Mobilizing Nature-Based Solutions for Disaster and Climate Resilience

Highlights

• Between 2012 and 2024, the World Bank financed about 250 investment projects that harness nature to build climate resilience. This includes investment in urban resilience, coastal resilience, and landscape restoration. Among these projects, 66 have benefited 9.5 million people and restored 1.1 million hectares of ecosystems with climate resilience benefits.
• Active projects are expected to benefit 19.4 million people and restore 3.5 million hectares of nature and green space.
• NBS help strengthen climate resilience. The construction of a retention basin in 2020 reduced flood risks and minimized economic disruptions for more than 3 million people in Argentina.  The creation of a 17-hectare urban park, also in 2020, protected 50,000 people in Mozambique from flooding.
• NBS deliver critical biodiversity benefits. The restoration of a Sri Lankan wetland in 2022 led to a country-wide effort to rehabilitate and protect these ecosystems, and ensured protection of endangered species. The rehabilitation of mangroves in Indonesia supports coastal ecosystem and boosts fishing incomes.
• NBS support jobs and livelihoods, such as by providing temporary employment that has benefited 745,000 households in Tanzania during lean seasons between 2017 and 2025.
• The development of new analytical tools such as the NBS Opportunity Scan has been critical to the expanded use of NBS, helping identify optimal investments in 100 cities and 5,000 kilometers of coastline, informing at least $1.8 billion in development financing for NBS activities to date.

 "Mangroves provide endless benefits for communities. They protect communities from the impact of climate change and generate income through ecotourism and its products, such as mangrove crabs, syrup and crackers. The carbon stored in mangroves can also be traded, and we ensure these benefits reach coastal communities to generate incentives for continued mangrove management.”

Nani Hendiarti
Deputy Minister for Environment Coordination and Forestry,
Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment (CMMAI) of Indonesia.

Challenge

Countries face increasing environmental challenges associated with compounding risks: natural disasters push over 26 million people into poverty each year, biodiversity loss is accelerating, and unplanned urbanization increases exposure to hazards. NBS use natural systems like forests and wetlands to enhance resilience, prevent erosion, stabilize slopes, protect roads from flooding, and support water management. When combined with traditional infrastructure, NBS can cut costs, extend asset lifespans, and boost economic, social, and environmental benefits. However, scaling NBS remains difficult, especially in low-income areas. Significant technical and financial support is needed to unlock their full potential and meet resilience and biodiversity goals.

Approach

The World Bank helps countries adopt NBS by sharing knowledge, providing technical assistance, mobilizing finance, and improving policies to support scalable, replicable results. While the World Bank Group has worked to advance the use of NBS for well over a decade, in 2020 it activated a new platform to advance NBS: the Global Program on NBS for Climate Resilience (GPNBS). Led by the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR), the GPNBS enables the World Bank to take a cross-sectoral approach to address technical challenges and promote the integration of NBS into development operations globally. The approach focuses on three key areas:

Awareness and knowledge: The World Bank is driving the knowledge agenda on NBS by developing essential knowledge products and supporting the integration of NBS priorities in global agreements, such as COP22, and country development strategies. Guidance notes like the Catalogue of NBS for Urban Resilience, Assessing the Benefits and Costs of NBS, and Integrating Gender and Social Inclusion in NBS have helped shape NBS investments across sectors and institutions. In partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank also advanced knowledge on private sector opportunities and applied it in operational dialogue.

Embedding NBS in our work with countries: Tools like the NBS Opportunity Scan have identified optimal NBS investments in over 100 cities and 5,000 kilometers of coastline, informing at least $1.8 billion in development financing for NBS. For instance, the Scan’s recommended investments were integrated into the $200 million Secondary Cities Urban Mobility and Development Project in Burkina Faso, which will create and protect urban green spaces to reduce temperatures and limit flooding, benefiting 819,000 people.

Strategic partnerships: The World Bank works with technical partners, including United Nations (UN) agencies, the World Resources Institute, The Nature Conservancy, and the US Army Corps of Engineers, to develop joint knowledge and guidance products. It also works with development partners such as the government of the Netherlands and World Bank-administered trust funds to co-finance projects and shape the global narrative. Knowledge products like Scaling up Finance for Nature (presented at COP15) and the Climate and Development Brief: NBS for Climate Resilience and Adaptation (presented at COP 27) have helped elevate NBS in global climate discussions.

Results: 2012 - 2024

Between 2012 and 2024, the World Bank financed about 250 investment projects that harness nature to build climate resilience. This includes investment in urban resilience, coastal resilience, and landscape restoration. Of these 250 projects, 66 closed projects have benefited 9.5 million people and restored 1.1 million hectares of ecosystems with climate resilience benefits. Active projects are expected to benefit 19.4 million people and restore 3.5 million hectares of nature and green space.

NBS have been instrumental in strengthening climate resilience. In Mozambique, the Cities and Climate Change project created a 17-hectare urban park along the Chiveve river in Beira, while also restoring the river’s retention function by rehabilitating degraded mangroves and native flora. These activities protected 50,000 people from flooding and expanded livelihood and recreational opportunities. Argentina integrated its first large-scale NBS in Buenos Aires through the construction of a retention basin in the Parque Indoamericano, reducing flood risks for more than 3 million people and minimizing economic disruptions. In Burkina Faso, the NBS Opportunity Scan helped identify green spaces for heat reduction and water absorption, with the aim of improving living conditions for 819,000 people. The World Bank’s regional NBS approach in Central Asia and the Caucuses is supporting governments to restore landscapes, mitigate mudflows, and manage water resources in fragile, arid and mountainous areas, and is expected to bring 190,000 hectares under sustainable land management in the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan alone.

NBS deliver important biodiversity benefits. In Indonesia, an integrated spatial and economic assessment informed the design of the Mangroves for Coastal Resilience Project, which aims to rehabilitate 45,000 hectares of mangrove and support sustainable livelihoods for almost 10,000 people. In Colombo, Sri Lanka, the restoration and protection of a 20 square kilometer urban wetland protected the ecosystem’s 280 wildlife species and enhanced its role as a carbon sponge (the wetlands absorb up to 90 percent of the city’s greenhouse gas emission). The success of the project led the government of Sri Lanka to approve nearly 50 additional development plans to conserve wetlands across the country.

These NBS related investments have created jobs and enhanced livelihoods. In Tanzania, more than 745,000 households were provided temporary employment for public works including tree planting, boosting incomes during lean seasons. In Brazil, the restoration of a major park in Fortaleza revitalized the local economy by creating a vibrant hub for food vendors and community gatherings, benefiting 70,000 people. More than 900 jobs were created in Sierra Leone by an initiative to grow, plant, and nurture close to a million trees that help address flooding, landslides, and urban heat.

The World Bank has also supported private sector engagement in NBS by helping countries like Costa Rica and Brazil develop Payments for Environmental Services (PES) programs and tapping carbon finance to engage private sector in ecosystem restoration.

Globally, World Bank-supported tools such as the NBS Opportunity Scan (NBSOS), and knowledge products have shaped policies and investments around the globe. The NBSOS has been delivered for 100 cities and across 5,000 kilometers of coastline to directly inform investment in NBS (Figure 2). Outcomes like the examples described above demonstrate how countries, with World Bank support, are turning nature into a powerful asset—protecting lives, supporting livelihoods, and delivering lasting development results.

Graphs and Data Visualization

Figure 1: World Bank Support for NBS

Figure 2: The Reach of the NBS Opportunity Scan

NBSOS: https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/099061624183519276/pdf/P176825168a03e0b61b57316c44886a3007.pdf

Collaborating across the World Bank Group

The World Bank is working with IFC in Colombia, Panama, and Brazil to increase the uptake of NBS and help identify potential investments. The World Bank and IFC also jointly published a report Nature-Based Solutions in Cities: Solutions and Examples for Municipalities and the Private Sector, which has already supported dialogue with private sector and governments on NBS investments, including in Colombia, the Philippines, and South Africa.

IFC works with clients in water, energy, mining, and cities to promote NBS for resilience, while MIGA identifies NBS opportunities to enhance asset resilience and mobilize public sector funding through its guarantee products. IFC’s draft Biodiversity Finance Guide also aligns NBS investments with Green Bond and Green Loan Principles.

World Bank Group Contribution

World Bank financing for NBS and green-gray activities is estimated at $12 billion from 2012 to 2024, including $7.5 billion from IDA, $3.7 billion from IBRD, and $800 million from Trust Funds.

Multi-donor trust funds from different sectors, including disaster resilience (GFDRR), environmental management (the Program for the Blue Economy, PROBLUE; the Global Partnership for Sustainable and Resilient Landscapes, PROGREEN; and the City Climate Finance Gap Fund), and water (the Global Water Security and Sanitation Partnership, GWSP), have also financed NBS across the globe, as well as contributing to ­the creation of critical knowledge products. With close to $4 million, GFDRR is the initiator and main contributor to the GPNBS. But GPNBS is not the only initiative that helps drive investment in NBS. The NBS Invest Project, which is led by the World Bank’s environment sector and collaborates closely with GPNBS, received $10 million in GEF financing to increase the utilization of NBS in climate mitigation projects in the world’s least Developed Countries. And the Urban Nature Program, led by the World Bank’s Global Platform for Sustainable Cities with support from the GEF, specifically helps cities integrate nature into urban planning.

Partnerships

The World Bank has cultivated partnerships on NBS with more than 30 external organizations. This includes the UN Environment Program-led Platform on Ecosystems for Disaster Risk Reduction and Adaptation (PEDRR), the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, and the G20 Working Group on NBS.

These relationships have led to new knowledge products, such as the recently-published Growing Resilience: Unlocking the Potential of NBS for Climate Resilience in Sub-Saharan Africa with the World Resource Institute and African Development Bank. Another is the International Guidelines on Natural and Nature-Based Features, developed under the International NBS Working Group that the World Bank participates in.

These strategic alliances enable the World Bank to leverage a shared pool of knowledge to identify gaps and best practices for the successful implementation of NBS, helping to support client countries to tackle the environmental impact of climate change and manage future risks. Moreover, these partnerships help amplify the World Bank’s messaging around the power of harnessing nature for climate resilience and sustainable economic growth.

Looking Ahead

In the immediate term, the World Bank will continue to invest in NBS to enhance climate resilience in low- and middle-income countries by providing operational support, assisting with investment identification, and supporting successful implementation of NBS.

The World Bank will explore opportunities to further harness NBS to create jobs and attract private sector investment. Several successful approaches of job creation through NBS have been demonstrated globally, but further scaling up is needed by developing replicable models and supporting their operationalization.  

To address existing financial and technical gaps in several client countries, the World Bank will strengthen its support for NBS projects, develop new guidance notes to build clients’ technical understanding, and expand its training program for clients and staff.

To further scale up financing, the World Bank also works with the public and private sectors to expand innovative tools like green bonds, dedicated national funds and risk sharing mechanisms. This builds upon recent successful innovative partnerships spearheaded by the World Bank, IFC and MIGA, such as South Africa’s ‘Rhino Bond’ and Colombia’s biodiversity bond.