A New Tool for Realizing the Potential of Nature-Based Solutions: U.S. Nature4Communities

Key Takeaways:

• The U.S. Nature4Communities tool helps users examine nature-based solutions in individual communities across the country through its interactive map, state-specific resources, and customizable outreach materials.  
• Nature-based solutions like tree planting and wetland restoration offer significant climate, economic, public health, and broader societal benefits while maintaining high levels of bipartisan support. 
• Camden County, Georgia, shows how a local government can combine community feedback, data, and research to implement nature-based solutions that improve climate resilience.

According to the World Economic Forum’s analysis of the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, nature-based solutions rank among the top five approaches for reducing carbon emissions. In fact, natural climate solutions (a subset of nature-based solutions) have the potential to provide up to one-third of the emission reductions needed by 2030. Nature-based solutions have gained traction across the United States in recent years. From green rooftops in Missouri to tree-planting initiatives in Nebraska to wetland restoration projects in Wisconsin, communities are recognizing the economic, environmental, and societal benefits of nature-based solutions.

The widespread implementation of nature-based solutions has bolstered their popularity. According to a 2024 survey from U.S. Nature4Climate (USN4C), a coalition of environmentally-minded organizations, 94% of U.S. voters support expanding natural climate solutions—an increase of two percentage points from 2023. Similarly, support for increasing investment in natural climate solutions increased from 47% to 55%. These high levels of support hold across party lines with 99% of Democrats, 94% of Independents, and 89% of Republicans supporting natural climate solutions, making these solutions a strong bipartisan option for climate action. 

In 2022, USN4C released its “Decision-Makers Guide to Natural Climate Solutions” to connect decision-makers with information on natural climate solutions and their impacts. Recently, USN4C unveiled a new tool, “Nature4Communities,” building on their guide to provide decision-makers with examples of how nature-based solutions are being implemented in communities across the nation. Francis Smeins, digital communications and events manager at USN4C, explained that Nature4Communities is designed to “summarize all the information that's already out there and help advocates package this information in a way that is useful for them.”

Nature4Communities presents users with an interactive map of the country where they can select a state of interest. From there, users navigate to the corresponding state page with a variety of mixed-media resources for decision-makers, including blog posts, reports, videos, and podcasts. Users are also guided by USN4C’s classification of nature-based solutions into three key categories: forests, agriculture, and wetlands. 

For some states, the Nature4Communities tool allows users to generate customized PDFs to highlight the benefits of a specific nature-based solution. This feature is currently only available for California, Georgia, Minnesota, and North Carolina. However, Smeins notes that “the plan is to extend, at the very minimum, to five more states in the next year.” The sample PDF below shows the benefits of coastal restoration in Georgia, including:

• preserving coastal and salt marshes as natural buffers against storm surge and hurricane damage;
• increasing biodiversity of key species of commercial fish and shellfish;
• reducing nutrient pollution by upwards of 90%, particularly by protecting oyster reefs; and
• sequestering 10 times more carbon per acre than land forests (carbon absorbed by vegetated coastal and marine ecosystems is known as blue carbon).   

Credit: U.S. Nature4Climate

A Spotlight on Camden County, Georgia

One of the places highlighted by the U.S. Nature4Communities tool is Camden County, Georgia, where the local government is working in collaboration with The Nature Conservancy and the University of Georgia to develop nature-based strategies for flood mitigation and coastal restoration. 

With its three-pronged approach—floodplain preservation and management, salt marsh protection, and community resilience planning—Camden County serves as a model for coastal governments. The Nature Conservancy’s Community Rating System Explorer allows Camden County to identify areas for floodplain preservation by merging municipal planning data, mapping tools, and geographic information system calculations. Using a combination of community feedback and scientific research, Camden County developed the Camden County Resiliency Implementation Workplan to reduce flooding and sea level rise impacts across seven jurisdictions.

The Workplan focuses on nature-based solutions, such as living shorelines, wetland restoration, and green infrastructure. Salt marshes in Georgia provide coastal species with critical habitats, as well as providing humans with flood protection. An ongoing University of Georgia study is exploring a new approach to salt marsh preservation, where salt marshes would be valued and protected through private-public insurance. The result of this study will be published later in 2025. The Nature Conservancy plans to distribute these resources to other coastal governments.   

The U.S. Nature4Climate database allows users to see nature-based solutions that are being enacted in each state. Credit: U.S. Nature4Climate.

While the implementation of nature-based solutions can look different in individual communities across the country, there are common themes and best practices that help make the work scalable and replicable. Cross-sector collaboration, co-benefit design, community-driven planning, and data-informed policy form a foundation for scaling nature-based solutions across the various geographies of the United States. 

The Nature4Communities tool combines these best practices—in addition to science and stories of implementation—into one place, ensuring that knowledge is easily shared. Smeins stated that Nature4Communities “helps everyone, providing tangible examples of how communities are benefiting from implementing these [nature-based solutions] and showing examples from that community to make the case for why this should be supported.” 

Author: Erin Parker