Innovating with Nature: From Nature-Based Solutions to Nature-Based Enterprises
By Kooijman, E.D.; McQuaid, S.; Rhodes, M.-L.; Collier, M.J.; Pilla, F. Innovating with Nature: From Nature-Based Solutions to Nature-Based Enterprises. Sustainability 2021, 13, 1263. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13031263
Short summary:
Nature-based Solutions (NbS) to address societal challenges have been widely recognised and adopted by governments in climate change and biodiversity strategies. However, the NbS market is still in its infancy and in order to implement NbS on the scale needed requires the involvement of all stakeholders, including the private sector. However, what kind of organisations contribute to the delivery of NbS? And what kind of activities do they undertake? The paper by Kooijman et al. (2021) proposes a typology of organisations delivering NBS and a categorisation of their economic activities based on findings from a systematic literature review and an enterprise survey. It explicitly focuses on Nature-Based Enterprises (NBE), which we define as ‘an enterprise, engaged in economic activity, that uses nature sustainably as a core element of their product/service offering’. Here, nature may be used directly by growing, harnessing, harvesting or sustainably restoring natural ecosystems, and/or indirectly by contributing to the planning, delivery or stewardship of nature-based solutions. This definition is based on the first definition developed in Connecting Nature, and takes into account the European Commission’s definitions for enterprise and nature-based solutions.
Enterprises are the outcome of the process of entrepreneurship – business organisations - and engage in economic activity. Economic activities are organised into sectors - areas of business that make up a country’s economy. One of the classifications of economic sectors is the Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community (NACE). This reference framework aims to provide statistics on economic activities that are comparable at the European and world level. To connect the economy with nature, the term ’natural capital’ is frequently used, in which capital refers to a stock that yields a flow of ecosystem services over time. Ecosystem services are the ecological characteristics, functions or processes that benefit human well-being. Nature-based solutions (NbS) is an umbrella concept that covers a range of ecosystem service-related approaches. Therefore, the implementation of NbS, by definition, must benefit biodiversity, support the delivery of a range of ecosystem services, as well as contribute to societal goals. Subsequently, organisations delivering NbS positively contribute to biodiversity and ecosystem services.
After the review of literature (448 papers, 26 included) and the enterprise survey (173 respondents, 148 included), the 174 data points were evaluated using the criteria for nature-based enterprise, as explained above, namely: (1) engagement in economic activity, i.e., sell products or services for a given price on a market, and (2) direct or indirect contribution to the delivery of nature-based solutions, and thereby positively contribute to biodiversity and ecosystem services. Based on these criteria the following typology of types of organisations delivering NbS was developed:
• Nature-based enterprises use nature as a core element of their product/service offering for the planning, delivery and/or stewardship of NBS and engage in economic activity
• Nature-based organisations use nature as a core element of their product/service offering for the planning, delivery and/or stewardship of NBS but do not engage in economic activity
• Nature-based products and services may be offered by enterprises or organisations where nature is not a core element of their product/service offering
In addition, 11 categories of economic activities were identified, ranging from ecosystem restoration, living green roofs, and eco-tourism to smart technologies and community engagement for NBS. These activities are either directly or indirectly using nature (note: Sustainable Tourism and NBS for Health & Wellbeing are shown here as separate categories):
Nature-based enterprises contribute to a diverse range of sustainable economic activities, that standard industry classification systems (i.e., NACE) do not adequately account for. The recognition of NBE as important actors in the implementation of nature-based solutions is an essential first step in market creation for the products and services they offer. Although more research is needed for the identification of barriers and enablers in the start-up and growth of nature-based enterprise, the findings in this research are crucial for policy development for private sector involvement for wider NBS adoption.