Yowhan Son is a professor of Division of Environmental Science and Ecological Engineering, Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea since 1993. He obtained a Ph.D. in forest ecology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has served as Editor-in-Chief of Forest Science and Technology, as President of the Korean Forest Society, and as Director of the Korea Office of Global Carbon Project. From 2014 to 2017 he was an Adjunct Professor of Qatar University. Currently he is a Fellow of the Korean Academy of Science and Technology and published numerous journal papers and books on carbon and nutrient cycling in terrestrial ecosystems and climate change.
Nature-based Solutions for Sustainability:
Focusing on Vegetation Introduction in Arid Regions
Son, Yowhan (yson@korea.ac.kr)
Division of Environmental Science and Ecological Engineering, Korea University,
Seoul, Republic of Korea
Our planet is facing challenges to achieve sustainable development by climate change, biodiversity decrease, land-use change, population increase, and other reasons. One of solutions to solve the problem is nature-based solutions (NbS). NbS are actions to protect, sustainably manage and restore natural or modified ecosystems that address societal challenges effectively and adaptively, simultaneously providing human well-being and biodiversity benefits. Examples of NbS include using naturally connected floodplains and riparian ecosystems, forest protection, afforestation and reforestation, deep-rooted nitrogen fixing plants, mangrove forests and well-managed and conserved grasslands. There are different types of NbS depending on the gradients of number of services and stakeholder groups and maximization of the delivery of key services. In addition, the IUCN global standard for NbS, a tool that helps plan, analyze, and evaluate NbS projects was suggested. Introducing vegetation artificially or naturally is one of the common ways to adopt NbS to restore degraded ecosystems in arid regions. Improving resilience environmentally and socio-economically after introducing vegetation are shown by the implementation of afforestation and reforestation in China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan. Interestingly significant soil physical, chemical and biological properties changed shortly after vegetation introduction. Ecosystem-based management practices should be applied to restored ecosystems. Resilience improved ecosystems provided diverse ecosystem services and lead to achieving sustainability. On the other hand, vegetation introduction using reforestation was economically viable based on the benefit and cost analysis of the Korean reforestation activities. Finally, it should be noted that stewardship on nature is secured before any types of NbS activities are considered.