Implementing Nature-Based Solutions in Rural Landscapes: Barriers Experienced in the PHUSICOS Project

Anders Solheim, Vittoria Capobianco, Amy Oen, Bjørn Kalsnes, Turid Wullf-Knutsen, Mari Olsen, Nicola Del Seppia, Idoia Arauzo, Eva Garcia Balaguer and James Michael Strout
Additional contact information
Anders Solheim: Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, P.O. Box 3930, N-0806 Oslo, Norway
Vittoria Capobianco: Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, P.O. Box 3930, N-0806 Oslo, Norway
Amy Oen: Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, P.O. Box 3930, N-0806 Oslo, Norway
Bjørn Kalsnes: Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, P.O. Box 3930, N-0806 Oslo, Norway
Turid Wullf-Knutsen: Innlandet County Administration, P.O. Box 4404, N-2325 Hamar, Norway
Mari Olsen: Innlandet County Administration, P.O. Box 4404, N-2325 Hamar, Norway
Nicola Del Seppia: Autorità di Bacino del Fiume Serchio (ADBS), Via Vittorio Veneto, 1, 55100 Lucca, Italy
Idoia Arauzo: Consorcio de la Communauté de Travail des Pyrénées (CTP), Avenida Nuestra Senõra de la Victoria, 8, 22700 Jaca, Spain
Eva Garcia Balaguer: Consorcio de la Communauté de Travail des Pyrénées (CTP), Avenida Nuestra Senõra de la Victoria, 8, 22700 Jaca, Spain
James Michael Strout: Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, P.O. Box 3930, N-0806 Oslo, Norway

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 3, 1-21

Abstract: Nature-based solutions (NBS) are becoming increasingly important in both the EU and individual countries’ political agendas, as a sustainable means to reduce the risk posed by hydrometeorological hazards. However, as the use of NBS is increasing, a number of barriers regarding their practical implementation also become apparent. A number of review studies have summarized and classified barriers, mainly in urban settings. PHUSICOS is a Horizon 2020 Innovation Action to demonstrate the use of NBS in rural and mountain landscapes. Large-scale demonstrator case sites with several sub-projects are established in Italy, Norway and in the French and Spanish Pyrenees. The present paper describes the project’s NBS measures and their experienced barriers, some of which have resulted in full cancellation of the planned interventions. Many of the barriers experienced in rural settings have the same root causes as the ones described from urban areas, and the main barrier-creating mechanisms are institutional factors, resistance among stakeholders and technical and economic issues. The key element, however, is the lack of knowledge about the ability of NBS to deliver a series of co-benefits in addition to their risk-reducing effects and that long-term thinking is required to see the effect of many of these co-benefits.

Keywords: nature-based solutions (NBS); hydrometeorological hazards; PHUSICOS project; implementation barriers; flooding; landslides; avalanches; rockfall; Europe (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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