Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are actions that protect, restore, and sustainably manage natural or modified ecosystems to tackle pressing interconnected challenges such as climate change, food security, water availability, and disaster risk reduction. Although NbS can be applied across many sectors, agriculture represents a particularly significant area of intervention. This is because agricultural practices often intersect—and often conflict—with efforts to conserve and protect nature. By embedding NbS in agricultural systems, it becomes possible not only to reduce these tensions but also to unlock co-benefits for productivity, resilience, and ecosystem health.
At the same time, it is crucial to recognize that the landscapes where agricultural expansion and intensification occur, and where ecosystem pressures converge, are frequently the very places where issues of environmental justice remain most acute. Moreover, conventional agriculture puts immense pressure on nature and jeopardizes the health of rural communities, while holding tenure over vast areas of land, and thereby, the ability to unlock some of these tensions and conflicts.
This session therefore seeks to explore the opportunities for scaling up NbS for a more sustainable agriculture through the lens of environmental justice. By doing so, it aims to highlight pathways for inclusive, equitable, and transformative approaches that strengthen both ecological integrity and social well-being.