Nature Based Solutions Costs of Action and Inaction Final - Report

Human-induced climate change is driving increasingly severe weather in the UK, threatening the long-term viability of Scotland’s land-based industries. To remain resilient and competitive, these sectors must urgently adopt climate adaptation and mitigation strategies, including Nature-based Solutions (NbS), which are central to emerging policy and funding frameworks. We take a broad definition of NbS that includes any form of land management that utilises natural or nature-like process to provide adaptation outcomes, this includes where land is being primarily managed for productive purposes, e.g through changing production methods to include elements of NbS. This report investigates the state of knowledge on the relationship between NbS and the productive land use sectors of agriculture and forestry in Scotland.