Governments around the globe are starting to integrate nature-based solutions into decision-making processes, because of their potential to respond to climate change. And hence, biodiversity and improve environmental quality while contributing to economic regeneration and social well-being. In cities, nature-based solutions are often seen as an alternative and complementary ingredient to traditional technical solutions and the expansion of great infrastructure. The whole significant promise in enabling the urban transition to sustainability. At the same time, nature-based solutions are placed in socially and economically uneven urban landscapes which are bound by existing infrastructure. But if we want to increase the implementation of nature-based solutions, we need to understand the governance structures that enable them. So what is governance then? Well, while government refers to formal structures, systems or institutions by which a state, a region or a municipality is organized and governed, governance is a broader term. Governance refers to the act of governing rather than government in its narrow sense. It involves multiple public and private sectors that engage in debate, and compete with each other for gaining, and maintaining power over an issue that is being governed. At the same time, it offers opportunities to strategically integrate policy instruments and connect different sectors as well as engage multiple stakeholders in a dialogue that can enhance collaboration for sustainability. In cities, governance processes are important when steering the planning, use and maintenance of common goods like public green and blue spaces as these processes offer opportunities to find the smartest ways to benefit citizens and urban nature. Traditionally, urban green initiatives have been managed by the government. But over the years, their governance has been complemented by experimentation with multi-level governance schemes and there are two types of multi -evel governance. Type one and type two. Type one can be divided into vertical and horizontal coordination where vertical coordination is the relationship between municipalities, regional authorities, national and supra-national governments. And horizontal coordination describes the relationship between different agencies and policy divisions within municipal governments. So type one multi-level governance refers to governance by governments at different levels while type two multi-level governance involves networks and partnerships that operate between, and across political levels. It includes sub-national collaboration between government agencies, public and private sectors and civil society. Type two also includes transnational municipal networks like, for example, ICLEI, a global sustainability network of more than 1500 cities, towns and regions and 100 resilient cities and network that is working to make cities more resilient to physical, social and economic challenges. Or the European network, the Climate Alliance and the worldwide mega city network C40 that are working to combat climate change. These types of transnational municipal networks have become an important driver for municipal action on advancing nature-based solutions. They can facilitate the exchange of information experience between cities, catalyze learning, provide extra expertise and external funding and can offer political credibility to individuals and administrations seeking to promote actions internally. Equally has, for example, established a global online platform called CitiesWithNature. It provides a shared space for cities and their partners to engage and connect working with a common commitment towards a more sustainable urban world with nature. In addition to different types of governance, we can also talk about different forms of governance dependent on the origins and degrees of power exercised by a particular group of factors in governance initiatives. They can be split into three broad categories top down, bottom up and collaborative governance initiatives. Top-down governance initiatives are started and led by government actors like politicians, planning a regulation authorities and decision-making experts. An example of this is during development of an avenue, but there's a Sun's on in Barcelona into a green corridor. The corridor was promoted and implemented by the ecology, urban planning and mobility area at the city council in collaboration with district offices. Bottom up governance initiatives are started and led by grassroots movements, citizen and community groups or nongovernmental organizations. For example, in Edinburgh, the square meter for butterflies project was initiated by the Royal Botanic Garden in partnership with butterfly conservation. This organizations provide time, knowledge and materials and implementation is done jointly with the participants. The project has been developed in consultation with the municipality, environmental organizations and knowledge institutions. Collaborative governance initiatives are collaborations between stakeholders that are from different sectors, but hold similar interests. An example here is the establishment of the water fund in Mexico City to mobilize financial capital in order to strengthen water security through protection of ecosystem features. The development of the water fund was initiated by the Nature Conservancy of Mexico on behalf of the Latin American water funds partnership together with the Inter American Development Bank, the Mexico City government and businesses. So what's next for governance of nature based solutions? Well, as we can see, governance can take various forms and shapes. But there is no universal approach as to which form of governance is needed to enable sustainability. In fact, the balance between different types and forms of governance is needed. In the implementation of nature-based solutions, different types of governance can be used together, depending on the local situation and context. What works in one city may not be the right governance approach in another city, but research of about 1,000 examples of nature-based solutions in 100 European cities indicates an overall trend of transforming existing governance schemes from traditional top down approaches to collaborative approaches. Partnerships are essential for the implementation and governance of nature-based solutions, but there is a risk that the interests of some stakeholders are not taken into account. For example, the interest of citizens can be left out if other more powerful actors are making the decisions. But at the same time, bottom up citizen centered initiatives for nature based solutions can have a hard time to sustain themselves in the long run and can find it hard to scale. Many governance sections that promote the implementation and use of nature-based solutions are on their way, but there is still room to improve the integration of nature based concepts into governance processes. We also need to find new ways to secure long-term funding to ensure the implementation and maintenance of nature-based solutions in cities, and we also need to increase our knowledge in order to secure wider awareness, and support of nature-based solutions as a multi-functional approach to addressing societal challenges.
