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The AquaNbS framework for climate resilience : planning and assessing ecological function of aquatic landscapes at the catchment scale

Kujawa, Haley ; Mirsafa, Masoumeh LU orcid ; Perschke, Myriam ; Lopes, Ana ; Innocenti, Alberto ; Kaiser, Brooks A. ; Frederiksberg, Gry Overvad ; Egemose, Sara ; Tollin, Nicola and Banta, Gary , et al. (2026) In Nature-Based Solutions 10.
Abstract

The Nature-Based Solutions (NbS) framework offers a promising pathway to address societal challenges such as food security, water management, and biodiversity loss, all under accelerating climate change. Aquatic ecosystems are central to addressing these challenges; however, their current implementation remains largely focused on isolated sites, limiting their effectiveness at landscape scales. Here, we address this gap by proposing the Aquatic Nature-based Solutions (AquaNbS) framework, which uses catchments as a biophysically meaningful boundary unit to capture the cumulative effects of hydrologically connected aquatic ecosystems with their surrounding land-use. This enables: (1) representation of connectivity across aquatic... (More)

The Nature-Based Solutions (NbS) framework offers a promising pathway to address societal challenges such as food security, water management, and biodiversity loss, all under accelerating climate change. Aquatic ecosystems are central to addressing these challenges; however, their current implementation remains largely focused on isolated sites, limiting their effectiveness at landscape scales. Here, we address this gap by proposing the Aquatic Nature-based Solutions (AquaNbS) framework, which uses catchments as a biophysically meaningful boundary unit to capture the cumulative effects of hydrologically connected aquatic ecosystems with their surrounding land-use. This enables: (1) representation of connectivity across aquatic ecosystems, supporting planning that captures spatial and temporal variation in biodiversity and ecosystem function; (2) coordination across land-use types, allowing areas with greater implementation potential to support downstream and constrained regions; (3) application of standardized hydrologic indicators to establish baselines and track landscape-scale ecological change; and (4) improved accounting of aquatic carbon transport to better constrain mitigation outcomes. For these reasons, we argue catchments provide the functional basis for aligning aquatic NbS planning, implementation, and monitoring with the landscape-scale processes that govern climate adaptation and mitigation outcomes.

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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Aquatic ecosystems, Catchment, Climate adaptation, Climate mitigation, Multifunctionality, Nature-based solutions, River basin, Watershed
in
Nature-Based Solutions
volume
10
article number
100349
pages
11 pages
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:105042103572
ISSN
2772-4115
DOI
10.1016/j.nbsj.2026.100349
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
f762e567-3f76-4563-bfa9-0f16b331ac90
date added to LUP
2026-06-17 10:31:31
date last changed
2026-08-17 09:54:27
@article{f762e567-3f76-4563-bfa9-0f16b331ac90,
  abstract     = {{<p>The Nature-Based Solutions (NbS) framework offers a promising pathway to address societal challenges such as food security, water management, and biodiversity loss, all under accelerating climate change. Aquatic ecosystems are central to addressing these challenges; however, their current implementation remains largely focused on isolated sites, limiting their effectiveness at landscape scales. Here, we address this gap by proposing the Aquatic Nature-based Solutions (AquaNbS) framework, which uses catchments as a biophysically meaningful boundary unit to capture the cumulative effects of hydrologically connected aquatic ecosystems with their surrounding land-use. This enables: (1) representation of connectivity across aquatic ecosystems, supporting planning that captures spatial and temporal variation in biodiversity and ecosystem function; (2) coordination across land-use types, allowing areas with greater implementation potential to support downstream and constrained regions; (3) application of standardized hydrologic indicators to establish baselines and track landscape-scale ecological change; and (4) improved accounting of aquatic carbon transport to better constrain mitigation outcomes. For these reasons, we argue catchments provide the functional basis for aligning aquatic NbS planning, implementation, and monitoring with the landscape-scale processes that govern climate adaptation and mitigation outcomes.</p>}},
  author       = {{Kujawa, Haley and Mirsafa, Masoumeh and Perschke, Myriam and Lopes, Ana and Innocenti, Alberto and Kaiser, Brooks A. and Frederiksberg, Gry Overvad and Egemose, Sara and Tollin, Nicola and Banta, Gary and Grønbæk, Lone and Quintana, Cintia Organo}},
  issn         = {{2772-4115}},
  keywords     = {{Aquatic ecosystems; Catchment; Climate adaptation; Climate mitigation; Multifunctionality; Nature-based solutions; River basin; Watershed}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Nature-Based Solutions}},
  title        = {{The AquaNbS framework for climate resilience : planning and assessing ecological function of aquatic landscapes at the catchment scale}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nbsj.2026.100349}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.nbsj.2026.100349}},
  volume       = {{10}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}