THE POTENTIAL ROLE OF MODERN TECHNOLOGY IN PROMOTING NATURE-BASED SOLUTIONS ADDRESSING GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE.

Global heating is happening at an unprecedented speed. As a result, both human society and natural ecosystems are facing significant challenges. Numerous tools and policies are being implemented both for climate change mitigation and adaptation. Substantial amount of funding has been pledged by international governments and private corporations to support these efforts. One of particularly promising tools that tends to gain popularity for addressing climate change are Nature-based Solutions. These tools can be used for both climate change mitigation and adaptation. Additional benefits provided by the application of Nature-based Solutions include support of biodiversity and associated ecosystem services, which in turn foster well-being of the human society. Implementation of the solutions, however, is challenging and requires stakeholder support, thorough research, multi-stakeholder collaboration and financial resources. Implementation and management of Nature-based Solutions for climate change may take several decades until they reach their full potential. This makes stakeholder engagement and attraction of essential investments particularly problematic. Application of modern technologies can support implementation of the solutions and help overcoming the above listed challenges. However, the use of information technologies in design, management and implementation of the Nature based Solutions tends to be limited, in particular in the Global South, where resource constraints and lack of awareness and/or skills may discourage stakeholders from use of the technologies. Thus, we discuss opportunities for application of modern technologies for implementation of Nature-based Solutions and the ways to lower financial and other barriers to their application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]