Nature-based Solutions to meet EU Nature Restoration Targets: Evaluating synergies and trade-offs across Ecosystem Services for biodiversity conservation, climate change mitigation, and resilience and autonomy improvement – EVESNAT

To address upcoming challenges from the new EU Nature Restoration Law, Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are promising to support nature restoration. However, the ability of NbS to co-generate benefits for human well-being is still unclear. The aim of the project EVESNAT is to evaluate different spatially explicit scenarios NbS based on a quantitative assessment of multiple ecosystem services (ES). In specific, EVESNAT will (1) conceptualize a roadmap for adopting a transdisciplinary and transnational approach to develop NbS in the context of the EU Nature Restoration Law, (2) develop three spatially explicit scenarios of NbS (increasing biodiversity, mitigating climate change, improving resilience and autonomy) adopting a participatory approach, (3) assess multiple ES in biophysical and economic terms, as well as their importance through socio-cultural evaluation, and estimate potential impacts and benefits of the NbS scenarios, (4) identify synergies and trade-offs among ES across the NbS scenarios and evaluate the effectiveness of NbS with regard to the different targets of the EU Nature Restoration Law, and (5) elaborate general guidelines to develop and implement NbS for the EU Nature Restoration Law. Focusing on three case study sites in the European Alps with differing social-ecological characteristics, the findings of the project EVESNAT will contribute to an improved management and governance supporting the targets of the Nature Restoration Law. EVESNAT will provide a knowledge base with general guidelines and concrete examples of NbS supporting biodiversity conservation and assuring the provision of multiple ES. The project addresses novel conceptual and methodological approaches to address the targets of the new EU Nature Restoration Law. This includes the conceptualization of a transdisciplinary and transnational approach for developing NbS according to different scenarios. As the outcomes of NbS have been rarely evaluated with regard to human well-being, an innovative aspect of EVESNAT is linking spatially explicit scenarios of NbS with ES indicators to evaluate changes in multiple ES, as well as identifying synergies and trade-offs. Ultimately, EVESNAT will evaluate to what extent the new EU Restoration Law can contribute to transformative change in terms of ES, resilience and biodiversity co-benefits.