Enabling nature-based solutions: Innovating urban climate resilience

Current conceptualizations of nature-based solutions have so far served to characterize—and reproduce—cost-effective remedies, particularly in cities of the global north. Yet nature-based solutions (NbS) are fundamental to the production of urban resilience. Focusing on Ghana's second largest city, Kumasi, this research (i) examines climate literacy and explores the existing nature-based solutions towards climate change adaption; (ii) examines the perception on existing NbS and the barriers to building climate resilience via NbS; and (iii) explores ways of promoting the implementation of NbS to build climate resilience. It addresses these objectives drawing from secondary data, 367 household surveys and 7 agency interviews. The findings show that about two thirds (63%) of urban residents in the case study area are climate illiterate, and this has affected the slow uptake of nature based solutions as climate management intervention. The urban residents acknowledge the importance of nature based solutions but identify barriers such as poor consideration of the role of natural infrastructure and their incorporation in the planning process, inadequate technical capacity and guidance for incorporating NbS in climate planning, high cost requirements of NbS interventions, disparate interests from various institutions, and a general lack of knowledge, appreciation and interest from urban residents. The study concludes that mainstreaming and upscaling NbS in urban systems will require major investments which should vary from one city to the other depending on perculiar needs. •Kumasi continuously remain vulnerable to climate change impacts.•Households are generally unaware of climate and truly do not understand it.•Climate illiteracy has largely affected the slow uptake of nature based solutions.•Respondents acknowledge the importance of NbS to building climate resilience.•Participants suggested the conscious need to pilot NbS to build resilience.