Mainstreaming and implementation of nature-based solutions for climate change mitigation, adaptation and resilience in Zambia

Climate change is one of the most profound urban challenges being faced globally and has adversely impacted the social, economic, and natural environments, costing billions of dollars in global damage, and collectively affecting many people worldwide. To address the problem of climate change, mitigate its impacts, and enhance adaptation and resilience, researchers, urban practitioners, and policymakers while working together have identified Nature-Based Solutions (NbS) as one of the best solutions to climate mitigation and adaptation challenges. This is because NbS can provide societal and ecosystem benefits simultaneously. The focus of this study, therefore, is to establish the extent to which the institutional factors influence the mainstreaming of NbS into Local Development Plans and actual implementation of NbS projects for climate change adaptation in Zambia based on a case study of Mumbwa Town Council. Various literature on concepts such as climate change adaptation, mitigation, and resilience building, NbS mainstreaming, and implementation and institutional factors were reviewed. Qualitative methods were applied in data collection and analysis. Nine (9) Key informant interviews guides were used to obtain primary data from 9 key informants and document review was conducted to complement data collection. AtlasTi was used to analyze the data. Research findings show that Mumbwa has mainstreamed the NbS in its District Development Plan and the Strategic Plan under 5 categories of initiatives namely, sustainable forest management, water ecosystem conservation, conservation agricultural wildlife ecosystem restoration, and urban greening have been implemented under various projects. In terms of the institutional factors that have facilitated the mainstreaming and implementation of the NbS mentioned above, the study identifies institutionalization, supportive local and national policies, holistic, flexible, and inclusive planning system, good governance, and stakeholder engagement, international funding among others as key facilitating factors. Major hindering factors include lack of local financial resources, climate variability through flooding, and droughts which have increased poverty levels poverty among the local people thereby pushing them to over exploit natural resources like forests resulting in high deforestation rates. In terms of the extent to which these factors have influenced NbS mainstreaming and implementation in Zambia, the study establishes a positive influence as the facilitating factors outweigh the hindering factors. However, the study still recommends that Mumbwa local authority should invest more in climate adaptation projects to help the community adapt to the impact of climate change and help reduce the poverty levels. The council should also invest more in local income generation ventures and be over dependant on international funding for NbS implementation. Also, more sensitization of the community members should be done to encourage them to participate in NbS protection and management.