Glossary of Terms
A
biodiversity
The variety of plants, animals, fungi, and other living things in a certain area. More biodiversity usually makes ecosystems healthier and allows them to handle changes better.
connectivity
Ecosystems work better when natural or naturalized areas are connected together. Wildlife corridors, connected wetlands, river systems, and linked forests allow species, water, nutrients, and natural processes to move and allow these systems to work optimally.
conservation & protection
Sometimes the best nature-based solution to a problem is simply protecting a healthy ecosystem before it is damaged or removed. For example, keeping an existing wetland is often easier and more effective than trying to rebuild one later.
community involvement
We find projects tend to work better when local people help with identifying problems, priorities, risks, and outcomes. Community knowledge can also reveal things that other methods of gathering information might miss.
equity
The benefits and risks of nature-based solutions are not always shared equally. Good planning includes asking who benefits, who might be affected, and whether certain communities are being left out of the process or conversation.
green infrastructure
Natural or semi-natural features such as rain gardens, urban forests, green roofs, wetlands, and naturalized drainage areas.
grey infrastructure
Conventional human-made infrastructure, such as storm sewers, dams, retaining walls, pipes, etc. Nature-based and grey infrastructure can often be combined together to make stronger solutions to problems.
Monitoring & adaptive management
Projects should be checked over time to see if they are actually working. If conditions change or results are not what was expected, the approach can be adjusted or other solutions can be explored.
native species
Plants and animals that live and have lived in a region for a very long time. Native plants are often best suited to the soils, climate, wildlife, and seasonal conditions of the area they are in.
Natural processes
Nature-based solutions often work best when they restore natural processes rather than just specific individual features. Examples of this include giving rivers the room they need to flood naturally, letting plants stabilize soil with their roots, or restoring natural water movement through an existing wetland.
restoration
Helping a damaged ecosystem to recover from the impacts of human activity and building. This can include actions such as restoring wetlands, reconnecting rivers to floodplains, planting native plants, or repairing degraded shorelines.
Scale
Nature-based solutions can range from creating a single rain garden to restoration of an entire watershed. Sometimes doing many small projects together creates a much larger benefit. Nature-based solutions can also be used by everyone from the government to businesses to individual homeowners/landowners.
What do you mean?
If you have questions about any of the terminology or ideas present on our website, please contact us!