Investing in Nature for European Water security

Description

This report aims to provide a strategic vision for mobilising greater investments in nature for water security in Europe, based on practical experiences. It includes:

• An overview of water security challenges faced by European countries and a continent-wide perspective on the scale of these challenges
• Evidence that investing in nature can increase water security, by lowering costs (when compared to investing in grey infrastructure alone) and bringing many additional benefits in terms of biodiversity, climate, jobs and social cohesion
• Examples of pioneering European experiences with investing in nature for water security
• Recommendations on what is needed to significantly increase the pace of investment in nature for water security in Europe

Section 2 of the report provides an overall introduction to nature-based solutions for water security (NbS-WS) and how they can substitute or complement grey infrastructure to address key water sector challenges. The next sections examine four main water challenges affecting European water security: improving surface water quality (Section 3), improving groundwater quality (Section 4), dealing with floods (Section 5) and dealing with water scarcity (Section 6). Section 7 sets out how European stakeholders have adopted NbS-WS. It examines key enablers and barriers to accelerate investments in NbS-WS in Europe, to help address the water security challenges identified in earlier sections. Section 8 formulates recommendations for accelerating take-up of NbS-WS in Europe, clearly outlining roles and responsibilities for a range of actors that need to be involved sections.

Reference information