I set this aside to share with you last week but there was a clutter of news that got in the way. I’m sure it’s going to come as a huge shock.

Natural climate change solutions highly effective in the long term

Nature-based solutions (NbS) can contribute to the fight against climate change up to the end of our century, according to new Oxford research in the leading scientific journal Nature. The analysis suggests that, to limit global temperature rise, we must slash emissions and increase NbS investment to protect, manage and restore ecosystems and land for the future.

Wha-a-a-a? I can hear you saying. Natural solutions like beavers are the best for fixing the problems we cause? Well yes they are. Let me tell you more about it.

The Oxford team found NbS measures, including the protection and large-scale restoration of eco-systems and improved land management, could cut peak global warming by between 0.1°C for a 1.5°C peak warming target, to 0.3°C for a 2.0°C peak warming target.

This would be achieved by removing as much as 10 gigatons of CO₂ per year from 2025 onwards—more than the global transportation sector’s annual emissions, at a cost of less than US$100 per ton of CO₂.

According to the lead author Cécile A. J. Girardin, technical director of Oxford’s Nature Based Solutions Initiative, “The world must invest now in nature-based solutions that are ecologically sound, socially equitable, and designed to deliver multiple benefits to society over a century or more. Properly managed, the protection, restoration and sustainable management of our working lands could benefit many generations to come.”

I couldn’t agree more. And I know just the partner you’re looking for. She has a flat tail and likes to eat wood with her family.

But, the report warns, if global warming is not held in check, wildfires and other ecological damage could lessen the effectiveness of nature-based solutions. Therefore, close attention must be paid to their long-term carbon sink potential and their impacts on biodiversity, equity and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. It also means global warming must continue to be limited through other ways, from decarbonisation to geological storage of CO₂.

The authors call for increased investment combined with rigorous evaluation of activities undertaken, using metrics which consider the complex, long-term benefits that NbS provide.

“An ambitious scaling-up of nature-based solutions needs to be implemented fast but also carefully, in a way that supports biodiversity and local people’s rights, while keeping fossil fuels in the ground,” concludes co-author, Professor Nathalie Seddon, Founding Director of Oxford’s Nature-based Solutions Initiative.

“Nature-based solutions can help cool the planet—if we act now” has been published in Nature.

Pretty encouraging right? I heard a report on Maddow last night that did a lot to boost my climate mood. Just in case you missed it, here it is.