NBS in Italy

In 2023 Italy moved a step forward in the field of Nature-based solutions, by creating the Italian Hub for NBS. The main aim of this new-settled entity – created last May in Rome – is connecting researchers, administrators, enterprises and the public sector in order to promote initiatives, gather and disseminate information about Nature-based solutions. 

This step was taken thanks to and inside the project Network Nature, financed by the European Commission, with the objective of creating national hubs about NBS in order to underline their importance as resources for each community.

The milestone of the hub is considering Nature-based solutions as an important opportunity to promote local, regional and international cooperation, therefore its main objective is to support collaboration between stakeholders by promoting capacity building and key knowledge exchange. The final aim is to facilitate the building of green and blue instructure addressed to environmental sustainability. 

The hub will be coordinated by the CNR-IRET, the Research Institute on Terrestrial Ecosystem of the National Research Council of Italy which is already promoting a series of initiatives to make the concept of NBS circulate and adapt to national, regional and local specificities. 

In recent years, even before the creation of the Hub, some examples of NBS have already been implemented throughout the Italian territory.  

In Prato, a city in Tuscany, the “Prato Urban Jungle” was activated. The project regards NBS that can be used against urban challenges linked to climate change and pollution: poor air quality, heat waves, risk of floods, social exclusion and degradation. These problems affect the health, quality of life and safety of citizens and therefore combating them is fundamental from several points of view. 

Prato has adopted an urban forestry strategy, creating green areas rich in vegetation, the so-called “urban jungles”. This was achieved to combat land consumption and promote the reuse of existing areas and buildings, against pollution and in favor of community inclusion. This is a creative urban project to renaturalize some neighborhoods in a sustainable and socially inclusive way, in 4 areas of the city.

Let’s see what happens after the creation of the Hub!