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Becoming Nature-Positive: Transforming Traditional Approaches to Engineering

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Savina Carluccio header image with headshot

In this blog, Savina Carluccio, Executive Director at The International Coalition for Sustainable Infrastructure (ICSI) discusses why nature-positive engineering (NPE) is critical for meeting the needs of a changing climate. 

 

Overview

At a time when climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution are becoming increasingly severe, the need for solutions that uplift with nature has never been greater. ICSI is delighted to be leading the way in tackling these challenges through the recently announced Lloyd’s Register Foundation Foresight Review on Nature-positive Engineering (NPE). 

Foresight reviews develop recommendations for the wider community, often including specific needs in standards and skills, focused on accelerating the adoption of safe engineering practices at scale.

We are facing complex interconnected crises

As acknowledged by the United Nations, we are currently grappling with a triple planetary crisis, where challenges of climate change, biodiversity decline and pollution are deeply interlinked. We can’t solve interconnected crises one at a time.

The built environment sector plays a pivotal role in providing services for people around the world and fostering economic development. Yet, it is also a major contributor to climate and ecological damage, with up to 79%1 of carbon emissions globally being linked to infrastructure. The built environment and infrastructure also contribute considerably to biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation by taking up space from various native species without consideration of mitigation, restoration, or coexistence with ecology. Currently, 1 million2 species are at risk of extinction due to human activity, and since 1970 the global populations of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and fish have declined by an average of 69%3

Ecosystems support all life on Earth. The healthier our ecosystems are, the healthier the planet - and its people. By rethinking how we engineer our cities and towns, infrastructure, and energy systems, we can transform these sectors into powerful forces for ecological restoration and resilience, whilst also mitigating carbon emissions.

The need is clear: we must prioritise solutions that protect and restore nature and biodiversity – this is where Nature-positive Engineering (NPE) comes in. 

What is Nature-positive Engineering?

Nature-positive Engineering has the potential to tackle the complex and interrelated planetary crises, while simultaneously contributing to the resilience of communities and minimising the impact of engineering interventions on nature and people.

Nature-positive approaches offer a crucial opportunity to reshape our relationship with nature. Examples of nature-positive solutions include environmental protection, creation, restoration, and sustainable management of natural ecosystems, ultimately leading to an overall biodiversity net gain and to healthier, functioning ecosystems. These solutions are ecology-minded from outset, while safely delivering outcomes for people and community. 

NPE focuses on solutions that are mindful of the entire life cycle of infrastructure, from design to decommissioning and across disciplines. This means considering how each stage impacts the environment and how we can work with nature, safeguarding, restoring and sustainably managing natural ecosystems, to ensure climate resilience and long-term sustainability in an increasingly uncertain future. 

By aligning engineering practices with nature, NPE reduces risks posed by climate change, biodiversity loss, and ecosystem degradation. These nature-aligned strategies foster long-term resilience, helping safeguard infrastructure and communities from increasingly frequent and severe environmental hazards, while maintaining rigorous safety standards throughout their lifecycle.

What We Will Do

Research and evidence on safe NPE practices is currently limited. This makes it more difficult for engineering-inclusive organisations and other stakeholders to incorporate these principles into their strategies and put them into practice on the ground.

We need more clarity on what makes an intervention “nature-positive”, and a clear definition of NPE to support this. 

We also need a better understanding of the progress that different organisations are currently making in this space, of how NPE approaches and solutions are implemented, and to identify new and emerging trends.

We also need a framework to ensure future approaches to engineering help protect, restore and enhance natural ecosystems.

The Foresight Review will aim to tackle these complex areas, and the resulting findings will be essential to speed up and scale up efforts towards a more nature positive future. 

The review will have a particular focus on coastal and marine environments, including deep dives into:

  • Coastal protection and adaptation (coastal communities e.g. cities) to address the growing risks faced by coastal communities due to climate change and the increasing frequency and severity of climate-induced and climate-enhanced disasters. 
  • Offshore renewable energy (ORE) to harness the potential for a nature-positive turn in the increasing development of ORE in line with global targets to triple renewable energy generation by 2030.1 
  • Ports and shipping (focusing on port cities) to minimise the extent to which the projected tripling2 in international maritime trade by 2050 does not further contribute to biodiversity loss, pollution, and climate change

Emphasis will be placed on the value creation and scalability of NPE solutions throughout their full life cycle, ensuring safe practice and attention to biodiversity and ecosystem health and functionality are embedded at every stage from design to decommissioning.

As in all of ICSI’s work, the project will prioritise learning from one another to transfer knowledge, scale up best practice, and push the boundaries of the engineering profession. Through an extensive consultation, we aim to prompt and advance the debate on NPE while ensuring that we are inclusive of all voices.

 

Have your say

Alongside desk-based research, 1:1 interviews with experts and 5 regional roundtables, we are running a call for wider input. We are looking for expert input and contributions of relevant case studies, resources, and evidence to feed into this review. We are also keen to identify areas where NPE can generate the greatest value, where there have been dis-benefits, and we especially encourage stakeholders from the Global South to engage and contribute. 

We are seeking input on: 

  • Challenges, priority gaps and opportunities to scale up NPE implementation
  • Examples of NPE approaches and projects from around the world
  • Existing research and innovation, resources and initiatives 
  • Skills and education needed to mainstream NPE
  • Relevant stakeholders and organisations to engage with

Fill out the call for input here.

Or get in touch at [email protected]

Case studies