Implementing Nature-Based Solutions in Rural Landscapes: Barriers Experienced in the PHUSICOS Project

Nature-based solutions (NBS) are becoming increasingly important in both the EU and individual countries’ political agendas, as a sustainable means to reduce the risk posed by hydrometeorological hazards. However, as the use of NBS is increasing, a number of barriers regarding their practical implementation also become apparent. A number of review studies have summarized and classified barriers, mainly in urban settings. PHUSICOS is a Horizon 2020 Innovation Action to demonstrate the use of NBS in rural and mountain landscapes. Large-scale demonstrator case sites with several sub-projects are established in Italy, Norway and in the French and Spanish Pyrenees. The present paper describes the project’s NBS measures and their experienced barriers, some of which have resulted in full cancellation of the planned interventions. Many of the barriers experienced in rural settings have the same root causes as the ones described from urban areas, and the main barrier-creating mechanisms are institutional factors, resistance among stakeholders and technical and economic issues. The key element, however, is the lack of knowledge about the ability of NBS to deliver a series of co-benefits in addition to their risk-reducing effects and that long-term thinking is required to see the effect of many of these co-benefits.