How are nature-based solutions contributing to priority societal challenges surrounding human well-being in the United Kingdom: a systematic map

Abstract

Background The concept of nature-based solutions (NBS) has evolved as an umbrella concept to describe approaches to learning from and using nature to create sustainable socio-ecological systems. Furthermore, NBS often address multiple societal challenges that humans are facing in the medium to long-term and as such can enhance human well-being (HWB). This study was commissioned to fulfil the need for a targeted systematic evidence map on the linkage between NBS and HWB to support focused research going forward that addresses the key knowledge needs of policy makers in the UK and beyond. Methods A consultation with policy makers and government agency staff (n = 46), in the four component parts of the UK (England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland) was conducted in spring 2019. This identified four key societal challenges of operational experience lacking a scientific evidence base. Three of these challenges related to management issues: NBS cost-efficacy, governance in planning, environmental justice. The fourth challenge related to the acoustic environment (soundscape). Using systematic methods, this study searched for and identified studies that assessed NBS on HWB with regard to these four selected societal challenges. Review findings A total of 7287 articles were returned from the systematic search and screened for suitability at the level of title and abstract. A total of 610 articles passed screening criteria to warrant full text screening. Of these, 115 studies met the full text criteria for eligibility in the final systematic map database. Included studies were coded for twelve NBS interventions and ten HWB related outcome categories. Most of the evidence reviewed referred to natural, blue or green infrastructure in the urban environment and focused on economic, material and health aspects of HWB. Less than 2% of studies identified in the searches robustly reported the role of NBS actions or interventions on HWB compared with non-NBS actions or interventions Conclusion This systematic map found the evidence base is growing on NBS-HWB linkages, but significant biases persist in the existing literature. There was a bias in favour of the urban environment and restoration studies focused on conservation aspects, with only a few studies investigating the full suite of advantages to HWB that can be delivered from NBS actions and interventions. The soundscape was the least studied of the societal challenges identified as being of key importance by policy makers, with cost-efficiency the most reported. There was a lack of robust long-term studies to clearly test the potential of NBS regarding the HWB outcomes compared with non-NBS alternatives. This lack of robust primary knowledge, covering all four key societal challenges identified, confirms that the knowledge gaps identified by the policy makers persist, and highlights a clear research need for long-term, transdisciplinary studies that focus on comparisons between NBS and non-NBS alternatives

The actual and ideal indoor soundscape for work, relaxation, physical and sexual activity at home: A case study during the COVID-19 lockdown in London

“…They include the provision and restoration of green areas, such as parks, urban forests, street trees and green roofs, rain gardens, wetlands, and community gardens (Geneletti et al, 2022). As previously highlighted in the literature, the benefits of NBS on human wellbeing from an improved soundscape are poorly identified and often not taken into account (Dick et al, 2020), or their consideration is limited to the benefit related to noise pollution reduction (European Commission, 2021;Jiang et al, 2022), intended as dB noise level abatement. Therefore, despite the potential to improve people's wellbeing and quality of life, the benefits associated to NBS in terms of positive soundscapes and improvement of the quality of heard sounds are generally Moreover, whilst the connection to natural sounds has long been a topic of investigation and appears to be important for the perception of quietness and for stress reduction, the literature call for more research on urban sounds potential of defining positive everyday indoor soundscapes (Ratcliffe, 2019;Torresin et al, 2020b).…”

Sustainability Framework for Revealing and Analysing the Co-benefits of Nature-based Solutions to Urban Water Challenges

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Evidence on the impact of Baltic Sea ecosystems on human health and well-being: a systematic map

“…Data were exported from EPPI-reviewer as an excel file. Histograms were used to represent data on the bibliographic details and cluster analysis and heatmap matrixes were used to represent the data for the synthesis of ecosystem services systematic and health and well-being map findings [ 11 , 21 ].…”

“…As Stiglitx et al [ 17 ] state, “What we measure affects what we do, and if our measurements are flawed, our decisions may be distorted.” Alongside this, there have been increasing calls for transparent, effective, co-designed research, developed with inputs from practitioners and policy advisors, which measure aspects that matter to people [ 13 , 18 , 19 ]. The advantages of co-designed research are that it brings knowledge from a diverse range of experience and perceptions and improves legitimacy [ 18 , 20 , 21 ]. Policy advisors were approached at the outset of the mapping process to ensure the questions developed were relevant, to understand the level of understanding of the topic and the needs of the policy advisors.…”