Public Acceptance of Nature-Based Solutions for Natural Hazard Risk Reduction: Survey Findings From Three Study Sites in Europe

Abstract

Climate change is one factor increasing the risk of hydro-meteorological hazards globally. The use of nature-based solutions (NbS), and more specifically ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction measures (Eco-DRR), has become a popular response for risk reduction that also provides highly-valued co-benefits. Public acceptance is of particular importance for NbS since they often rely on local collaborative implementation, management, and monitoring, as well as long-term protection against competing societal interests. Although public engagement is a common goal of NbS projects, it is rarely carried out with a sufficient understanding of the (de)motivating factors tied to public perceptions. Successful collaboration demands consideration of societal attitudes and values in relation to risk, nature, and place. However, existing research does not sufficiently explore these themes together, their interactions, and their implications for the public acceptance of NbS. This may lead to misaligned public expectations and failed participatory initiatives, while jeopardizing the success of NbS projects and their continued funding and uptake. We conducted citizen surveys within local NbS “host” communities to determine the degree of pro-NbS attitudes and behavior, associated variables, and how these may be leveraged to increase acceptance. We compared results across sites, relying primarily on correlations and regression models along with survey comments and expert knowledge. Three distinct rural NbS being implemented within the OPERANDUM project aim to reduce risk from (socio-)natural hazards in Scotland (landslides and coastal erosion; n = 66 respondents), Finland (eutrophication and algal blooms; n = 204) and Greece (river flooding and water scarcity; n = 84). Our research thus centers on rural NbS for risk reduction within a large EU project. Trust in implementers is a consistent factor for defining attitudes towards the NbS across the sites, and attitudes are strongly associated with respondents’ commitment to nature and behavioral acceptance (i.e., willingness to engage). Behaviorial acceptance is most consistently predicted by connectedness to place and the extent of expected future impacts. Skepticism of NbS effectiveness leads to high public demand for relevant evidence. To increase public acceptance, we recommend greater framing of NbS in relation to place-based values as well as demonstration of the effectiveness of NbS for risk reduction. However, distinct hazard types, proposed NbS, and historical characteristics must be considered for developing strategies aimed at increasing acceptance. An understanding of these characteristics and their interactions leads to evidence-based recommendations for our study sites and for successful NbS deployment in Europe and beyond.

Levers for transformative nature-based adaptation initiatives in the Alps

“…Results also highlight the inherent uncertainty of NbS effectiveness as a prominent barrier to choose NbS over grey infrastructures. While grey solutions benefit from high societal acceptance (67,68) due to one-size-fits-all designs with immediate outcomes, NbS are, in contrast, site-specific and their effectiveness is less known (25,69). Our analyses are in line with the limited literature considering combinations of levers and barriers (36,70).…”

“…However, value's constraints are known to be the most resistant dimension of decision contexts (66,85), especially to overcome path dependency through the inclusion of intrinsic and relational values where they are not commonly shared, or of non-material NCP (36,95). Social acceptance of the project was also a powerful lever in the multi-scale co-production type (67). Cultural values of the local environment, or path dependency of practices, are perceived as barriers for local transformation and green deal initiatives.…”

A place‐based risk appraisal model for exploring residents’ attitudes toward nature‐based solutions to flood risks

“…Attitudes are defined as dispositions toward a specific issue (Ajzen, 2005). So far, studies with a focus on NBS for flood risk reduction have dealt with attitudinal and behavioral acceptance (Anderson et al., 2021), perceived utility and co‐benefits (Kim & Petrolia, 2013; Venkataramanan et al., 2020), as well as the effectiveness of the measures (Santoro et al., 2019).…”

Riverkin: Seizing the moment to remake vital relations in the United Kingdom and beyond

“…Recent years have seen increased interest from governments, conservation organizations and other agencies in NBSs as ways of responding to socioecological challenges (Bark et al, 2021). This very often relates to freshwater biodiversity loss, pollution, flooding and drought (Acreman et al, 2021;Anderson et al, 2021;Giordano et al, 2020Giordano et al, , 2021Kiedrzyńska et al, 2021;Turkelboom et al, 2021). NBS is a concept developed and promoted by two influential Europeanbased organizations-the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the European Commission (Bridgewater, 2018).…”