In the context of risk management and in the face of environmental and economic challenges such as climate change, coastal erosion, water insecurity, and the accelerated loss of biodiversity, among others, the concept of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) has emerged. Over the past decade, this appealing concept has been consolidated as an integrative approach that seeks to address socio-environmental challenges through the sustainable management of socio-ecological systems.
The United Nations Environment Assembly defines NbS as “actions that protect, sustainably manage, and restore natural or modified ecosystems to effectively and adaptively address societal challenges, simultaneously providing benefits for human well-being and biodiversity.” In this way, NbS represents a paradigm shift from traditional solutions based exclusively on grey infrastructure, which are now insufficient in facing many large and complex contemporary challenges.
The relevance of NbS resides in their capacity to generate multiple, synergistic benefits through ecosystem services and the strengthening of socio-ecological resilience. This approach recognizes the interdependence of nature and culture, and much of its success depends on how communities perceive and acknowledge the multiple benefits socio-ecological systems provide for human well-being. Therefore, NbS must emphasize the need for participatory, equitable, and inclusive processes to ensure their legitimacy and long-term sustainability.
NbS encompass actions for the protection, restoration, and sustainable management of ecosystems. Although they offer multifunctional and cost-effective benefits, their implementation faces diverse challenges. Several international frameworks acknowledge NbS as priority strategies to confront climate change and biodiversity loss, promoting guidelines for their adoption at different scales. Among these frameworks are the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (1992), the Convention on Biological Diversity (1992), the Sendai Framework (2015–30), and the Paris Agreement (2015). However, it is not enough to only secure financing or display technical feasibility. It is also necessary to establish a coherent legal framework, generate open and accessible data, and strengthen intersectoral and intergenerational capacities.
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This paper analyzes the relevance of assertive communication as a determining factor in the co-design of NbS, with particular emphasis on marine-coastal contexts and within the framework of international commitments to climate change mitigation and adaptation.
Particularities of Marine-Coastal Areas
Coastal zones represent natural laboratories of high socio-ecological complexity, where terrestrial, marine, and freshwater ecosystems converge, while simultaneously concentrating human activities such as fishing, commerce, tourism, and maritime transport. Many major urban centers have developed and prospered in these coastal areas worldwide. The intersection of diverse and often conflicting activities and interests generates tensions in coastal zones, but also unique opportunities for NbS.
Riisager-Simonsen et al. classify marine-coastal NbS into four main categories:
- Sustainable use and ecosystem protection: creation of marine protected areas, recovery of critical habitats, and sustainable fisheries management.
- Enhanced ecosystem multifunctionality: restoration of mangroves, reef rehabilitation, and coastal protection solutions based on nature.
- Artificial or hybrid systems: blue-green infrastructures such as artificial reefs, constructed wetlands, or ecological seawalls.
- Reduction of environmental pressures: measures to reduce pollution, nutrient overload, or overexploitation.
These strategies not only strengthen coastal resilience against extreme events but also generate co-benefits such as increased biodiversity and improved quality of life for local communities. In managing natural heritage, it is impossible to separate the ecological from the social dimension, given their profound interdependence; changes in the social dimension directly affect the ecological dimension and vice-versa.
A palafito fisherman paddles out into the open expanse of Colombia’s Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta, a critical and at-risk coastal wetland ecosystem. Credit: D.H. Rasolt.
In this regard, the concept of socio-ecological systems (SES) is highly useful. SES are complex units where dynamic interactions are recognized between social components, such as local human communities, institutions, knowledge systems, beliefs, practices, and economies; and ecological components, such as biotic communities and biophysical processes. Both dimensions are equally relevant, making resilience, adaptation, and governance central concepts for managing SES, as they allow us to understand how systems respond to disturbances, whether environmental (climate change, biodiversity loss, natural disasters) or social (conflicts, technological transformations, policy changes).
Analyzing SES is fundamental to advancing sustainability, as it helps identify critical interactions that sustain human well-being and ecosystem health. Socio-ecological systems provide a conceptual framework to better understand and manage the interconnections between society and nature, supporting sustainable development strategies based on coevolution and balance between both dimensions.
In this context, NbS can generate significant social benefits, contributing to individual and collective well-being, improving quality of life, promoting equity and community resilience, providing financial opportunities, improving land tenure security, valuing traditional and local knowledge, fostering human–nature connections, and optimizing decision-making processes at the local level.
The Social Dimension of NbS is Often Overlooked
Despite advances, gaps persist regarding the social dimension of NbS. Recognizing gender equity, social justice, respect for ancestral knowledge, and the participation of younger generations is vital to ensure that solutions are both legitimate and sustainable.
Initiatives such as BioClimSocial, from the University of Bonn, have highlighted the need to explicitly incorporate the social dimension into NbS research and implementation. This project promotes the exchange of experiences and underscores the importance of assertive communication for achieving synergies among biodiversity, climate, well-being, sustainability, and social equity.
As noted, the identification, planning, and implementation of NbS are shaped by uncertainties and challenges, including the complexity of the problems to be addressed; the diversity of possible interventions and their territorial scales; the availability of financial and human resources; the legal and governance frameworks that enable or constrain action; and the existing technical-scientific capacity. A particularly critical aspect, however, is the need to equitably and inclusively consider the interests, values, and expectations of the social actors involved in NbS. This is fundamental, because without the participation and commitment of local communities, NbS lose legitimacy and become unsustainable. Ignoring the social context may lead to negative consequences such as increased social inequality, resource-use conflicts, economic losses, and social tension.
The multi- and transdisciplinary perspective of NbS imply recognizing and integrating diverse interests, perceptions, values, and knowledge systems through collaborative exercises that necessarily involve a wide range of social actors at different stages. Achieving such recognition and integration requires adequate orientation: legal frameworks, tools, and methodologies grounded in solid research; real-world observations; reduction of power asymmetries; evaluation of lessons learned from case studies; and above all, the cultivation of trust. Trust—essential for overcoming barriers to social participation in NbS—is built and maintained through assertive communication.
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In short, incorporating the social dimension throughout the entire NbS cycle is indispensable for identifying and addressing stakeholder needs and priorities, as well as for ensuring an equitable distribution of benefits derived from interventions.
Assertive Communication as an Interdisciplinary and Intercultural Bridge
Assertive communication is understood as the ability to express ideas, opinions, interests, and emotions clearly, respectfully, honestly, and constructively, without resorting to aggression or submission. In the context of NbS, this social competence becomes an indispensable tool to facilitate intercultural and intersectoral dialogue; prevent and resolve conflicts stemming from divergent interests; promote transparency and trust among governmental actors, scientists, local communities, and the private sector; and strengthen participatory governance and shared responsibility in ecosystem management. In settings where ancestral knowledge, technical expertise, and diverse economic or political perspectives converge, assertive communication acts as the bridge that transforms cooperation into effective action.
Building trust and intercultural collaborations with the local Raizal communities on Colombia’s Caribbean islands, through knowledge exchange and assertive communication. Credit: E.Mancera.
The success of NbS depends on multiple technical, financial, and regulatory factors, but above all on the ability to connect people through assertive communication. Only through honest, inclusive, and collaborative dialogue will it be possible to harness the full potential of nature as a strategic ally in addressing the challenges of the 21st century.
The guiding principle of NbS lies in the interdependence between nature and culture, and in the capacity of socio-ecological systems to provide essential goods and services for human well-being. However, implementing NbS entails complex challenges related to governance, financing, technical-scientific capacity, and—most notably—the social dimension. In this regard, assertive communication emerges as a cornerstone for ensuring inclusion and sustainability in these processes.
The successful development of NbS requires much more than financing and technical feasibility. The social dimension, articulated through assertive communication, constitutes the true axis of sustainability for these initiatives. Assertive communication strengthens trust, facilitates intersectoral cooperation, and promotes equity in decision-making. In marine-coastal contexts, where multiple actors and ecosystems converge, its role is even more decisive. International regulatory frameworks provide important support, but their effectiveness will depend on local capacities to connect science, policy, and society through assertive dialogue.
NbS represent not only an opportunity to confront the challenges of climate change and environmental degradation, but also a social exercise in collective construction—where the product is as important as the process, and where assertive communication is the key tool for transforming diverse voices into legitimate, equitable, and lasting solutions.
Community-Based Seagrass Restoration in the Seaflower Biosphere Reserve as a Nature-Based Solution for Erosion Mitigation: A Case Study
Seagrass meadows play a crucial role in mitigating the effects of climate change, as they capture around 10% of the carbon stored in the oceans. However, their global extent has declined significantly, leading to the loss of many of the ecosystem services that they provide to coastal populations. This reduction has also been evident in the Colombian Caribbean, particularly on San Andrés Island. An example is the seagrass meadow at Haynes Cay, located in front of the tourist islet known as “Aquarium,” which has lost approximately 623,211 m² over the past 20 years due to erosion caused by the interaction of anthropogenic and natural effects.
Erosion processes are evident throughout the meadow. The loss or degradation of seagrass has significantly impacted the area’s biodiversity and the provision of ecosystem services to the island community. If this trend continues, negative consequences may unfold for the islanders’ way of life, affecting one of the area’s main tourist attractions, as well as reducing food availability, coastal protection, and other essential benefits.
With the support of the National University of Colombia—which is exploring the efficiency of two planting methods for restoring Thalassia testudinum meadows that have shown positive results—a pilot technique is being developed to help mitigate erosion in seagrass meadows through edge topographic restoration, thereby facilitating the ecosystem’s natural regeneration. Thalassia testudinum, which is more commonly known as “turtle grass,” occurs in the sandy bottoms of shallow water throughout the Caribbean Sea. As with other seagrass meadows, Thalassia testudinum is a vital habitat and feeding ground not just for turtles, but for juvenile and herbivorous fish, epiphytes, and more.
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The work carried out by the National University of Colombia has been in collaboration with the culturally diverse communities of San Andrés, Providence, and Santa Catalina islands, of which approximately 30% are of the legally recognized Raizal people. These intercultural collaborations have been based on dialogue between scientific-technological expertise and local knowledge systems, social participation in these processes, and collaborative work among community members, academia, and civil society organizations.
Figure 1: Overview of the case study. Credit: E.Mancera.
One of the first problems identified was the lack of awareness about seagrass, an enigmatic ecosystem for the local community (Figure 1). Through coordination between academia and other organizations, workshops and training sessions were held to jointly recognize the importance of seagrass as socio-ecological systems whose conservation and/or restoration constitute nature-based solutions at regional and global scales for mitigating the effects of climate change.
From these intercultural academia-community encounters, we learned that listening is more important than speaking, and that play-based learning is a very effective tool to stimulate communication. The trust generated through these exercises has made it possible to identify potential motivations for social actor engagement (Figure 2). Identifying reasons for involvement and commitment to the project is key to designing mechanisms for assertive communication.
Figure 2: Stakeholder map. Credit: E.Mancera.
The project is currently advancing comprehensively, addressing both ecological and social dimensions, while also leveraging the interest of government and private actors in marine ecosystems. The next step is to strengthen the economic dimension, generating compensation mechanisms for the local community and ensuring financing for ecosystem restoration within the framework of NbS.
Conclusions
Nature-based solutions have emerged as a robust and adaptive framework for addressing many complex contemporary challenges. Its synergistic and participatory approach, which emphasizes the interdependence of nature and culture, aims to ensure the sustainable protection, restoration and management of socio-ecological systems.
But the effectiveness of nature-based solutions will be greatly limited without efforts towards more assertive communication, as a growing body of peer-reviewed literature and the case of intercultural collaboration for seagrass restoration with local communities in the Colombian Caribbean, clearly demonstrate.
A growing community of scientists, community leaders, policy makers, and concerned citizens around the world are becoming more aware of the interconnected threats to ecosystems, climate, culture and overall quality of life. We researchers especially, armed with vast bodies of raw data and other forms of scientific evidence, must look to integrate assertive communication into the development of long-term, equitable, nature-based solutions.
