Nature-based Solutions for Climate-resilient Infrastructure in the Asia-Pacific

Climate change is reshaping where and how people can safely live, particularly in the rapidly urbanising coastal regions of the Asia-Pacific. This research project explores how Nature-based Solutions (NbS) can be integrated into the infrastructure that cities and coastal communities depend on. As defined by the United Nations Environment Assembly, NbS are actions to protect, conserve, restore, sustainably use and manage natural or modified terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine ecosystems, which address social, economic and environmental challenges effectively and adaptively, while simultaneously providing human well-being, ecosystem services, resilience and biodiversity benefits.
Our research combines interdisciplinary framework development, global evidence synthesis, and comparative field studies in cities and coastlines across the Asia-Pacific, including Japan, Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, and China, together with collaborative research in the United States. The overarching goal is to generate the scientific evidence needed to move Nature-based Solutions from isolated pilot projects to mainstream infrastructure policy and practice.