Nature-based solutions use or rebuild natural systems to do work that would otherwise require built infrastructure. In a drought context, that means treating land, vegetation, soil, and waterways as part of a region’s water system. Healthy wetlands hold and slowly release water, riverside vegetation filters runoff and shades streams, forests and soils regulate how much rain reaches aquifers, and green spaces in cities let stormwater soak in where it falls. When these systems are degraded, a region loses much of its natural capacity to store water, so restoring them is a direct water security measure as well as a conservation one.
This matters especially in Mediterranean climates, where nearly all rain arrives in a short wet season and the long dry season that follows leaves little room to make up a shortfall. Rivers often run intermittently, wetlands have been drained or built over at high rates, and winter storms can deliver heavy runoff that flows away before it can be used. Nature-based solutions help slow that water down, hold it in the landscape, and carry it into the dry months. They also bring co-benefits such as flood protection, improved water quality, cooler cities, habitat for native species, and green space for residents, which often makes them easier to justify than single-purpose infrastructure. They typically take time to establish, perform differently depending on local soils, climate, and land use, and work best alongside engineered systems rather than in place of them.
- Constructed/Treatment Wetlands
- River and Wetland Restoration to Strengthen Ecosystem Services
- Ecological Restoration
- Water-Smart, Drought-Tolerant, & Native Landscape Practices
- Forest Density Management
- Urban green infrastructure
- Soil health and regenerative practices