Integrating Nature-Inspired Solutions into Nature-Based Solutions

Excerpt (first section):

Nature-based solutions (NbS) have become a pillar of global sustainability governance, featuring prominently in international agenda-setting instruments such as the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, as well as in conservation messaging. Using nature to address societal challenges is the defining feature of NbS, but the conservation of nature has been a foundational motivation from the outset. This is codified in the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN’s) Global Standard for Nature-Based Solutions, which requires that an NbS deliver a net positive to biodiversity and ecosystem integrity, with measurable conservation outcomes (IUCN 2025).
Earlier work has shown that clear conceptual boundaries are necessary for effective NbS governance (Seddon et al. 2020, Mader 2025). This Viewpoint examines a challenge in refining the NbS concept: the need to safeguard conservation as an essential component of NbS while also ensuring that the concept is sufficiently broad to capture nature’s full potential to address societal challenges. This tension is especially pronounced for“nature-inspired” solutions—interventions that apply biological principles or analogues in design or technology rather than directly using ecosystems and therefore do not depend on the continued functioning of those ecosystems. We argue that NbS can continue safeguarding conservation if its scope is expanded to include nature-inspired solutions.
Currently, some influential actors frame NbS in ways that can be read as including nature-inspired solutions (TNC 2021, European Commission 2025), whereas others explicitly or implicitly exclude them (Cohen-Shacham et al.2019,UNEP 2022).