IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i11p6400-d568834.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Maximizing Benefits to Nature and Society in Techno-Ecological Innovation for Water

Author

Listed:
  • Isaac Dekker

    (Department of Geography, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC V8W 2Y2, Canada
    Authors contributed equally.)

  • Shabnam Sharifyazd

    (Department of Civil Engineering, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC V8W 2Y2, Canada
    Authors contributed equally.)

  • Evans Batung

    (Department of Geography and Environment, University of Western Ontario, London, ON N6A 3K7, Canada
    Authors contributed equally.)

  • Kristian L. Dubrawski

    (Department of Geography, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC V8W 2Y2, Canada
    Department of Civil Engineering, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC V8W 2Y2, Canada)

Abstract

Nature-based solutions (NbS) build upon the proven contribution of well-managed and diverse ecosystems to enhance resilience of human societies. They include alternatives to techno-industrial solutions that aim to enhance social-ecological integration by providing simultaneous benefits to nature (such as biodiversity protection and green/blue space) and society (such as ecosystem services and climate resiliency). Yet, many NbS exhibit aspects of a technological or engineered ecosystem integrated into nature; this techno-ecological coupling has not been widely considered. In this work, our aim is to investigate this coupling through a high-level and cross-disciplinary analysis of NbS for water security (quantity, quality, and/or water-related risk) across the spectrums of naturalness, biota scale, and benefits to nature and society. Within the limitations of our conceptual analysis, we highlight the clear gap between “nature” and “nature-based” for most NbS. We present a preliminary framework for advancing innovation efforts in NbS towards maximizing benefits to both nature and society, and offer examples in biophysical innovation and innovation to maximize techno-ecological synergies (TES).

Suggested Citation

  • Isaac Dekker & Shabnam Sharifyazd & Evans Batung & Kristian L. Dubrawski, 2021. "Maximizing Benefits to Nature and Society in Techno-Ecological Innovation for Water," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-16, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:11:p:6400-:d:568834
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/11/6400/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/11/6400/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Linda J. Watkin & Laddaporn Ruangpan & Zoran Vojinovic & Sutat Weesakul & Arlex Sanchez Torres, 2019. "A Framework for Assessing Benefits of Implemented Nature-Based Solutions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-25, November.
    2. John T. Trimmer & Daniel C. Miller & Jeremy S. Guest, 2019. "Resource recovery from sanitation to enhance ecosystem services," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 2(8), pages 681-690, August.
    3. J. M. Ottino, 2004. "Engineering complex systems," Nature, Nature, vol. 427(6973), pages 399-399, January.
    4. Anadon, Laura Diaz & Matus, Kira J. M. & Moon, Suerie & Chan, Gabriel & Harley, Alicia & Murthy, Sharmila & Timmer, Vanessa & Latif, Ahmed Abdel & Araujo, Kathleen & Booker, Kayje & Choi, Hyundo & Dub, 2014. "Innovation and access to technologies for sustainable development: diagnosing weaknesses and identifying interventions in the Transnational Arena," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 59895, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    5. Stijn Temmerman & Patrick Meire & Tjeerd J. Bouma & Peter M. J. Herman & Tom Ysebaert & Huib J. De Vriend, 2013. "Ecosystem-based coastal defence in the face of global change," Nature, Nature, vol. 504(7478), pages 79-83, December.
    6. Christian Albert & Joachim H. Spangenberg & Barbara Schröter, 2017. "Nature-based solutions: criteria," Nature, Nature, vol. 543(7645), pages 315-315, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mahta Talebzadeh & Caterina Valeo & Rishi Gupta & C. Peter Constabel, 2021. "Exploring the Potential in LID Technologies for Remediating Heavy Metals in Carwash Wastewater," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-15, August.
    2. Ludwig Paul B. Cabling & Kristian L. Dubrawski & Maleea Acker & Gregg Brill, 2024. "Harnessing Community Science to Support Implementation and Success of Nature-Based Solutions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-18, November.
    3. Yanrong Hu & Qingyang Liu & Hongjiu Liu, 2025. "Spatiotemporal Analysis of Coupling-Coordination Between Developments of Economic High-Quality and Ecological Innovation of China’s Inter-Provinces," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 66(3), pages 2383-2412, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Floris C. Boogaard & Guri Venvik & Rui L. Pedroso de Lima & Ana C. Cassanti & Allard H. Roest & Antal Zuurman, 2020. "ClimateCafé: An Interdisciplinary Educational Tool for Sustainable Climate Adaptation and Lessons Learned," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-19, May.
    2. Buenau, K.E. & Sather, N.K. & Arkema, K.K., 2025. "A marine energy and ecosystem service framework for coastal communities," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    3. Pérez-Maqueo, Octavio & Martínez, M. Luisa & Cóscatl Nahuacatl, Rosendo, 2017. "Is the protection of beach and dune vegetation compatible with tourism?," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 175-183.
    4. Reguero, Borja G. & Beck, Michael W. & Schmid, David & Stadtmüller, Daniel & Raepple, Justus & Schüssele, Stefan & Pfliegner, Kerstin, 2020. "Financing coastal resilience by combining nature-based risk reduction with insurance," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    5. Álvarez, Xana & Gómez-Rúa, María & Vidal-Puga, Juan, 2019. "Risk prevention of land flood: A cooperative game theory approach," MPRA Paper 91515, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Roche, R.C. & Walker-Springett, K. & Robins, P.E. & Jones, J. & Veneruso, G. & Whitton, T.A. & Piano, M. & Ward, S.L. & Duce, C.E. & Waggitt, J.J. & Walker-Springett, G.R. & Neill, S.P. & Lewis, M.J. , 2016. "Research priorities for assessing potential impacts of emerging marine renewable energy technologies: Insights from developments in Wales (UK)," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 1327-1341.
    7. Zio, Enrico, 2016. "Challenges in the vulnerability and risk analysis of critical infrastructures," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 137-150.
    8. Takahiro Tsuge & Yasushi Shoji & Koichi Kuriyama & Ayumi Onuma, 2022. "Using a Choice Experiment to Understand Preferences for Disaster Risk Reduction with Uncertainty: A Case Study in Japan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-17, April.
    9. Carus, Jana & Heuner, Maike & Paul, Maike & Schröder, Boris, 2017. "Which factors and processes drive the spatio-temporal dynamics of brackish marshes?—Insights from development and parameterisation of a mechanistic vegetation model," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 363(C), pages 122-136.
    10. Paola Piazza & Nadia Ursino, 2023. "On the Reason to Implement a Sustainable Urban Drainage Nature-Based Solution to Decrease Flood Threat: A Survey," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-13, June.
    11. World Bank, 2023. "Sailing Rough Seas," World Bank Publications - Reports 40052, The World Bank Group.
    12. Saskia Keesstra & Jeroen Veraart & Jan Verhagen & Saskia Visser & Marit Kragt & Vincent Linderhof & Wilfred Appelman & Jolanda van den Berg & Ayodeji Deolu-Ajayi & Annemarie Groot, 2023. "Nature-Based Solutions as Building Blocks for the Transition towards Sustainable Climate-Resilient Food Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-20, March.
    13. Stanley, Rebecca E. & Bilskie, Matthew V. & Woodson, C. Brock & Byers, James E., 2024. "A model for understanding the effects of flow conditions on oyster reef development and impacts to wave attenuation," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 489(C).
    14. Austin Amaechi & Steve Counsell, 2013. "Towards an Approach for a Conceptual System Design," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(6), pages 780-793, November.
    15. Convertino, Matteo & Annis, Antonio & Nardi, Fernando, 2019. "Information-theoretic Portfolio Decision Model for Optimal Flood Management," Earth Arxiv k5aut, Center for Open Science.
    16. Su-Ping Liu & Bin Shi & Kai Gu & Cheng-Cheng Zhang & Ji-Long Yang & Song Zhang & Peng Yang, 2020. "Land subsidence monitoring in sinking coastal areas using distributed fiber optic sensing: a case study," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 103(3), pages 3043-3061, September.
    17. Tran, Dung Duc & van Halsema, Gerardo & Hellegers, Petra J.G.J. & Hoang, Long Phi & Ludwig, Fulco, 2019. "Long-term sustainability of the Vietnamese Mekong Delta in question: An economic assessment of water management alternatives," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 223(C), pages 1-1.
    18. Fan Xu & Zeng Zhou & Sergio Fagherazzi & Andrea D’Alpaos & Ian Townend & Kun Zhao & Weiming Xie & Leicheng Guo & Xianye Wang & Zhong Peng & Zhicheng Yang & Chunpeng Chen & Guangcheng Cheng & Yuan Xu &, 2024. "Anomalous scaling of branching tidal networks in global coastal wetlands and mudflats," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.
    19. Wiebe P. de Boer & Jill H. Slinger & Arno K. wa Kangeri & Heleen S.I. Vreugdenhil & Poonam Taneja & Kwasi Appeaning Addo & Tiedo Vellinga, 2019. "Identifying Ecosystem-Based Alternatives for the Design of a Seaport’s Marine Infrastructure: The Case of Tema Port Expansion in Ghana," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-19, November.
    20. Pengcheng Xiang & Yiming Wang & Qing Deng, 2017. "Inclusive Nature-Based Solutions for Urban Regeneration in a Natural Disaster Vulnerability Context: A Case Study of Chongqing, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(7), pages 1-13, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:11:p:6400-:d:568834. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.