UNITED
NATIONSEPUNEP/EA.5/Res.5
Distr.: General7 March 2022
Original: English

United Nations
Environment Assembly of theUnited Nations Environment
Programme
United Nations Environment Assembly of theUnited Nations Environment Programme
Fifth session
Nairobi (hybrid), 22 and 23 February 2021
and 28 February–2 March 2022

Resolution adopted by the United Nations Environment
Assembly on 2 March 2022
5/5.

Nature-based solutions for supporting sustainable development
The United Nations Environment Assembly,
Underlining the importance of strengthening actions for nature for implementing the 2030
Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals, the Rio Declaration onEnvironment and Development, the Convention on Biological Diversity and other biodiversity-relatedconventions, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement
adopted thereunder, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries
Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa, the Sendai Framework for
Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030, the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021–2030
and the decade of action and delivery for sustainable development 2020–2030; looking forward to theadoption and implementation of an ambitious, balanced, practical, effective and robust post-2020
global biodiversity framework; and noting the Leaders’ Pledge for Nature: United to Reverse
Biodiversity Loss by 2030 for Sustainable Development,Welcoming the report by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity andEcosystem Services entitled Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services1 andthe contribution of Working Group I, entitled Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis,2 andWorking Group II, entitled Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability,3 to the sixth
assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and taking note of other relevant
reports,
Recognizing the interdependencies between biodiversity loss, pollution, climate change,
desertification and land degradation and their interlinkages with human well-being, including health,and the importance of ensuring the integrity of all ecosystems,

1 Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, Global Assessment Reporton Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (Bonn, Germany, IPBES secretariat, 2019).
2 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contributionof Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(Cambridge University Press, 2021).
3 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability,Contribution of Working Group II to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (Cambridge University Press, 2022).

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Recognizing also that a key opportunity for strengthening actions for nature to achieve theSustainable Development Goals is to enhance cooperation, implementation and the scaling up ofnature-based solutions, while ensuring their social and environmental safeguards, given thatnature-based solutions are efficient and effective when designed on a context-specific basis to achieve
multiple benefits and applied in accordance with the best available science,
Recalling decisions V/6, VI/12, VII/11 and IX/7 of the Conference of the Parties to theConvention on Biological Diversity on the ecosystem approach, and its decision 14/5 on biodiversity
and climate change, and recognizing, for the parties to the Convention, the indispensable role of theConvention in the conservation, restoration and sustainable use of biodiversity and in the integrated
management of natural resources,
Acknowledging the need for a multilaterally agreed definition of the concept of nature-basedsolutions, cognizant of and in harmony with the concept of ecosystem-based approaches, and in thelight of concerns about the potential misuse of the concept of nature-based solutions,
1.
Decides that nature-based solutions are actions to protect, conserve, restore,sustainably use and manage natural or modified terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine ecosystems
which address social, economic and environmental challenges effectively and adaptively, while
simultaneously providing human well-being, ecosystem services, resilience and biodiversity benefits,
and recognizes that nature-based solutions:(a)Respect social and environmental safeguards, in line with the three “Rio conventions”(the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertificationand the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change), including such safeguards for
local communities and indigenous peoples;(b)
Can be implemented in accordance with local, national and regional circumstances,consistent with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and can be managed adaptively;(c)
Are among the actions that play an essential role in the overall global effort to achieve
the Sustainable Development Goals, including by effectively and efficiently addressing major social,economic and environmental challenges, such as biodiversity loss, climate change, land degradation,desertification, food security, disaster risks, urban development, water availability, poverty
eradication, inequality and unemployment, as well as social development, sustainable economicdevelopment, human health and a broad range of ecosystem services;(d)

Can help to stimulate sustainable innovation and scientific research;

2.
Recognizes that nature-based solutions may contribute significantly to climate action,
while recognizing the need for analysis of their effects, including in the long term, and acknowledging
that they do not replace the need for rapid, deep and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions,but can improve action for adaptation and resilience to and mitigation of climate change and its
impact;3.
Also recognizes the potential of sustainable and environmentally sound bio-based
products, innovation and technologies that result from nature-based solutions, when they contribute tosustainable consumption and production and are beneficial to nature and consistent with international
commitments and relevant multilateral agreements on biodiversity, climate, environment andsustainable development, while cognizant of the potential associated risks, including for local
communities and indigenous peoples;
4.
Acknowledges that the concept of nature-based solutions is cognizant of and inharmony with the concept of ecosystem-based approaches identified under the Convention on
Biological Diversity and other management and conservation approaches carried out under existing
national policy and legislative frameworks and established under relevant multilateral environmentalagreements;
5.
Requests the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme,
subject to the availability of resources and to further support the implementation of nature-based
solutions, as defined in the present resolution, to convene intergovernmental consultations in atransparent, inclusive, regionally balanced manner, striving for gender balance, in order to undertakethe following:(a)Compile examples of best practice in nature-based solutions, based on the best
available science;2UNEP/EA.5/Res.5(b)
Assess existing and discuss potential new proposals, criteria, standards and guidelines
to address divergences, with a view to achieving a common understanding among Member States forthe implementation of nature-based solutions, including to support Member States in designing,
implementing and evaluating nature-based solutions, building on existing work, initiatives andplatforms, as appropriate, and without prejudice to existing efforts and initiatives of and new proposals
from individual Member States;(c)
Identify options for supporting sustainable investment in nature-based solutions andshare information on bilateral and multilateral sources of finance to enable developing countries todevelop and deploy nature-based solutions;6.
Also requests the Executive Director, subject to the availability of resources, to support
the intergovernmental consultations, including enabling the participation of developing countries andrelevant partners and stakeholders, consistent with applicable United Nations rules;
7.
Calls upon Member States and the Executive Director, in collaboration with otherrelevant United Nations entities, to support the implementation of the present resolution in partnershipwith local communities, women and youth as well as with indigenous peoples, with their free, priorand informed consent, as their knowledge and methods have proved effective in conserving, restoringand sustainably using biodiversity;
8.
Calls upon Member States to follow a country-driven, gender-responsive, participatory
and fully transparent approach when designing, implementing and monitoring nature-based solutions.

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