Authors: Martin, Juliette; Bayer, JoAnne;Scolobig, Anna;

Nature-based solutions (NBS) have emerged as a critical umbrella concept encompassing all actions and measures that use nature’s properties to systemically address societal challenges, simultaneously providing a variety of benefits for nature and people. Among their manifold co-benefits, there is great potential for NBS to contribute to human wellbeing, climate change adaptation and biodiversity conservation. However, despite the significant political traction NBS have gained, their implementation often remains too fragmented or context-specific for their wider operationalisation and upscaling. Based on a meta-analysis of grey- and peer-reviewed literature, workshop results and semi-structured interviews, we identify and discuss the institutional, legal, regulatory, social and economic opportunities (N=252), as well as barriers (N=264) to NBS in various contexts. Based on our findings, we suggest innovative new institutions, policies and instruments that can enhance the adoption and mainstreaming of NBS for conservation.