Nature-based solutions: rhetoric or reality? The potential contribution of nature-based solutions to net zero in the UK

While the UK Government’s ambitions for nature-based solutions are admirable, there is a clear and present danger that they will not be achieved, and this could undermine the target of net zero by 2050, as well as the agricultural sector, with a failed transition. The House of Lords recommends that the Government, as a matter of urgency, invests in research, skills training, and delivery of nature-based solutions. At the same time, the Government needs to tell land managers how they will be paid for delivering nature-based solutions, to set out how competing demands on land will be balanced, and to facilitate private investment in high-quality nature-based solutions.