Co-creative river stewardship brings together two approaches: environmental stewardship and the co-creation process.
Key objectives of environmental stewardship include the preservation and restoration of nature, as well as the sustainable management and use of natural resources, ensuring that environmental benefits and societal well-being are safeguarded for the future [ref]. Environmental stewardship embodies society’s responsibility for a high-quality living environment for both people and other living beings, while integrating social, economic, and environmental dimensions of human activity. One form of environmental stewardship is river stewardship.
In practice, river stewardship often focuses on:
Co-creative river stewardship also involves a co-creation process [ref], which engages a wide range of stakeholders, including local communities, civil society organizations, scientists and experts from various disciplines, decision-makers and managers, local businesses, farmers, landowners, and other key actors connected to rivers. The co-creation process does not prescribe solutions in advance but instead enables their joint development. Stakeholders exchange knowledge and experiences and, in planning and implementing solutions, take into account the cultural characteristics of the environment and the river ecosystem. This makes it possible to address social challenges in a holistic way and to design more appropriate solutions, while also increasing the effectiveness of measures to protect rivers and people, with all stakeholders sharing in decision-making.
The stakeholders involved in co-creative river stewardship depend on whether the setting is urban or rural. In urban environments, it most often includes the local community, volunteers, and other civil society organizations, while in rural environments it typically involves private and public landowners, farmers, and relevant government institutions.
Co-creative river stewardship is essential for implementing nature-based solutions (NbS), as it enables stakeholder empowerment and an inclusive, transparent process for designing solutions that the community will carry out. For each local environment and river ecosystem, tailored solutions must be identified, making the collaboration of diverse stakeholders and the facilitation of innovative approaches in each specific case crucial for the successful implementation of NbS.
Nature-based solutions (NbS) are actions to protect, sustainably manage, and restore natural and modified ecosystems that address societal challenges effectively and adaptively, simultaneously benefiting people and nature [ref, ref]. This is the widely recognized definition of NbS, adopted in 2016 by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
NbS are an overarching concept encompassing a wide range of approaches. As NbS are increasingly incorporated into policies and implemented on the ground, there is a growing need for guidance to ensure proper understanding, guide their development, and support their appropriate implementation. To this end, in 2020 the IUCN published the Global Standard for Nature-based Solution [ref] and the Guidance for Using the IUCN Global Standard for Nature-based Solutions [ref]. These documents provide essential resources for anyone contributing or intending to contribute to the promotion or implementation of NbS.
The standard consists of eight criteria with a total of 28 indicators, which are explained in detail in the Global Standard and further in the guidance for its use. All criteria are equally important, and the standard is considered met when all criteria are sufficiently addressed. To assess the compliance of projects, plans, and actions with the NBS standard, the IUCN also provides a self-assessment tool for NbS [ref].
Nature-based solutions must address at least one of the following societal challenges:
Special consideration: If a nature-based solution addresses environmental degradation and biodiversity loss as a societal challenge, it must also address at least one of the other listed challenges. Otherwise, it is considered solely a conservation and restoration measure, not a nature-based solution.
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