and developing worlds.
- Finally, it is imperative to develop and build a collaborative environment for public institutions and private companies for the success of these initiatives, as re-imagining ways to integrate nature with the communities will help in building resilience.
Source: The Hindu
