Workstream 1 is currently shortlisting priority indicators for evaluating the impact of Nature-based Solutions (NbS).
Our goal is to develop metadata templates for some of these indicators to help improve the consistency and comparability of baseline data on the effectiveness of NbS, as reported by EU-funded NbS projects.
The process to date has involved a review of more than 80 priority indicators detailed in the Practitioners' Handbook for Evaluating the Impact of NbS, produced by Task Force 2. These have been shortlisted to 26 indicators from which a final set of around 10 will be taken forward to the next phase, during which we will develop standardised templates for data capture. These templates will then be piloted by a sample of EU-funded projects and if successful, the method will be replicated in future.
Data standardisation is a common 'wicked problem' and the context nature-based solutions is no exception! By their nature, NbS are highly diverse and there are many factors that can introduce inconsistencies in how data on NbS is captured and reported - for example, variations in scale and location; methods and equipment; differences in regional and national reporting requirements, and more.
The Task Force 1 team is seeking to address this variability by creating simplified metadata templates that capture 'enough' data on NbS so as to be useful, without placing unrealistic demands on the organisations responsible for data collection - most often municipalities - because capacities and resources for data capture are typically low or limited. For this reason our review and shortlisting of priority indicators has focused on the following key criteria:
- Impact: how important is the indicator and related data to prove the effectiveness of NbS in tackling societal challenges?
- Implementation: how high are the organisational, legal, technical and other barriers to collecting data for the indicator?
- Applicability and scalability: how widely applicable is the indicator and related data to a given sector?
- Standardisability: how straightforward is it to standardise metrics and data collection approaches?
Work is expected to commence from September on developing the initial draft metadata templates, aiming to have some ready for testing with projects by the end of 2025.
Looking further ahead, the TF1 team has begun thinking about other stages of the NbS data 'pipeline', including challenges to overcome in relation to data retrieval, storage and centralisation. Artificial Intelligence (AI) may a role to play in these processes and could be applied, for example, in mapping metadata templates onto existing databases for the purpose of extracting standardised metrics (or close proxies thereof).
As always in Task Force 1, it's a rapidly moving field and we enjoy being at the centre of it. If you'd like to join us, reach out to TF1@networknature.eu
Workstream 1 is coordinated by:
- Agnieszka Olszewska-Guizzo, NeuroLandscape
- Iván Cester, Eurecat
- Mamuka Gvilava, GIS and RS Consulting Center GeoGraphic, Caucasus NbS Hub