Enhancing NBS acceptance for reducing water-related risk through stakeholders' engagement in co-benefits identification

Abstract

acceptance for reducing water-related risk through stakeholders' engagement in co-benefits identification. Nature-Based Solution are increasingly recognized as a valid alternative to grey infrastructures as measures for reducing climate-related risks. On the one side, past experiences showed that grey infrastructures are capital intensive, may address only some water-related issues and often damage or eliminates biophysical processes necessary to sustain people, ecosystems and habitats, and livelihoods. On the other side, increasing evidences demonstrated that NBS can reduce risks to people and property as effectively as traditional grey infrastructures, but potentially offering many additional benefits, e.g. improving the natural habitat for wildlife, enhancing water and air quality, improving community socio-cultural conditions. The growing interests in the NBS triggered an increasing interest in developing integrated and multi- disciplinary frameworks for assessing NBS effectiveness accounting for the co-benefits production. Starting from the analysis of the existing frameworks, this work claims for a more direct engagement of stakeholders - i.e. co-benefits beneficiaries - in developing NBS assessment framework. This work demonstrates that differences in co-benefits perception and valuation might lead to trade-offs and, thus, to potential conflicts. An innovative methodology using quasi-dynamic Fuzzy Cognitive Map approach based on multiple time steps was developed in order to assess NBS effectiveness, and to detect and analyse trade-offs among stakeholders due to differences in co-benefits perceptions. The developed methodology was implemented in the Lower Danube demo.