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The H2020 project PHUSICOS designs and implements NBS for DRR at demonstrator case sites in rural areas of Norway, Italy, and in the French and Spanish Pyrenees. This presentation covers four locations in the Pyrenees, where NBS to reduce risk from snow avalanches, rockfall and debris flows are implemented. Snow avalanches from the steep slopes of the Capet Forest threaten the French village of Barèges. The NBS here consist of afforestation in the release areas. 5000 trees have been planted in groups of 30-50, protected behind wooden tripods, which also act as protection structures until the trees are large enough to stabilize the snowpack. Rockfall poses a severe hazard at two locations along the important road A-136 / RD-934 between France and Spain. At St. Elena, Spain, the rocks are released by erosion of a slope in a thick till deposit. The implemented NBS consists of vegetated terraces, built up by a dry masonry wall and gabions constructed from wood and filled with the local till. At the location in Artouste, France, rockfalls in the steep slope are released from exposed ledges and from loose blocks in the till surface. The measures here consist of wooden stabilising and retaining structures for each individual ledge or block. These solutions are also tested at newly established laboratory and full-scale test facilities in Spain and France, respectively. The fourth location is near the Spanish village Erill-la-Vall, where debris flows from a >50m thick till deposit pose the threat. Several gullies feed the main debris flow path towards the village during periods of extreme precipitation. The implemented solution is a series of terraces, built up by local rocks and whole-log gabions in the lower parts of the gullies. These will prevent deepening of the erosional base and form increased rugosity in the debris flow paths. The site has been monitored during the last 15 years. In-situ borehole (piezometer) data shows two processes: a deep-seated (15-20 m) failure level, which reacts up to two weeks after a period of heavy rain, and shallow erosion, which reacts almost immediately as a direct response to heavy precipitation. The implemented NBS are primarily to mitigate against the latter process.The NBS described here all have large upscaling potential, as there are numerous locations in the Pyrenees and elsewhere with similar problems. Terracing and afforestation for slope stabilization is not a new concept but is here re-vitalized in cooperation with stakeholders through Living-Lab processes. These processes have also helped overcoming challenges related to land ownership issues and permissions to operate, e.g., in national parks, which have caused implementation delays. Monitoring of the implemented measures, focused on both the resilience aspect and, not the least, the NBS' co-benefits will be important for building up an evidence-base for the functionality of NBS for DRR.

The H2020 project PHUSICOS has from 2018-2022 aimed to demonstrate how nature-based solutions (NbS) reduce the risk of extreme weather events in rural areas and mountain landscapes. Mountains amplify risks and therefore the impacts of extreme hydro-meteorological events such as flooding and landslides in mountain areas often affect entire river basins. However, NBS in rural areas and mountain regions have not received the same amount of attention as urban areas. This presentation highlights the lessons learned in order to tackle the challenges of selecting, designing and implementing NbS at the landscape spatial scale in rural areas. The PHUSICOS case study sites in Norway, France, Spain, Italy, Germany and Austria represent a broad range of natural hazards, including snow avalanches, erosion, rockfall, flooding and debris flows. The demonstrator sites have undergone a co-creation process with stakeholders to select and plan the NbS interventions. The specific location and NbS selection were based on a rigorous process considering the following selection criteria: risk reduction, technical feasibility, co-benefits, effectiveness, efficiency, potential negative impacts, stakeholder involvement, and compliance with international and EU agreements and directives.Innovation actions have framed the project activities as an approach to fill NbS knowledge gaps. These innovation actions have included: service innovation to engage stakeholder participation through a Living Labs approach, technical innovation to design an NbS assessment framework in the context of natural hazard risk mitigation to document the effectiveness of NbSs, governance innovation to explore planning and policy frameworks as enablers for the design and implementation of NbS, learning arena innovation to facilitate knowledge exchange through Virtual Reality and Serious Gaming as training programs as well as product innovation establishes an evidence-base and data platform for NbS in mountains.For example, the assessment framework as a flexible disaster risk management support tool for NbS is viewed as especially relevant. It has been applied to three different NbS interventions to document the baseline scenario and subsequently compared to the NbS design scenario. After completion, the assessment framework will be used to develop the monitoring programs to assess the long-term effectiveness of the NbS interventions. Improved processes and services related to governance innovation outputs focus on exploring ways to improve the planning policy and implementation mechanisms for sustainable use and management of land, water, and natural resources in rural areas and their impacts at the local and wider watershed scale. The most critical governance innovation enablers for successful NbS interventions include polycentric governance arrangements in public administration, participatory co-design processes, as well as financial incentives.The different innovation actions will be further showcased to share project outputs and outcomes, to reflect on the lessons learned as well as to weigh in on their significance towards long-term impacts.

This paper explores how claims for transformative adaptation toward more equitable and sustainable societies can be assessed. We build on a theoretical framework describing transformative adaptation as it manifests across four core elements of the public-sector adaptation lifecycle: vision, planning, institutional frameworks, and interventions. For each element, we identify characteristics that can help track adaptation as transformative. Our purpose is to identify how governance systems can constrain or support transformative choices and thus enable targeted interventions. We demonstrate and test the usefulness of the framework with reference to three government-led adaptation projects of nature-based solutions (NBS): river restoration (Germany), forest conservation (China), and landslide risk reduction (Italy). Building on a desktop study and open-ended interviews, our analysis adds evidence to the view that transformation is not an abrupt system change, but a dynamic complex process that evolves over time. While each of the NBS cases fails to fulfill all the transformation characteristics, there are important transformative elements in their visions, planning, and interventions. There is a deficit, however, in the transformation of institutional frameworks. The cases show institutional commonalities in multi-scale and cross-sectoral (polycentric) collaboration as well as innovative processes for inclusive stakeholder engagement; yet, these arrangements are ad hoc, short-term, dependent on local champions, and lacking the permanency needed for upscaling. For the public sector, this result highlights the potential for establishing cross-competing priorities among agencies, cross-sectoral formal mechanisms, new dedicated institutions, and programmatic and regulatory mainstreaming.

The use of vegetation as a nature-based solution for shallow landslide risk reduction is receiving increased attention in the scientific community. Vegetation can contribute to slope stability through both hydrological and mechanical root reinforcement, which improves resilience against shallow landslide triggering. In order to quantify the performance of roots as a slope stabilizing measure, slope stability models are valuable tools. Murgia et al. (2022) conducted a thorough review of the existing physically-based models that consider the mechanical effect of roots in the calculation of factor of safety (FoS), suitable for both regional and slope-scale analysis (physically based probabilistic and deterministic models, respectively). This study will build on to the previous review with an in-depth analysis of the equations governing the individuated models that account for the effect of root reinforcement on slope stability. With emphasis also on hydrological effects of vegetation, the governing equations of the different models are analysed and compared, and FoS of an ideal slope case will be assessed by using a selection of the identified models. Finally, this review will serve as a base to develop a guideline which will serve as a tool to ease the decision-making process when deciding which model to use when mitigation measures for a specific slope is to be designed.Reference: Murgia, I., Giadrossich, F., Mao, Z., Cohen, D., Capra, G. F., & Schwarz, M. (2022). Modeling shallow landslides and root reinforcement: A review. Ecological Engineering, 181, 106671.

The Water and Forest Producer Project (PAF) - Rio Claro / RJ is located in the municipality of Rio Claro / RJ, where the head of Piraí River’s is located. It is in-serted in the basin of the Guandu river, a vital source of drinking water for 12 million people in the metro-politan region of Rio de Janeiro. The degradation of the Atlantic Forest has compromised the supply of environmental services, among which the provision of water in quantity and quality stands out. The proj-ect aims to encourage conservation and restoration of the forest through the mechanism of payment for environmental services, to improve the quality and quantity of water for several municipalities in Rio de Janeiro. The project works through voluntary action by rural landowners, who are financially compen-sated for adopting conservation and restoration practices on their properties. Currently, the project is being monitored with 70 rural landowners, ~ 4,562 ha of conservation areas, ~ 564 ha for restoration and R$ 8.5 million in investment in the first five yearsof operation. The impact scale of the project for now is local. The idea is to expand the project aiming to cover whole Guandu watershed.&nbsp

This paper describes an assessment framework tool to analyze the performance of nature-based solutions (NBS) for hydro-meteorological risk management. The tool is based on multi-criteria decision analysis within the context of NBSs, an umbrella concept currently in focus that promotes nature and provides ecological and socio-economic benefits. The proposed tool includes the selection and application of key performance indicators (KPIs) for the co-benefits and costs associated with the implementation of NBSs. To ensure high societal impact, the tool relies on a participatory approach. Stakeholder preferences are taken into account within the assessment process. As such, the assessment framework can be used as a design and selection tool for NBSs and other alternative measures, including grey and hybrid solutions. The proposed procedure can be adapted to the specific socio-environmental context and hydro-meteorological risk by tailoring the set of relevant KPIs. The assessment framework is useful for monitoring the implemented measures and to document their effectiveness. The methodology provides quantitative and transparent documentation of hydro-meteorological risk management processes, useful for decision- and policy-makers, and stakeholders dealing with NBS measures.