Involving citizens through community programmes for NBS
Citizen engagement through community-based programmes, citizen science and NBS activities helps spreading awareness, contribute to social learning and gain confidence in NBS actions.
Specific Advice
Directly engaging citizens in NBS projects facilitates capacity building and education as well as awareness raising. Citizens can be involved in NBS planning and management or participate in community-based programmes that engage citizens in local measures, such as community water management, community gardening or planting of pollinator-friendly plants.
Such voluntary measures enhance cohesiveness among the community and help citizens gain confidence and background in advocating for NBS. Citizens can also be involved via citizen science initiatives, for example submitting biodiversity observations via iNaturalist. Citizen science (involving citizens in scientific activities that generate new knowledge) and establishment of communities of practice (networks and any formal and informal structures that encourage cross-organisational collaboration) are effective instruments for giving the citizens a sense of ownership of the results and at the same time gaining knowledge and experience..
Good to Know
Citizen engagement should have clear communication on the outcomes so that the participants see the significance of their efforts. Failure to communicate the results or impacts may prevent them from continued participation.
Consider an assessment of the involvement activity afterwards, i.e., through surveys or questionnaires in order to be able to improve them in the future.
Be aware of green gentrification (process when regenerated green neighbourhoods/areas increase property values and attract higher-income residents thus displacing lower-income ones), that has been observed in projects associated with increase in urban greening.
Context
Community-based conservation programs aim to involve people in efforts within their local community, benefitting the community and the environment. A common example is conservation efforts where people are involved in managing or maintaining a protected area. Another example is involving citizens in the upkeep of public parks.
Engaging citizens and providing opportunities for community-based programmes and citizen science addresses lack of awareness and education regarding climate, environment, biodiversity and their relation to climate change as well as support of environmental policies. Citizen engagement in community volunteering has the potential for building trust within the communities and fostering pro-environmental behaviour. It can also help to generate a sense of responsibility and indirect ownership over the results among citizens.
For example, engagement can target specific community activities (e.g., planting of pollinator-friendly plants, community gardening), contributing to ongoing research projects (e.g., monitoring of pollinators, aquatic biodiversity, birds), or collective decision-making over local environmental action. Citizen’s volunteering actions can also have an economic benefit for the municipality as they can for example save on NBS maintenance costs.
Examples and Cases
#SWEDEN – Plats för vattnet: managing stormwater on private properties
The city of Gothenburg provides information and inspiration about ways of managing stormwater on private properties by using and making room for the water on private lots, courtyards and gardens with blue-green infrastructure and NBS. It offers the advisory services and visits to private property owners free of charge. For example, the guidance provides instructions on how to design a rain garden and which plants are most suitable for being more often submerged in water.
The regional water and wastewater management company VA Syd in South of Sweden also provides similar guidance and measures to make room for the water.
More information about managing stormwater on private properties can be found here:
City of Gothenburg, Plats för vattnet [Make room for the water]: https://goteborg.se/wps/portal/start/bygga-bo-och-leva-hallbart/vatten-och-avlopp/dagvatten-och-skyfall/gor-plats-for-vattnet/villa-och-radhus [in Swedish]
Tilsammans gör vi plats för vatnet VA Syd (Burlöv, Eslöv, Lomma, Lund, Malmö in Sweden): https://platsforvattnet.vasyd.se/
Webinar on making room for the water in the Malmö-region (in Swedish/Norwegian): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XpFZVtHaWs
#FINLAND – Community gardening in Tampere
Within the Horizon 2020 project UNaLab (Urban Nature Labs), the front-runner city Tampere (Finland) financed community gardens as small-scale NBS through innovation vouchers in Vuores neighbourhood (one of the project’s NBS demonstration areas in Tampere).
Three innovation vouchers totalling 10 000 € were awarded. Innovation vouchers encouraged the stakeholders in the community to co-plan and co-implement NBS and they were used to purchase the materials and services needed for constructing the community gardens. Gardens were planned and built by the residents of Vuores, and this resulted in strengthening the relationships between the area residents. Such initiatives help directly engage citizens in urban greening/NBS initiatives and can be easily replicated to other cities/areas in the context of small- to medium-scale NBS.
More information about the community gardening in Tampere can be found here:
Urban gardens, article: https://unalab.eu/en/urban-gardens
#FINLAND – Tuusula develops sustainably
Tuusula is a municipality in the centre of the Uusimaa region in southern Finland. The main goal of their municipal strategy is to promote biodiversity, which in turn contributes to Tuusula's ongoing climate programme. One of the key indicators chosen for this purpose is the amount of forest. In addition, Tuusula is currently developing a master plan for the blue-green network covering the entire municipal territory.This network includes forested, open, and humid habitats and the connecting areas between them.
In relation to its abovementioned strategy, Tuusula has developed some good practices that are worth sharing:
- ·Stakeholder-inclusive methods for participatory forest planning
- Tuusula has identified a need for an interactive forest planning process that takes into account the different values of forests and the goals of forest use, as well as a constructive discussion culture. Nowadays, more and more diverse goals are set for the management and use of municipal forests taking into account forests from different perspectives. Forest planners and managers emphasise the need for of versatile and understandable forest information and the involvement and influence of residents and stakeholders in decision-making related to municipal forests.
- ·A competition to increase biodiversity in people's backyards
- Tuusula municipality organised a yard competition for the first time in Tuusula’s climate programme in the summer of 2024 to find the most diverse yard in Tuusula. Thirty participants participated in the competition, of which five yards were selected for the final.
More information about Tuusula’s good practices can be found here:
Osallistamisen taidetta: Tuusulan osallistavan metsäsuunnittelun käsikirja [Handbook for participatory forest planning in Tuusula]:https://www.tuusula.fi/attachments/text_editor/38861.pdf [in Finnish]
Onko sinulla Tuusulan monimuotoisin piha? [Do you have the most diverse yard in Tuusula?] (Tuusula municipality’s website): https://www.tuusula.fi/tiedotepalsta/show.tmpl?sivu_id=2345&id=10201 [in Finnish]
#NORWAY – Nature friendly gardens and guidance on local native species in Oslo
Under the headline “Nature friendly garden” (Naturvennlig hage) the Agency for Urban Environment in Oslo municipality provides guidance and information on how citizens can make their gardens more nature friendly by selecting native species, collecting seeds, create flower meadows, provide habitats for birds and amphibians, make compost, reduce the use of pesticides and also how to avoid spreading of invasive species.
More information about the nature friendly gardens and guidance on local native species in Oslo can be found here:
The nature friendly garden website: https://www.oslo.kommune.no/miljo-og-klima/slik-jobber-vi-med-miljo-og-klima/natur-og-biologisk-mangfold/bring-oslonaturen-inn-i-hagen-din/naturvennlig-hage/#toc-6
Guidance on how to collect seeds and create flower meadows: https://www.oslo.kommune.no/miljo-og-klima/slik-jobber-vi-med-miljo-og-klima/natur-og-biologisk-mangfold/bring-oslonaturen-inn-i-hagen-din/sanke-fro-lage-blomstereng/
Other resources by Norwegian organisations and institutes on nature friendly gardening include:
The nature-friendly garden (Den naturvennlige hagen, Naturvernforbundet): https://naturvernforbundet.no/naturvennlig-hage/
Environmentally friendly garden (Miljøvennlig hage, Sabima): https://www.sabima.no/miljovennlig-hage/
Create your own meadow (Lag din egen eng, Naturhistorisk museum): https://www.nhm.uio.no/utstillinger/botanisk-hage/avdelinger/slattemark/egen-eng.html
Learn more
Ten Principles of Citizen Science
developed by the European Citizen Science Association, is a set of principles which underlie good practices in citizen science. It is available in at least 40 languages.A de-paving (Tegelwippen) competition among Dutch municipalities
supported by the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management and Ons Water has since 2021 been organized to de-pave the most paved areas in the municipalities with the intention of creating more green areas and climate proofing the Dutch municipalities. It is organized as an annual competition awarding the municipality with most tiles “flipped” per inhabitant.The communities of practice playbook
developed by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission provides guidance and good practices on creating, running and developing communities, networks and other structures aiming at collaboration and co-creation with stakeholders. Williquet, F., Szkola, S., Catana, C., & Debremaeker, I. (2021). The communities of practice playbook – A playbook to collectively run and develop communities of practice, Publications Office of the Eeropean Union.The driving forces for the community gardening and participation in collaborative initiatives in Stockholm
are investigated in this paper through interviews with citizens and municipality officers. Bonow, M., & Normark, M. (2018). Community gardening in Stockholm: participation, driving forces and the role of the municipality. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, 33(6), 503–517.International Obligations
SDG 3
“Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.”Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, target 11
“Restore, maintain and enhance nature’s contributions to people, including ecosystem functions and services, such as regulation of air, water, and climate, soil health, pollination and reduction of disease risk, as well as protection from natural hazards and disasters, through nature-based solutions and ecosystem-based approaches for the benefit of all people and nature.”“Ensure the full integration of biodiversity and its multiple values into policies, regulations, planning and development processes, poverty eradication strategies, strategic environmental assessments, environmental impact assessments and, as appropriate, national accounting, within and across all levels of government and across all sectors, in particular those with significant impacts on biodiversity, progressively aligning all relevant public and private activities, fiscal and financial flows with the goals and targets of this framework.”
EU Adaptation Strategy
“More systemic adaptation: Supporting policy development at all levels and all relevant policy fields; including three cross-cutting priorities to integrate adaptation into: macro-fiscal policy; nature-based solutions; and local adaptation actions.”EU Green Deal
“It also aims to protect, conserve and enhance the EU's natural capital, and protect the health and well-being of citizens from environment-related risks and impacts. At the same time, this transition must be just and inclusive. It must put people first, and pay attention to the regions, industries and workers who will face the greatest challenges. Since it will bring substantial change, active public participation and confidence in the transition is paramount if policies are to work and be accepted. A new pact is needed to bring together citizens in all their diversity, with national, regional, local authorities, civil society and industry working closely with the EU’s institutions and consultative bodies.”