Readiness approach for NBS implementation

Description

Two catchments can both have a well-designed Nature Based Solution strategy and be in completely different positions: one at the stage of a concept, the other with measures built and operating. The readiness approach makes that difference explicit, so that a strategy is judged against what is achievable from where it actually stands rather than against an ideal end state.

The NAIAD demonstration sites spanned the whole range, from conceptual design at the Lower Danube and Glinščica through validation in a relevant environment to measures already operational and replicated, and the approach was built from that spread. It assesses a strategy along the dimensions that determine what can be done next — the maturity of the technical design, the availability of the evidence, the commitment of the actors, the institutional and regulatory conditions, and the state of the financing arrangement.

The result is a profile rather than a score, and its practical use is to identify the single dimension that is currently holding the strategy back.

Applications to decision making in the insurance sector

Readiness determines what kind of participation is realistic for a financial actor. A concept-stage strategy can offer a role in design and data; a strategy at the investment stage can offer a financing arrangement; a strategy already implemented can offer performance evidence. The approach allows a carrier to identify which of those it is being offered, and to avoid committing to a scheme that is not yet able to use what it is being given.

Added value of this modelling approach

It prevents the most common failure in NBS financing, which is applying an instrument designed for an investment-ready project to a strategy that is still being designed. The mismatch is then read as a rejection of the concept rather than as a matter of timing.

What decision can be improved with this modelling approach

Whether a strategy is ready for a particular financing route; which dimension to work on next; and how to sequence the steps between a design and an investable proposition.