Editing IPCC:AR6/WGII/Chapter-2 (section)

=== FAQ 2.5 | How can we reduce the risks of climate change to people by protecting and managing nature better? ===

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''Damage to our natural environment can increase the risks that climate change poses to people. Protecting and restoring nature can be a way to adapt to climate change, with benefits for both humans and biodiversity. Examples include reducing flood risk by restoring catchments and coastal habitats, the cooling effects of natural vegetation and shade from trees and reducing the risk of extreme wildfires by better management of natural fires.''

Protecting and restoring natural environments, such as forests and wetlands, can reduce the risks that climate change poses to people as well as supporting biodiversity, storing carbon and providing many other benefits for human health and well-being. Climate change is bringing an increasing number of threats to people, including flooding, droughts, wildfire, heat waves and rising sea levels. These threats can, however, be reduced or aggravated, depending on how land, sea and freshwater are managed or protected. There is now clear evidence that ‘Nature-based Solutions’ (NbS) can reduce the risks that climate change presents to people. ‘Ecosystem-based Adaptation’ (EbA) is a part of NbS and includes:

* ''Natural flood management:'' As warm air holds more water and, in some places, because of changing seasonal rainfall patterns, we are seeing more heavy downpours in many parts of the world. This can create serious flooding problems, with loss of life, homes and livelihoods. The risk of flooding is higher where natural vegetation has been removed, wetlands drained or channels straightened. In these circumstances, water flows quicker and the risk of flood defences being breached is increased. Restoring the natural hydrology of upstream catchments by restoring vegetation, creating wetlands and re-naturalising watercourse channels and reinstating connections with the floodplain can reduce this risk. In a natural catchment with trees or other vegetation, water flows slowly overland and much of it soaks into the soil. When the water reaches a watercourse, it moves slowly down the channel, both because of the longer distance it travels when the channel bends and because vegetation and fallen trees slow the flow. Wetlands, ponds and lakes can also hold water back and slowly release it into river systems.
* ''Restoring natural coastal defences:'' Rising sea levels as a result of climate change mean that coasts are eroding at a fast rate and storm surges are more likely to cause damaging coastal flooding. Natural coastal vegetation, such as saltmarshes and mangrove swamps can, in the right places, stabilise the shoreline and act as a buffer, absorbing the force of waves. On a natural coast, the shoreline will move inland and as the sea level rises, the coastal vegetation will gradually move inland with it. This contrasts with hard coastal defences such as sea walls and banks, which can be overwhelmed and fail. In many places, however, coastal habitats have been cleared and where there are hard sea defences behind the coastal zone, the vegetation disappears as the coast erodes rather than moving inland. This is often referred to as ‘coastal squeeze’ as the vegetation is squeezed between the sea and the sea wall. Restoring coastal habitats and removing hard sea defences, can help reduce the risks of catastrophic flooding.
* ''Providing local cooling:'' Climate change is bringing higher temperatures globally, which can result in heat waves that affect people’s health, comfort and agriculture. In cities, this can be a particular problem for health as temperatures are typically higher than in the countryside. Trees give shade, which people, in both rural and urban areas, have long used to provide cool places for themselves, for growing crops such as coffee and for livestock. Planting trees in the right place can be a valuable, low-cost natural-based solution to reduce the effects of increasing heat, including reducing water temperatures in streams and rivers which can help to maintain fisheries. Trees and other vegetation also have a cooling effect as a result of water being lost from their leaves through evaporation and transpiration (i.e., the loss of water through pores in the leaves, known as stomata). Natural areas, parks, gardens in urban areas can help reduce air temperatures by up to a few degrees.
* ''Restoring natural fire regimes:'' Some natural ecosystems are adapted to burning, such as savannas and some temperate and boreal forests. Where fire has been suppressed or non-native species of trees are planted in more open habitats, there is a risk that potential fuel accumulates, which can result in larger and hotter fires. Solutions can include restoring natural fire regimes and removing non-native species to decrease the vulnerability of people and ecosystems to the exacerbated fire risk that climate change is bringing due to higher temperatures and, in some places, changing rainfall patterns.

NbS, including protecting and restoring mangroves, forests and peatlands, also play an important part in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and taking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. They can also help people in a wide range of other ways, including through providing food, materials and opportunities for recreation. There is increasing evidence that spending time in natural surroundings is good for physical and mental health.

[[File:c1ea74c36c2df6de789d1008b368a15c IPCC_AR6_WGII_Figure_2_FAQ_2.5.1.png]]

'''Figure FAQ2.5.1 |''' '''Different NbS strategies that contribute to climate resilient development'''

If NbS are to be effective, it is important that the right adaptation actions are carried out in the right place and that local communities play an active part in making decisions about their local environment. When they are not part of the process, conflicts can emerge and benefits can be lost.

While NbS help us to adapt to climate change and reduce the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, it is important to note that there are limits to what they can do. To provide a safe environment for both people and nature, it will be essential to radically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, especially those from fossil-fuel burning in the near future.

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