About This Work

BACKGROUND

In 2021, “Nature-based Solutions” (NbS) had become a rather ubiquitous concept, especially in international policy spaces. However, perspectives towards NbS were not consistent across all parties.

While many groups were pushing NbS forward as an exciting and necessary approach towards addressing our twin climate and biodiversity crises, many were also pushing against the concept, citing serious and important concerns with how and where the term was being used and by who.

Missing in all of this was a united youth voice, across both climate and biodiversity communities, that clearly outlined how the global youth community understands NbS, and what was acceptable, and not acceptable within NbS approaches, both in policy and on-the-ground. 

And that's where we came in.

In 2021, the Global Youth Biodiversity Network, YOUNGO, and Youth4Nature partnered to co-develop a nuanced, critical, and inclusive Global Youth Position Statement on Nature-based Solutions. This project evolved in 3 parts:

Part 1

Provide accessible information about NbS

What does “NbS” even mean? Who is engaging with it and how? What are the risks and concerns, and what are the potential opportunities? 

To do this, GYBN, YOUNGO, and Y4N co-created an Information Brief to serve as a comprehensive, first overview into NbS. This brief, “What are Nature-based Solutions? Risks, concerns, and opportunities,” can be accessed here.

Part 2

Launch a global youth consultation

In order to develop a Global Youth Position Statement, we needed to gather the ideas, perspectives, and understandings of young people around the world about NbS. 

To do this, we launched a survey in English, Français, and Español, which was completed by 1000 youth who wanted to make sure their voice was included in this critical discussion!

Part 3

Co-Develop a Position Statement on NbS

The final step was to integrate the results from the survey and release the final outputs. The Global Youth Position Statement on NbS was co-developed by GYBN, YOUNGO, and Y4N, and was co-signed by youth organizations and individuals across the world.

Our objective was for this Position Statement to gain policy traction and be a vehicle for youth voices to influence global NbS decision-making.

IMPACTS

We knew then, and it’s been proven time and again, that this was important because it supports youth in their nature and climate advocacy efforts that align with justice and systemic change, further connecting youth across biodiversity and climate movements, and helping us create spaces for ourselves within global nature and climate decision-making. Since the statement was launched in the Nature Hub at UNFCCC COP26 in Glasgow, we have made waves. Some of our major wins include:

  • The key recommendations of the statement were incorporated into YOUNGO’s Global Youth Statement at COP26 and distributed to all UN parties

  • At UNCBD COP15 in Montreal, Bolivian negotiators referenced the statement on the negotiation floor

  • We hosted key events to amplify the statement recommendations to virtual and in-person audiences at UNFCCC COP27 and COP28, and as in our official UNFCCC side event at COP29

  • We connected 10,000 people through this website, and thousands more through social media, to the statement

  • The statement outcomes inspired projects like Youth4Nature’s INUKA Pilot, empowering local youth leaders to implement effective, safeguarded NbS initiatives

This work pushed the newly popular concept of Nature-Based Solutions in a direction that works for people and for nature.

Now What?

For the last year, we have been reflecting on how NbS has evolved since 2021. NbS - and the nature-climate nexus more broadly - have been increasingly incorporated into climate and nature policy, we see the ongoing greenwashing of NbS in specific sectors and threats of land-grabbing for carbon markets, while also seeing an increased interest in financing natural solutions. All of this and more is why we’re back.

In 2025, Youth4Nature, Global Youth Biodiversity Network, and YOUNGO are back together to create resources for young people to engage and build synergies across the Rio conventions, bridging the nature-climate nexus, considering specific policies that are in development and use, as well as what is already being used in implementation.

To make the needed updates to the Global Youth Position Statement on NbS, we need your ideas, perspectives, and experiences about NbS! To do this, we have launched a survey, which is out now. Take 10 minutes, and make sure your voice is included in this critical discussion!

We plan to launch and share the findings and final statement at the IUCN World Conservation Congress, SBSTTA, and UNFCCC COP30.

Any inquires about this work can be directed to Youth4Nature: hello@youth4nature.org, GYBN: gybn.policy@gmail.com, and YOUNGO: youngo.unfccc@gmail.com.