The fund seeking road map : A tool to help finance Nature-based Solutions

Sammanfattning: Nature-based Solutions are gaining traction as a concept both in academia and in practice. However, creating a business case and seeking funding for NbS remains a significant obstacle in many cases. One ongoing project that works on addressing this challenge is the Horizon 2020 funded Conexus project. Conexus is an abbreviation of the full name, “CO-producing Nature-based solutions and restored Ecosystems: transdisciplinary neXus for Urban Sustainability.” As the name suggests, the focus is on co-production of knowledge relating to nature-based solutions (NbS) in urban settings. The Conexus project revolves around seven “Life Labs” throughout Latin America and Europe: São Paulo, Bogotá, Santiago, Buenos Aires, Lisbon, Barcelona and Turin.  This degree project is inspired by and based off of one of Conexus’ core focuses: valuation and fund mapping of urban NbS This is done in collaboration with Living Cities Stockholm (LCS), one of the 33 partners within the Conexus project. Valuating NbS has been and continues to be a complex and controversial topic in the academic world, and this project attempts to understand and navigate these intricacies, then applies that knowledge to create a “road map” where initiators of NbS projects can match their case to appropriate funding sources and educational resources.  To test the tool, this thesis applies the Buenos Aires Life Lab as a pilot project for valuating and fund mapping urban NbS, to be used as a guide on various scales across the globe in the future. The Buenos Aires Life Lab aims to improve air and water quality and mitigate flood risk through the implementation of NbS at two sites in the Buenos Aires municipality as well as one site in the neighboring San Martin municipality. The road map is applied to these projects, then the success of the tool is evaluated and revisions suggested for future application.