Developing a strategic framework for nature-based solutions in urban areas

As part of the ECOPRONAT research programme, AFD is collaborating with the World Resources Institute (WRI) to develop a strategic framework for identifying and deploying nature-based solutions (NBS) in urban areas, taking Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) and Kigali (Rwanda) as case studies. Natural ecosystems and biodiversity are indeed essential to ensure the livability of cities, especially in the face of climate change and its impacts. Their integration into urban planning processes is also essential.

Context

According to a 2021 OECD report, two-thirds of African cities are at “extreme” risk of climate and water-related shocks. Violent climate events, heat waves and droughts are thus at the top of the risks incurred by urban areas. Rapid urbanization, unsustainable development and degradation of natural ecosystems exacerbate these risks.

Nature-based solutions (NBS), which rely on natural ecosystems and the services they provide to human activities, address these urban challenges, while simultaneously providing benefits in terms of human well-being and biodiversity. However, they are still little integrated into urban planning processes and decision support tools available to planners. The lack of knowledge, data and experimentation on nature-based solutions therefore hampers their adoption and deployment.

This project is part of the ECOPRONAT research programme, which supports research on how to better take into account biodiversity and mainstream it into key economic sectors.

Goals

The objective of this research project is to enable, through the construction of a strategic framework, the deployment and scaling of nature-based solutions, in particular to address water and heat risks. The challenge is to improve the ecological resilience of cities by helping them identify the risks they must prepare for, to assess the potential of NBS to address them and to develop implementation and funding strategies for these NBS as part of the urban planning process.

A fast, effective and practical methodology for assessing the potential of nature-based solutions will be made available to the cities of Addis Ababa and Kigali, which are the two pilot cities of this research project. The project is led by WRI, in partnership with the Addis Ababa Urban Development Department, the Ethiopian Institute of Architecture and the Rwanda Young Water Professionals Association. This methodology is intended to be adopted by other urban centers to allow a broader appropriation and mobilization of NBS in cities.

Method

At the methodological level, the construction of a strategic framework for nature-based solutions is interesting for two reasons:

Identification of flood risks, heat islands, water supply and biodiversity potential of cities through the production of composite maps and the mobilization of satellite data;
Participatory construction of the strategic framework through workshops with stakeholders of both cities to validate the priority areas of intervention and identify the NBS most adapted to the issues of each area.

Results

The expected results of the project are:

The identification of the minimum data and knowledge required to provide city governments with an overview of their options for nature-based solutions;
The production of a framework for assessing opportunities for nature-based solutions in data-poor environments, integrating national datasets with globally available data and peer-reviewed assessment methods;
Informing and supporting key local stakeholders in their decision-making process;
Providing a replicable planning process for other African cities regarding the deployment of nature-based solutions and their integration into urban development policies.

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