Nature-based solutions minimize the impacts of disasters

• Pages: 63-63

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021 | 63

Reprinted by permission from The Environmental Forum®, November/December 2021.

Copyright © 2021, Environmental Law Institute®, Washington, D.C. www.eli.org.

ELI REPORT

RT menu of options that includes

measures to prevent food

waste, rescue surplus food,

and recycle food scraps. It is

intended to facilitate the wide-

spread adoption of food waste

provisions in local climate ac-

tion and sustainability plans by

truncating the time and effort

that would be required if a

municipality had to start from

scratch.

In addition to providing

model provisions, the toolkit

includes links to example

provisions in existing sustain-

ability plans. Strategies and

approaches highlighted in the

toolkit include policies and

ordinances, public awareness

and education, incentives

and funding, leadership and

recognition initiatives, and

environmental justice-related

efforts.

the United States went unsold

or uneaten, leaving a green-

house gas footprint equal to 4

percent of U.S. emissions. Re-

search by Project Drawdown



reducing food

waste as one of

the top three

most impact-

ful solutions

for reducing

greenhouse

gas emissions

worldwide.

Addressing

food waste

also garners

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beyond climate

change mitiga-

tion. Reducing

wasted food

alleviates food

insecurity,

conserves natural resources,

and saves money by decreas-

ing food purchasing and waste

disposal costs.

The toolkit provides a

Cities across the country have

pledged to reduce greenhouse

gas emissions and develop

climate action plans that out-

line the steps they will take to

achieve these goals. However,

most existing plans contain

few, if any, food waste-related

actions. A report by ELI in

partnership with the Nashville

Food Waste Initiative, A Tool-

kit for Incorporating Food

Waste in Municipal Climate

Action Plans, provides model

provisions for addressing

food waste in local planning,

enabling cities to reduce both

food waste and greenhouse gas

emissions simultaneously.

Climate action plans offer

an ideal opportunity for cities

to address food waste, a major

— yet often overlooked —

contributor to climate change.

In 2019, 35 percent of food in

Cities can reduce food waste through climate action planning

Nature-based solutions minimize the impacts of disasters

Natural disasters pose a huge

risk to people, ecosystems, and

property — a risk that will only

increase with climate change.

One solution is to invest in

nature-based hazard mitigation

strategies, also referred to as

natural or green infrastructure.

These actions conserve or re-

store nature, such as wetlands

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infrastructure projects like rain

gardens, all to minimize the neg-

ative impacts of natural disasters.

Nature-based solutions can

offer a more cost-effective alter-

native to “gray” infrastructure,

which also increases habitat and

biodiversity. Recently, a growing

number of funding opportuni-

ties through the Federal Emer-

gency Management Agency aim

to encourage such strategies.

However, to date relatively few

nature-based projects have been

funded with available grants.

Government entities can

develop a strong foundation to

a number of paths to greater

use of nature-based strategies.

Although many plans include

nature-based goals and actions,

government

entities can

focus on plan-

ning for realistic

prioritization

of these proj-

ects. Funding,

implementing,

and monitoring

these projects

are also impor-

tant next steps.

Among other

recommenda-

tions, more

demonstration

projects, includ-

ing assessing

outcomes with

data and moni-

toring, can also

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based projects and encourage

others to follow suit.

apply for this funding by includ-

ing nature-based strategies in

their hazard mitigation plans.

These plans are required of

states, tribes, and locales for cer-

tain kinds of disaster mitigation

funding, including grants from

FEMA. Plans identify natural haz-

ard risks to communities, create

goals for hazard mitigation, and

outline actions to address risks.

This spring, ELI released Na-

ture-Based Mitigation Goals

and Actions in State and Trib-

al Hazard Mitigation Plans, a

study evaluating to what extent

plans are incorporating nature-

based goals and actions. Based

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gation plans and a small subset

of tribal plans, the report identi-

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jurisdictions, and analyzes areas

for improvements in develop-

ing nature-based strategies. The

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language that could be used by

governments in the future.

In tandem, ELI published an

accompanying report, Nature-

Based Mitigation Goals and

Actions in Local Mitigation

Plans, based on an analysis of

over 100 local hazard mitiga-

tion plans. Both reports identify