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What are Nature-based Solutions?

Nature-based solutions (NbS) work with the environment to address challenges, benefiting people and nature. These scalable and cost-effective approaches include carbon storage, water purification, and flood risk reduction. Organisations can align NbS with project or organisation goals to adapt to climate change, restore nature and reduce capital expenditure.

By integrating NbS, you promote sustainability, resilience, and a healthier planet for future generations.

What is WSP's approach to Nature-based Solutions?

We've seen increased interest from clients, often driven by community demand, across the water sector, local authorities, transport agencies, and private developers, about opportunities for adopting NbS to complement, enhance and improve more traditionally engineered approaches. 

NbS are powerful tools and as part of a "twin track" approach working with other engineered solutions, provide the most cost-effective solutions.  

We focus on finding synergies with 'grey' and 'green' solutions and seamlessly integrating them where possible.

Our services include:

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Our NbS expertise

  • Landscape architecture
  • Master planning
  • Lifecycle assessment
  • Hydrology and hydrogeology engineers
  • Water quality monitoring and analysis
  • Soil and peatland management and restoration
  • Natural flood management
  • Groundwater recharge
  • Biodiversity, BNG and ecological assessment 
  • Natural capital and ecosystem service assessment 
  • Carbon accounting including emissions sequestration assessment and AS2080 accreditation
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Nature-based solutions

  • Water quality
  • Flood risk management 
  • Causal model
  • Carbon capture 
  • Wastewater and sludge treatment
  • Urban design e.g. addressing the urban heat island effect or designing Sustainable drainage systems (SuDS)
  • Enhancing access to green space, supporting health and wellbeing 
  • Restoring biodiversity 
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Habitat and ecosystem

  • Construction
  • Catchment treatment
  • Habitat design
  • Restoration 
  • Management plan development
  • Survey and monitoring  
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Economics

  • Return on investment
  • Environmental finance
  • Green financing 
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Data science

  • Geographical Information Systems
  • Remote Sensing
  • Data analytics
We advise on the tightening legislation and requirements around NbS, including the Environment Act, the 2023 Environmental Improvement Plan, Habitats and Planning Regulations, along with Defra’s Land Use Framework. We also help with public perception and stakeholder engagement – supporting you to deliver on ESG.

Our work with Natural England

WSP is part of an ambitious project in North Shropshire to restore 2,500 acres of lowland-raised peat bog - one of the world’s rarest habitats that prevents and mitigates the effects of climate change.  

Watch the video and hear from our client, Natural England, on why they choose us to deliver this NbS project.

Watch now

The WSP experience

We partner with clients from strategic advisory to delivery. Providing strategic advisory services on all aspects of NbS, including urban, rural and coastal modelling, ecology and landscape architecture and soils remediation. 

Our specialists across a range of disciplines come together to find the right solution, including an ecology team and cross-disciplinary nature advisory specialist group who can ensure any NbS work is underpinned by sound ecological principles, and its benefits can be demonstrated and measured using suitable tools.

Our experts worked with a wide range of industry and government partners to develop the NATURE tool, a simple assessment that measures how well a business or organisation is managing ecosystem services and natural capital. The NATURE tool can help you assess the impact of changes in land use and management on your organisation's performance and helps companies run ecosystem service assessments against clearly defined objectives.  

One of the core challenges in funding and implementing nature-based solutions is that people do not understand their much wider value to society. If you need evidence that investing in NbS is cost-effective - we have the tools and track record to develop this. We can also advise on new natural capital markets and financing mechanisms.
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WSP delivers Future Ready® solutions to preserve and manage water for generations to come.

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Environment

We are solving some of the world’s biggest challenges; cleaning up past legacies, creating new developments that preserve and improve our environment, and finding ways to use and re-use resources.

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