Nature based solutions for long term carbon sequestration

The EU has an important role to play in promoting Nature Based Solutions (NBS) for carbon sequestration and unlocking their multiple benefits. However, there are several bottlenecks hindering NBS’s large-scale uptake and implementation such as the appropriate selection of a NBS which is a key challenge. Mainly because there is not a straightforward way to know (or identify) the needs and context of different agro-ecosystems at the preselected scale-level and it requires a multidisciplinary team with a specific set of skills and capabilities to evaluate the trade-offs and synergies that often exist between the different ecosystem services and a particular NBS at, i.e., regional level. Therefore, guidelines are needed for developing decision support tools (DST) that can support and facilitate complex decisions during the NBS selection phase.

Decision Support Tools allow users to analyse a situation, and subsequently redefine their strategic choices and/or adjust their actions. However, the adoption and impact of DST may be limited by several factors, e.g., access, availability of input data, uncertainty in reliability, differences in advisory frameworks, regional-specific data and calibration requirements. This project develops reports with guidelines and a scientific paper with guidelines for the development of DST for Nature Based Solutions of carbon sequestration, also including regional testing of the guidelines in a Living Lab.