Reducing hydro-meteorological risk by nature-based solutions: What do we know about people’s perceptions?
Pioneering research has dedicated efforts to optimize the design of Nature-based Solutions (NBS), to evaluate their wider co-benefits and to understand promoting and/or hampering governance conditions for the uptake of NBS. This article aims to complement this research by conducting a comprehensive literature review of factors shaping people’s perceptions of NBS as a means to reduce hydro-meteorological risks.
The authors identified six topics shaping the current discussion in this field of research: (1) valuation of the co-benefits (including those related to ecosystems and society); (2) evaluation of risk reduction efficacy; (3) stakeholder participation; (4) socio-economic and location-specific conditions; (5) environmental attitude, and (6) uncertainty. Their analysis reveals that the current knowledge of concepts surrounding perceptions of NBS is not always consistent.
While perceived co-benefits show a relatively strong positive impact on the people’s perceptions of NBS, other factors such as perceived efficacy of NBS and individual socio-economic-demographic conditions show conflicting results. The authors concluded that the scale of each NBS project and the level of engineering used can contribute to the discrepancies in perceptions of NBS shown in the empirical studies.
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