Applying Nature-based Solutions to Conserve Natural Capital and Achieve Climate Resilience

Linear infrastructure projects need to support and take advantage of natural capital, as well as help build resilience against climate change. Clearly, each element of natural capital can be enhanced or degraded through human activities such as road construction, land clearing, forest burning, or mining. On one hand, natural capital is often damaged by climate change i.e., warming climate, longer droughts, and more intense rains. A simple step is to protect water quality by ensuring that roads will not seriously degrade local water quality (e.g., avoiding areas where there is a spring water source). Other tested systems such as use of vegetation, tree planting, and gully protection and stabilization are also known to lead to significant benefits.