# Challenges and opportunities in the use of ponds and pondscapes as Nature-based Solutions

M. Cuenca-Cambronero, M. Blicharska, Jacques-Aristide Perrin, T. A. Davidson, B. Oertli, M. Lago, M. Beklioglu, M. Meerhoff, M. Arim, J. Teixeira, et al.

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## To cite this version:

M. Cuenca-Cambronero, M. Blicharska, Jacques-Aristide Perrin, T. A. Davidson, B. Oertli, et al. Challenges and opportunities in the use of ponds and pondscapes as Nature-based Solutions. Hydro-biologia, 2023, pp.1-15. 10.1007/s10750-023-05149-y. hal-03988654

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# Challenges and opportunities in the use of ponds and pondscapes as Nature-based Solutions

M. Cuenca-Cambronero* · M. Blicharska · J.-A. Perrin · T. A. Davidson · B. Oertli · M. Lago

M. Beklioglu · M. Meerhoff · M. Arim · J. Teixeira · L. De Meester · J. Biggs · J. Robin

B. Martin · H. M. Greaves · C. D. Sayer · P. Lemmens · D. Boix · T. Mehner · M. Bartrons

S. Brucet

Received: 21 February 2022 / Revised: 5 January 2023 / Accepted: 11 January 2023

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023

**Abstract** Ponds and “pondscapes” (networks of ponds) are crucial habitats for biodiversity and for delivering multiple benefits to humans, so-called “Nature’s Contribution to People”, such as climate mitigation and adaptation to climate change, creation, and maintenance of habitat for biodiversity, water purification, flood mitigation and cultural benefits (e.g., recreational possibilities). However, ponds

are not often considered as Nature-based Solutions to provide all these benefits. In addition, there is insufficient knowledge on how to manage and restore ponds to maximise their role to increase the resilience of ecosystems and society to climate change. To facilitate improved implementation of ponds as Nature-based Solutions for the delivery of a wide range of Nature Contributions to People, it is important to generate and integrate biodiversity, ecosystems, societal, economic and policy knowledge. Hence, there is a need for evidence-based guidance to support the broader use of ponds. Here, we review the role of ponds and pondscapes in delivering Nature’s Contributions to People and provide an overview of the challenges and opportunities for their broader implementation as Nature-based Solutions. Finally,

Handling editor: Sidinei M. Thomaz.

**Supplementary Information** The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-023-05149-y.

Guest editors: Mary Kelly-Quinn, Jeremy Biggs, J. Iwan Jones & William D. Riley / Small Waterbodies in the Landscape.

M. Cuenca-Cambronero (✉) · M. Bartrons · S. Brucet
Aquatic Ecology Group, University of Vic - Central
University of Catalonia, 08500 Vic, Spain
e-mail: maria.cuenca@uvic.cat

M. Blicharska
Natural Resources and Sustainable Development,
Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University,
Uppsala, Sweden

J.-A. Perrin · J. Robin
Department of Agroecology and Environment, ISARA,
Lyon, France

T. A. Davidson · M. Meerhoff
Department of Ecoscience, Aarhus University, Silkeborg,
Denmark

B. Oertli
HEPIA, HES-SO, University of Applied Sciences and Arts
Western Switzerland, Jussy-Geneva, Switzerland

M. Lago
Ecologic Institute, Berlin, Germany

M. Beklioglu
Limnology Laboratory, Biology Dept. & EKOSAM
Üniversitaler Mahallesi, Middle East Technical University,
Dumlupınar Bulvarı No:1, Çankaya, 06800 Ankara,
Turkey

M. Meerhoff · M. Arim
Departamento de Ecología y Gestión Ambiental, Centro
Universitario Regional del Este (CURE), Universidad de la
República, Maldonado, Uruguay
we propose a conceptual framework that can help the implementation of pond Nature-based Solutions, and that outlines future research needs.

**Keywords** Ponds and pondscapes · Nature-based Solutions · Nature contributions to people · Freshwater biodiversity · Climate change · Societal challenges

**Introduction**

In recent years, numerous reports have shown human-
ity's failure to tackle two of the major global crises:
climate change and biodiversity loss (IPBES, 2019;
WWF, 2020; IPCC, 2021). As evidence on the deteri-
oration of natural ecosystems is growing, large-scale
approaches with strong national and international col-
laboration are needed to face these global challenges.
One such approach that has been increasingly pro-
moted recently is the use of Nature-based Solutions
(NbS) (Mendes et al., 2020; Davies et al., 2021). NbS
are defined by the International Union for the Con-
servation of Nature (IUCN) as: "Actions to protect,
sustainably manage, and restore natural or modified
ecosystems that address societal challenges, such as
climate change, effectively and adaptively, simultane-
ously providing human well-being and biodiversity
benefits" (IUCN, 2020). The Biodiversity Strategy for
2030 in Europe highlights the value and importance
of NbS in fighting biodiversity loss, climate change

and other critical challenges. As such, the use of NbS
can both facilitate the delivery of numerous Nature's
Contributions to People (NCP), i.e. different con-
tributions of nature to people's quality of life (Díaz
et al., 2018; Brondizio et al., 2019), such as flood risk
management, pollination or pollutant control (Burdon
et al., 2013; Hankin et al., 2021; Walton et al., 2021),
and help to change human perceptions of the value
of different habitats, which in turn can support the
effective protection and management of ecosystems.
A NCP framework emphasises that culture is central
in relation to all links between nature and people. It
recognizes that, while nature provides many impor-
tant goods and services such as tangible products or
regulating functions, it also has rich cultural, social,
spiritual and religious importance which needs to be
acknowledged in decision-making (Kadykalo et al.,
2019). A good example is food coming from nature
that provides people with calories for survival, but at
the same time is important for food security, food sov-
ereignty, cultural identities, and human enjoyment.

Recently, there has been a growing interest from
researchers, governments and policymakers in NbS
implementation to address societal challenges (Faivre
et al., 2017; Nika et al., 2020), in parallel with a sig-
nificant increase in the use of freshwaters as NbS in
human-dominated landscapes (Keesstra et al., 2018;
Maiolo et al., 2020). Freshwater ecosystems host
some of the most diverse communities worldwide but
are also among the most exposed to human-driven
environmental change (WWF, 2020). At a landscape

J. Teixeira
CIIMAR—Interdisciplinary Center of Marine
and Environmental Research, University of Porto,
Matosinhos, Portugal

L. De Meester · P. Lemmens
Laboratory of Aquatic Ecology, Evolution
and Conservation, KU Leuven, Louvain, Belgium

L. De Meester · P. Lemmens · T. Mehner
Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland
Fisheries, Berlin, Germany

L. De Meester
Institute of Biology, Freie Universitat Berlin, Berlin,
Germany

J. Biggs
Freshwater Habitats Trust, Bury Knowle House,
Headington, UK

B. Martin
Randbee Consultants, Málaga, Spain

H. M. Greaves · C. D. Sayer
Pond Restoration Research Group, Environmental Change
Research Centre, Department of Geography, University
College London, London, UK

D. Boix
GRECO, Institute of Aquatic Ecology, University
of Girona, Girona, Spain

S. Brucet
ICREA, Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced
Studies, Barcelona, Spain
scale, ponds, defined as small water bodies (1 m² to 2–5 ha.) that can be permanent or seasonal, man-made or natural (see glossary) (Richardson et al., 2022), are habitats of many endemic, threatened or rare species (Davies et al., 2008). In Europe alone, ponds support up to 70% of the regional freshwater species pool (Oertli et al., 2005). However, due to their small size and often the underappreciation of the benefits they provide, ponds are particularly vulnerable to anthropogenic stressors, including climate change, pollution, or habitat degradation (Hill et al., 2021a; Epele et al., 2022).

Ponds are crucial environments to deliver multiple vital NCPs that contribute to human well-being (Díaz et al., 2018; Hill et al., 2021a). These include regulation of water quantity and quality, the creation and maintenance of habitats for biodiversity, food provision, carbon storage and climate regulation, flood control, groundwater recharge, natural pest control, pollution amelioration, pollination, nutrient flux to adjacent ecosystems, as well as non-material benefits such as opportunities for recreation and tourism or inspiration (EPCN, 2007; Cardinale, 2011; Landuyt et al., 2014; Pascual et al., 2017; Walton et al., 2020). Because of their key contribution to biodiversity conservation, their potential role in climate change mitigation and adaptation, and their provision of a wide range of NCPs, ponds are particularly well-suited to be used as NbS (Table 1). As ponds are often poorly managed, the provision of the different NCPs can be jeopardised, and ponds may host lower biodiversity than natural or well managed water bodies (Perrone et al., 2022) and even act as sources of exotic species (Sinclair et al., 2020), as well as net carbon sources (Peacock et al., 2021).

Ponds play a key role in increasing connectivity between freshwater habitats by providing steppingstone habitats that enable the dispersal of a wide range of species in the landscape (Juračka et al., 2019; Hyseni et al., 2021). Pondscapes, defined as a network of ponds and their surrounding matrix (Boothby, 1997), are critical for supporting the diversity and functioning of pond metacommunities (Heino et al., 2021). A set of individual ponds typically covers a large gradient of local environmental conditions (Borthagaray et al., 2015; Rodríguez-Tricot & Arim, 2020; Cunillera-Montcusí et al., 2021). These environmental gradients and the effect of stochasticity in local community assemblies promote

regional diversity by enhancing spatial turnover in local community composition between ponds within a pondscape. Heterogeneity between ponds can also provide predator-free environments, such as temporary or small ponds without fish predators (Wellborn et al., 1996; Søndergaard et al., 2005; Scheffer et al., 2006; Chase et al., 2010), but also a refuge from diseases and a buffer from the impact of invasive species (Deacon et al., 2018). As both the biodiversity and other NCPs delivered by individual ponds may differ from the NCP's delivered at the pondscape level, and also as ponds may provide multiple solutions to different challenges at a pondscape scale, there is a need to explicitly consider multiple spatial scales in assessments of NCP delivery (Thorslund et al., 2017).

Despite their great importance, ponds and pondscapes are largely neglected in water- and nature-related national and international policies, due to an assumption that small water bodies are not as important in the provision of NCPs as larger ones (Linnooth-Bayer et al., 2014; Hill et al., 2018). Many policies define a minimum threshold of ecosystem area for which the policies should apply, often excluding small water bodies (Biggs et al., 2017). For instance, the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) aims to protect all water in Europe and has made progress in that direction, yet it excludes water bodies with a surface area below 50 ha (WFD, Annex II 2000/60/EC). This limit hinders the protection and restoration of many small lakes and all ponds and likely negatively affects freshwater biodiversity as a whole (van Rees et al., 2021). The only exceptions in terms of European conservation protection policies are the Mediterranean temporary ponds and turloughs (Boix & Batzer, 2016; Reynolds, 2016) that are important to the designation of Special Areas of Conservation in Annex 1 of the European Habitat Directive (Council of the European Communities, 1992) due to the high number of threatened species that they host. The application of conservation measures to larger freshwater environments only is ecologically insufficient for the protection of biodiversity hotspots such as ponds and pondscapes (Hill et al., 2018). Furthermore, the scale at which pond conservation is usually performed (i.e. individual site designation) is not the scale at which ponds contribute most to biodiversity and other NCPs (i.e., pondscape scale) (Hill et al., 2016; Cunillera-Montcusí et al., 2021).

In this paper, we place ponds and pondscapes in the spotlight to showcase their importance as NbS,
<table><caption>**Table 1** Selected studies of evidence showing the Nature Contributions to People that ponds and pondscapes Nature-based Solutions provided</caption><thead><tr><td>NbS</td><td>Implementation</td><td>NCPs</td><td>NbS's benefits</td><td>Ref</td></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Creation of wetlands</td><td>Belgium</td><td>Habitat creation</td><td>Increase of macroinvertebrates diversity</td><td>Boets et al. (2011)</td></tr><tr><td>Creation of flood paths</td><td>England</td><td>Regulation of water quantity</td><td>Improve flood control and water storage</td><td>Hankin et al. (2021)</td></tr><tr><td>Restoration and management of ponds</td><td>England</td><td>Pollination</td><td>Increase of pollinator interactions</td><td>Walton et al. (2021)</td></tr><tr><td>Management of agricultural ponds</td><td>England</td><td>Habitat maintenance</td><td>Increase of macrophytes biodiversity and establishment of historical communities</td><td>Sayer et al. (2012)</td></tr><tr><td>Management of ponds and riverine areas</td><td>England</td><td>Regulation of water quantity</td><td>Reduction in magnitude and timing of flood peaks. Reduction in surface runoff</td><td>Short et al. (2019)</td></tr><tr><td>Creation of agricultural ponds</td><td>France</td><td>Regulation of water quantity</td><td>Increase of functional richness and dispersion of macrophytes at lower phosphorous concentration</td><td>Arthaud et al. (2012)</td></tr><tr><td>Creation of ponds</td><td>France</td><td>Habitat creation and maintenance. Provision of inspiration</td><td>Increase in biodiversity. Increasing water quality and quantity. Increase in visual amenity</td><td>Céréghino et al. (2007)</td></tr><tr><td>Creation of wetlands</td><td>Italy</td><td>Regulation of water quantity. Provision of physical and physiological experiences</td><td>Flood protection and increase of water quality. Maintenance of biodiversity. Increase spaces for recreation, relaxation of physical activities</td><td>Liquete et al. (2016)</td></tr><tr><td>Creation of ponds</td><td>Netherland</td><td>Habitat creation</td><td>Increase in biodiversity. Maintenance of existing ecosystems services</td><td>Leeuwen et al. (2021)</td></tr><tr><td>Creation and restoration of wetlands</td><td>Spain</td><td>Habitat creation and maintenance. Regulation of water quality</td><td>Recovery of ecological functioning of the wetlands. Increase in species and habitat biodiversity</td><td>Quintana et al. (2018)</td></tr><tr><td>Creation of wetlands</td><td>Spain</td><td>Habitat creation and maintenance. Regulation of water quality</td><td>Restoration of historic habitats. Increase macrophytes and zooplankton diversity</td><td>Rodrigo et al. (2018)</td></tr><tr><td>Creation and restoration of temporary ponds</td><td>Spain</td><td>Habitat creation</td><td>Increase and recovery of zooplankton diversity and richness</td><td>Badosa et al. (2010)</td></tr><tr><td>Creation of ponds</td><td>Spain</td><td>Habitat creation</td><td>Increase in amphibian diversity</td><td>Ruhí et al. (2012)</td></tr><tr><td>Creation and restoration of permanent and temporary ponds</td><td>Switzerland</td><td>Creation and maintenance of habitats</td><td>Increase in Odonata biodiversity</td><td>Indermuehle & Oertli (2006)</td></tr><tr><td>Creation of ponds</td><td>France, Spain, and Switzerland</td><td>Creation of habitats</td><td>Increase of diversity (amphibians, beetles, and snails)</td><td>Zamora-Marín et al. (2021)</td></tr></tbody></table>
<table><caption>**Table 1** (continued)</caption><thead><tr><td>NbS</td><td>Implementation</td><td>NCPs</td><td>NbS's benefits</td><td>Ref</td></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Creation of agricultural ponds</td><td>Argentina</td><td>Regulation of water quantity</td><td>Decrease of amphibian's richness and abundance (compared with natural habitats)</td><td>Perrone et al. (2022)</td></tr><tr><td>Creation of ponds</td><td>Florida</td><td>Creation of habitats</td><td>Increase in plants diversity (including invasive species)</td><td>Sinclair et al. (2020)</td></tr></tbody></table>

provide an overview of challenges and opportunities in this respect, as well as highlight the issues that need to be considered in the implementation of ponds as NbS. We also outline the knowledge gaps in research on ponds and pondscapes, particularly concerning global changes and biodiversity. Finally,

we present a conceptual framework to develop and test the implementation of ponds and pondscapes as NbS (Fig. 1).

<figure><img src="image_3.png" /><figcaption>**Fig. 1** Symbolic representation of ponds and pondscapes, pressures imposed on them, their role as Nature-based Solutions and examples of some of the Nature Contributions to People they provide (circles at the bottom of the Figure). The five components of the proposed conceptual framework are shown in the right-hand panel (grey boxes)</figcaption></figure>
Glossary:

*   **Nature-based Solutions (NbS)** are the actions inspired, copied, or supported by nature that provide benefits to biodiversity, ecosystems, and human well-being, including social, cultural, and economic. Following this definition, ponds can be divided into three types of NbS (for a more detailed definition and specific examples, see supp. Table 1):

*   Pond creation—creating a new pond site where there was formerly no water body

*   Pond restoration—restoring an existing pond or resurrecting a pond formerly present, but currently in-filled (Alderton et al., 2017; Sayer et al., 2022)

*   Pond management—on-site actions ensuring improved functioning of a pond or pondscape (Sayer et al., 2012; Eggermont et al., 2015)

*   **Ecosystem services (ES)** are the direct and indirect contributions of ecosystems to human well-being. These can be divided into provisioning (e.g., food and water), regulating (e.g., carbon storage, water purification), cultural (e.g., recreation, health benefits) and supporting services (e.g., biomass production, nutrient cycling)

*   **Nature Contributions to People (NCP)** are all the positive and negative contributions of living nature to the quality of life for people, divided into three main categories: regulating (e.g., habitat creation, pollination, regulation of air quality or regulation of climate), material (e.g., energy, food and water or medical and genetic resources), and non-material (e.g., physical, and psychological experience and identity support) NCPs. The NCP concept builds on and expands the ES concept and includes the local knowledge of communities and the temporal and spatial context of it

*   **Ecosystem functions (EF)** are biological, physical, and geochemical processes that take place within ecosystems including productivity, decomposition, nutrient recycling, and energy flow-related functions. These EFs are important prerequisites for the delivery of the NCPs that ecosystems provide to humans

*   **Pond:** Small standing water with a surface area from 1 m² to 2–5 ha that may be permanent or seasonal, man-made or naturally created. While there are different definitions of ponds, in this paper we follow the definition of (Richardson et al., 2022)

*   **Pondscape:** Network of ponds spatially distributed in a terrestrial matrix and their connectedness (Boothby, 1997)

Importance of ponds and pondscapes

Over the past 20 years, our understanding of biodiversity's effects on ecosystem functions and stability has greatly improved (Loreau et al., 2001; Cardinale et al., 2012; Duffy et al., 2017). There is now a large body of empirical and theoretical work that demonstrates the positive effects of biodiversity on various ecosystem properties and processes. For instance, biodiversity promotes biomass production and pollination success (van der Plas, 2019), increases the

resistance of ecosystem productivity to climate extremes (Isbell et al., 2015), ensures a stable supply of different NCPs (Hooper et al., 2005), and may even help decrease pathogen and herbivore damage (van der Plas, 2019). While the disproportionate contribution of ponds to local and regional biodiversity is increasingly acknowledged, there seems to be little action when it comes to pond biodiversity conservation. In the last century alone, losses of ponds have increased dramatically, with reductions of over 50% in many European countries, and even reaching 90% in some European regions (e.g. Netherlands, Switzerland and some parts of Germany Oertli et al., 2005; EPCN, 2007). The loss of natural ponds, and the associated decline of landscape connectivity, have profound negative consequences for pond biodiversity (Horváth et al., 2019) and NCPs delivery (Gozlan et al., 2019) and may result in considerable socioeconomic losses (Rogers et al., 2022). As shown in Table 1, we summarise existing knowledge on the different NCPs that ponds and pondscapes provide. However, we recognise that there is currently insufficient knowledge on how the ongoing environmental changes impact the ability of ponds to deliver important functions to society.

Given their abundance and connectivity with other freshwater ecosystems, ponds have the potential to influence the carbon cycle by acting as both carbon sinks and sources (Holgerson & Raymond, 2016). Burial rates of carbon in ponds' sediments are estimated to be 20–30 times higher than in other ecosystems such as peatlands, grasslands or woodlands (Downing et al., 2008; Taylor et al., 2019; Gilbert et al., 2021). Other studies have shown that ponds store higher concentrations of greenhouse gases such as CO₂ and CH₄ per unit of surface than larger lakes and oceans (Downing et al., 2008; Downing, 2010). However, ponds also account for carbon emissions, estimated at 15.1% of CO₂ emissions and 40.6% of diffusive CH₄ emissions (Holgerson & Raymond, 2016; Yvon-Durocher et al., 2017; Peacock et al., 2019). The balance between carbon burial and emission can be influenced by many factors, including temperature, hydroperiod, eutrophication or the presence of vegetation (DelSontro et al., 2016; Davidson et al., 2018; DelVecchia et al., 2021). For example, changes in land use and eutrophication can affect oxygen availability, the amount and quality of organic matter, and pond microbial community composition
and their activity, affecting carbon exchange with the atmosphere (Obrador et al., 2018). Yet, accurate estimation of carbon exchange from ponds is challenging, due to high temporal variability in emissions. A recent meta-analysis of existing data found that over 50% of CH₄ emissions from freshwaters come from habitat types with highly variable emissions over the year, such as temporary ponds (Rosentreter et al., 2021). This important albeit poorly quantified role in the C cycle contrasts with the fact that, due to their small size (sometimes <0.1 ha) and the difficulty of mapping them, ponds have, thus far, been most often excluded from global estimations of greenhouse gas emissions from inland waters, especially in climate policies (Saunois et al., 2020; IPCC 2019).

Ponds are also important for water quantity and quality regulation. For instance, the natural connection between ponds and riparian ecosystems can provide flood protection at the watershed level (Tang et al., 2020) in areas at a high risk of flooding (Liquete et al., 2016; Short et al., 2019). Rural ponds also constitute precious water sources for cattle watering, irrigation, and firefighting, all especially important in summer or in semi-arid places, when water availability can be limited (Céréghino et al., 2007) or climate variability is high. All of these pond-related uses are especially important in the context of climate change, with rapid increases in the occurrence of extreme hydrological events, such as floods, heat waves, and droughts (Schlaepfer et al., 2017) IPCC et al., 2021). In addition, ponds can be constructed for water quality management, e.g. by removing phosphorus and other pollutants from runoff and stormwater (Comings et al., 2000; Wadzuk et al., 2010; Williams et al., 2020), although it is recognised that this use may compromise pond ecological quality (Williams et al., 2020).

Ponds and pondscapes also provide numerous non-material NCPs that are important to consider in relation to how the current loss of biodiversity may affect human societies. Nature provides different experiences to people, which are perceived by different groups in a non-quantifiable manner. While it is difficult to measure or assess these contributions, they are also important to human well-being (Hill et al., 2021b). Ponds and pondscapes can provide stress relief, support for human health and quality of life, spaces for recreational activities, including walking, jogging, cycling and gardening, or social interaction

(Kabisch et al., 2017), aesthetic experiences and support of educational and spiritual activities (Bennett et al., 2015; Ghermandi & Fichtman, 2015; Raymond et al., 2017).

## Challenges and opportunities for implementing ponds as NbS

The implementation of ponds and pondscapes as NbS can provide the necessary tools to simultaneously promote the protection of ponds and their biodiversity and support the delivery of crucial NCPs. For instance, the creation of ponds and pondscapes that support landscape connectivity, as well as strategic conservation and restoration measures linked to ponds and pondscapes, can enhance biodiversity (Sayer & Greaves, 2020; Hyseni et al., 2021). At the same time, enhanced biodiversity increases the overall stability and functioning of ecosystems, which in turn may lead to a more stable and long-term delivery of important benefits for humans (Balvanera et al., 2006) and nature. As shown in Table 1, several studies have investigated the potential of ponds and pondscapes as NbS in providing different NCPs including the improvement of the ecological status of ecosystems and consequently biodiversity (Table 1). However, there are still numerous barriers and challenges that hinder the establishment, development, and appropriate management of ponds and pondscapes, linked to existing knowledge gaps on the ecological status and functioning of ponds and pondscapes, to the economic, policy and social context they operate in (Hill et al., 2018, 2021a), and to the costs and benefits of using ponds and pondscapes as NbS (Short et al., 2019).

The combination of the different anthropogenic factors involved in ponds and pondscapes (e.g. social, political, economic and financial factors) can affect the ecological status of ponds and pondscapes by driving either their protection and conservation or their deterioration and destruction (Stafford et al., 2021; Toxopeus & Polzin, 2021). The implementation and management of ponds and pondscapes as NbS not only relies on ecological knowledge, but requires explicit consideration of the social, political, and economic context (Balian et al., 2014). In particular, there is a need for engaging stakeholders from relevant sectors operating at multiple spatial
and different governance scales, in current and future
decisions concerning ponds and pondscapes. In this
context, stakeholders interested in the issue of pond-
scape management could be, for example, environ-
mental NGOs, public authorities at different levels,
business representatives (e.g. farmers, tourism opera-
tor companies), land owners and land owner asso-
ciations (Calhoun et al., 2014; Ureta et al., 2021). In
addition, it is crucial to consider the possibilities for
financing pond preservation, construction, restora-
tion, or adequate management, as well as the policy
context that either enables or limits the use of ponds
and pondscapes as NbS. These different aspects are
discussed in the next section, where we present a con-
ceptual framework for a broader uptake of ponds and
pondscapes as NbS.

A conceptual framework for the implementation
of ponds and pondscapes as NbS

Because ponds, and their role in societies, have been
largely neglected in both ecological research and
policies, as well as action on the ground (Biggs et al.,
2017), there is an urgent need to promote broader
uptake of ponds as NbS. Ponds and pondscapes
as NbS can help to address several ongoing envi-
ronmental changes, such as climate change, water
quality deterioration, and biodiversity decline, and
support the delivery of numerous important NCPs
(Rey-Valette et al., 2017). What is currently missing
is the empirical knowledge on the variability of ben-
efits provided by pondscapes (i.e., economic, social,
and environmental benefits), as well as how some
NbS benefits may compromise others (Arthaud et al.,
2012). In addition, relatively little is known about the
political and social context of the ponds and pond-
scapes NbS, as well as factors enabling their success-
ful implementation, such as NbS financing.

Based on available information on ponds and
pondscape roles in addressing biodiversity decline
and climate change challenges, as well as the numer-
ous NCPs they deliver, we introduce a *conceptual
framework* for the implementation of ponds and
pondscapes as NbS. Figure 1 provides a symbolic
representation of a pondscape with different pres-
sures imposed on individual and collective ponds and
shows that the implementation of ponds as NbS can
support or enhance the delivery of numerous NCPs.

The figure also includes the five main components of
the proposed framework that reflect the focus areas
that need to be considered when planning the imple-
mentation of ponds or pondscapes as NbS: (1) policy
context; (2) the economic, social, and environmental
benefits; (3) stakeholder engagement; (4) social per-
ception of ponds and pondscapes; (5) actual possibili-
ties of financing.

Understanding the *policy context* of ponds and
pondscapes NbS is important for its implementa-
tion. Considering ponds and pondscapes in relevant
policies, as well as the development of clearly defined
local and international policy targets are fundamental
to motivating effective pond NbS action and enabling
policymakers and stakeholders to evaluate the effec-
tiveness of potential management decisions (Nika
et al., 2020). Such policy targets need to integrate
concerns of different sectors as pondscapes impact
on and are impacted by the policies, regulations and
strategies of different sectors and policy areas (Castro
& Rifai, 2021). These are, for example, the agricul-
tural, urban development, spatial planning, biodiver-
sity conservation, or tourism sectors. In ponds located
on private land, trade-offs between development, pri-
vate interests and conservation have to be considered,
and policies must ensure compatibility between exist-
ing and future human uses (and the local economic
benefits) and the protection of ponds due to their
intrinsic value for nature. Institutional fragmenta-
tion, or even opposite mandates, may also impede the
efficient implementation of ponds and pondscapes as
NbS, as a lack of coordination across concerned sec-
tors may lead to suboptimal outcomes, i.e. potential
benefits of ponds and pondscapes are not integrated
or maximised (Blicharska & Johansson, 2016; Kati &
Jari, 2016; Oertli, 2018). To incorporate specific con-
cerns about pondscapes, there is a need to use appro-
priate policy instruments and approaches, as well as
to explore the discourses that respective policies initi-
ate. A policy inventory and policy analysis can reveal
existing factors, including different instruments, that
can either facilitate or hinder the creation and ade-
quate management of pondscapes.

In addition, as there is relatively little information
about the potential benefits of ponds and pondscapes
as NbS, there is a need for more research in this area.
Specifically, there is a need to *comprehensively assess
the economic, societal, and environmental benefits
of ponds and pondscapes as NbS*. Long-term and
systematic monitoring of pond-derived NbS can pro-
vide information on NCPs it provides and whether it
has addressed the challenges for which it was imple-
mented. However, such monitoring requires both
resources and commitment, which are not always eas-
ily available. To assess the success of pond NbS it is
also necessary to develop a set of clear indicators to
measure their performance and impact.

When it comes to implementing ponds on the
ground, *stakeholder engagement* is crucial to iden-
tify the different interests that are at play in the area
where the ponds and pondscapes NbS may be created,
restored, or managed. This can be linked to land own-
ership or land use, as it is common that pond conser-
vation takes place on privately owned land (Hambäck
et al., 2022). For example, different stakeholders may
have different priorities regarding the ponds they use
or manage; local communities may prioritise NCP
such as recreation, artistic or mental health resources
or food production, while landowners, non-govern-
mental organisations (NGOs) or risk management
authorities may prioritise others, such as agricultural
uses or flood risk management, climate regulations
or habitat creation and maintenance to promote bio-
diversity. This prioritisation conceals issues of power
relationships, accessibility to public funding and
management practices (Cornea et al., 2016).

Stakeholder knowledge is also important in assess-
ing, valuing, and prioritising the contribution of
pond and pondscape NbS to biodiversity and differ-
ent NCPs (Watkin et al., 2019). Such knowledge can
be used to arrive at the most complete and accurate
assessment possible of the different benefits (Mathé
& Rey-Valette, 2015), including potential trade-offs
and co-benefits of NbS implementation (Hambäck
et al., 2022). Moreover, stakeholder engagement
supports the development of a trusting relationship
between stakeholders and researchers which in turn
contributes to the legitimacy, and effectiveness of
action (Hill et al., 2021a). For example, in the UK, the
restoration of on-farm ponds was advanced through a
multiannual programme involving civil society ini-
tiatives, researchers, local authorities and farmers that
resulted in strong local commitment and continues to
yield positive results (Sayer & Greaves, 2020).

Alongside engaging stakeholders and learning
about their priorities and needs, it is also important
to assess the *social perception of ponds and pond-
scapes*. In general, there is often a lack of information

regarding the history of ponds in a region, the per-
spectives of the general public and inhabitants on
ponds and pondscapes, and which benefits from NbS
are most important to them. However, information
about how the different stakeholders and the gen-
eral public perceives ponds and their role can help
further refine the key reasons underlying the need to
promote ponds and pondscapes as NbS, and also can
help make potential conflicts explicit. It also helps
to ensure better effectiveness of the implementation
of ponds in NbS work and supports the selection of
the right management practices, as it aids in consid-
eration of the diversity of viewpoints from different
actors (Rey-Valette et al., 2017).

Finally, the presence of NbS *financing* is key for
the implementation of ponds and pondscapes; how-
ever, securing financing for this is a major challenge
(Davies et al., 2021). For example, the initial cost of
pond creation includes the planning, digging, or buy-
ing of the terrain followed by the costs associated
with the maintenance, management, and monitoring
of NbS. Additionally, the interest of private financers
in ponds and pondscapes NbS depends on the poten-
tial benefits of NbS, particularly in monetary terms.
Financers very often seek a return on their investment
and need to be made aware of the value created by the
NbS, and how this will be created and delivered. Integral
attributes of NbS pose two major challenges for
creating convincing business cases, and for access-
ing financing: (1) NbS deliver multiple benefits to a
number of different beneficiaries, over different time-
scales. This ‘scattering’ of benefits between different
stakeholders means that, often, multiple beneficiar-
ies have to collaborate on NbS, as only together do
their individual benefits outweigh the costs of imple-
menting and maintaining NbS (Toxopeus & Polzin,
2021); (2) many of the benefits generated by NbS
are not adequately valued or rewarded by the market.
This includes biodiversity conservation and carbon
sequestration, which are public goods, or regulation
of water pollution or flooding, which are undervalued
externalities arising from other actions (Xepapadeas,
2011). This is especially relevant to ponds due to
their small size and general lack of knowledge on the
benefits they provide, commonly leaving such NbS
at the discretion of available public budgets (Faivre
et al., 2017) and the subject of often contrasting sec-
toral pressures.
Conclusions

Despite their strong ties with human societies, their
importance for biodiversity, their potential for climate
change mitigation and for the delivery of other impor-
tant NCPs, ponds are underrepresented in research
and conservation policies. Conservation and man-
agement efforts have been focused preferentially on
larger lakes and rivers-catchment systems, with det-
rimental consequences for the conservation of small
ecosystems such as ponds. Nevertheless, the loss and
degradation of ponds is known to have profound and
negative effects on the delivery of NCPs, such as the
creation of habitat for biodiversity and potential for
climate change mitigation and adaptation, regulation
of water quality and quantity and numerous intangible
benefits. Because of the different benefits ponds and
pondscapes provide, they can be used as NbS that can
help to address local and global environmental chal-
lenges. However, to achieve that, there is an urgent
need to increase the awareness of policymakers, other
stakeholders, and general society of the crucial role
of ponds and pondscapes, and to promote an enabling
social and policy context that would allow for broader
use of these small but important ecosystems as NbS.

The conceptual framework developed in this paper provides an overview of key aspects that need to be addressed in relation to that. This framework can be used in two ways. First, it can guide future research focus in relation to ponds and pondscapes. With regard to pond benefits, there is a particular need for studies on the biodiversity value of these ecosystems at local, regional, and international scales, studies on pond ecology and particularly on GHG fluxes, both when ponds are flooded and dry, as well as studies on the other NCPs that can be delivered by pondscapes. When it comes to the social and policy context of ponds, studies on pond perceptions, and the common barriers and opportunities in the implementation of ponds and pondscapes NbS, particularly with regard to the needs and priorities of different stakeholders, as well as financing options, are also necessary. Second, the framework can serve as a guide for local managers and other stakeholders that may want to implement ponds and pondscapes as NbS. It includes the different aspects that such actors need to consider when planning the creation, restoration, or management of these ecosystems. Particularly, it highlights the often neglected issues such as policy context in

which ponds are embedded, social perception, and
thus, the potential for the acceptance of the potential
NbS action.

While this work progresses and new knowledge
and data accumulate, we make a plea for a concerted
effort to develop a database of existing ponds and
pondscapes NbS that includes best practice examples
and success stories to enable learning for improved
future implementation of ponds and pondscapes as
NbS.

**Acknowledgements** This work was supported by the PON-DERFUL project (Grant No. H2020-LC-CLA-2019-2), funded by the European Union (H2020).

**Funding** Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature.

Declarations

**Conflict of interest** All the authors of the manuscript are part of PONDERFUL project and declare no conflict of interest.

**Ethical approval** The authors have read and followed the ethical responsibilities of the journal *Hydrobiologia*.

**Research involving human and animal rights** The present study did not use humans or animals to obtain the information on the main topic of the manuscript, which is an opinion paper: ponds and pondscapes as NbS.

**Open Access** This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

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