Evaluating the impact of nature-based solutions. A handbook for practicioners

The Handbook aims to provide decision-makers with a comprehensive NBS impact assessment framework and a robust set of indicators and methodologies for assessing the impacts of nature-based solutions in 12 areas of societal challenges:

• climate resilience;
• Water Management;
• Natural and Climate Hazards;
• Management of Green Spaces; Biodiversity;
• Air quality; Place of Regeneration;
• Building knowledge and social capacities for sustainable urban transformation;
• Participatory Planning and Governance;
• Social Justice and Social Cohesion;
• Health and Well-being;
• New economic opportunities and green jobs.
  
  The indicators have been developed in collaboration by representatives of 17 individual EU-funded NBS projects and collaborating institutions such as the EEA and JRC, as part of the European Working Group for NBS Impact Assessment, with the fourfold objective of: serving as a reference for EU policies and activities; guide urban practitioners in developing robust impact assessment frameworks for nature-based solutions at different scales; expand the pioneering work of the EKLIPSE framework by providing a comprehensive set of indicators and methodologies; and build the European evidence base on the impacts of NBS. They reflect the state of the art in current scientific research on the impacts of nature-based solutions and valid and standardised assessment methods, as well as the state of urban implementation of assessment frameworks.