Urban flood risk management needs nature-based solutions: a coupled social-ecological system perspective

This paper explores the potential of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) for urban flood risk management (FRM), focusing on achieving social and ecological co-benefits. A coupled social-ecological system perspective is used to analyze the potential of NbS-FRM, revealing that ecological FRM measures are unevenly distributed globally, and solely focusing on flood mitigation can have unintended consequences. The study finds that NbS-FRM can provide co-benefits, but gaps remain in resilience thinking, consideration of environmental changes, and collaborative efforts. A proposed framework guides future efforts to leverage NbS for equitable and sustainable FRM, improving human well-being and ecosystem health.

Kejing Zhou, Fanhua Kong, Haiwei Yin, Georgia Destouni, Michael E. Meadows, Erik Andersson, Liding Chen, Bin Chen, Zhenya Li, Jie Su