What is the difference between the NBS Catalogue and Best Practices?

→ The NBS Catalogue offers more than 500 Nature-based Solution case studies which are added to the platform by users. These case studies are presented in a semi-standardised way, thus, you can easily filter them e.g., by flooding. Here you can find more guidance on the NBS Catalogue.

→ The Best Practice selected collection of case studies from the project providing you with more detailed information including risk assessment, information on the implementation of Nature-based Solution, policies, and much more. Here you can find more guidance on Best Practices.

How can these tools help me start my own Nature-based Solution project?

1. Browse through stories written by citizens and associations that started from similar starting points as you. They talk about how they got started, which challenges they faced and how they eventually overcame these challenges. Here you can find more guidance on the Citizen Stories and also how to share your own story!

2. You already know the problem/hazard in your area and want to get recommendations for which Nature-based Solution could be suitable for your area? Go to the NBS Toolkit, enter your location and problem/hazard and the toolkit will suggest you possible Nature-based Solutions. Here you can find more guidance on the NBS Toolkit.

3. You have decided on a Nature-based Solution and try to get funding or permission for it? You will need to consider different legislation and policies. Permitting Paths presents you examples of what you might need to consider to get the permission for building the Nature-based Solution. Here you can find more guidance on the Permitting Paths.

4. You learnt about potential legislation/policies that you need to consider? Check them out in the Policy Catalogue! Here you can find more guidance on the Policy Catalogue.

Register & Sign-in

Do I need to register and log in to use the platform?

Actually, you don’t need to! But you can get more benefits and features when you do! For example, you can review your added content. It’s getting complicated? First start browsing the platform and think about registering later!

If you decide to register, simply click on the button in the top right corner and sign up:

Step 1: Sign up

by entering your details and click on the ‘Register’ button.

Step 2: Sign in

Log in with your email address and password

Where do all these Nature-based Solution case studies come from?

The case studies are all crowdsourced - meaning that any user can add case studies to the NBS Catalogue! Are you aware of any Nature-based Solutions in your area? You can add them to the catalogue by using the tool: Contribute → Add your NBS. Here you can find more guidance on the Add your NBS.

How do you make sure the case studies are of good quality?

All entered Nature-based Solutions are reviewed by OPERANDUM experts. You can see in the top right corner of each solution whether they are reviewed or pending review (see image below).

Search and filter the Nature-based Solutions for your needs!

The blue search bar offers to search for and filter Nature-based Solutions.

1. Type your keywords in the search field or select filters for a specific Nature-based Solution Type or Hazard (if you click on the two arrows, you will get more filter options).

2. Select your choice and press the search button.

3. The results will be shown on the map and listed underneath the map. 

How can I get more information?

Simply click on the Nature-based Solution that interests you and a new page will open with a lot of more information!

Can I share a Nature-based Solution?

Yes, once you have clicked on one Nature-based Solution and you see more information, you find share buttons under the table of content on the left side (see image below). Simply select the social media channel or only ‘Copy NBS link’ and share the solution with your peer!

How can I compare different Nature-based Solutions?

1. In the results list, on the bottom of each Nature-based Solution, you find a ✓

2. Click the ✓ of the ones that interest you (up to 5) and the tick will double

3. Click on the orange button (see image below) to compare the selected case studies

4. A new page will open for comparing them

What is the layer manager?

It is the place where you can get information about the layers or where you can change settings (e.g., change the opacity). Have a look at the figure below to see which buttons do what:

Do you want to know how many people live in 1 km2 in your street or get other information?

1. Simply click on the point of your interest on the map and you will get the values of all maps that you can see on the interface. You can also click on the Nature-based Solution location icons to get more information.

2. After selecting a point of your interest, a window will pop up presenting you the information of the point of interest (see image below).

Open the Interactive Map. At first glance, you can see a map and on the left side you can see which layers are opened at the moment. You want to identify areas with flood potential that are close to your home to find a suitable location for your retention pond.

Step 1: Add layers

At the moment, there are only an NBS and OAL map visible. To add more layers, you can click on the categories on the left side.

Environment > Soil > Global Hydrological Soil Groups

Risk > Flood > Flood Hazard Map (RP10y)

Step 2: Remove unnecessary maps

Now, you can organize the layers: remove the layers Open-Air Laboratories and the NBS layer by clicking, firstly, on the wheel next to the layer name and then on the remove button.

Step 3: Zoom in to the location of your interest

Zoom in to the city Leichlingen (where you live) by typing the city name in the search bar.

Step 4: Get familiar with the maps

Click on the wheel of each map to learn more about the maps. Now, you can see the legend of the flood hazard map. By clicking on the information button on the bottom, a box will pop up with more information on the map.

Step 5: Analyze the maps

After familiarizing yourself with the maps, you can change the opacity of the global hydrological soil group map so that you can see the map below presenting the roads and so on.

From the hydrological soil map, you can see that not the entire city has a high surface runoff potential but mostly the center of the city through which a river flows.

From the flood map, you can see the river flood potential for the city.

You know that the River Wupper flows from north to south in this view. Next to the icon, you see that there is a minor flooding potential. To examine this area better, you can hide the hydrological soil map for a moment by clicking on the eye button next to the wheel button.

You can see that the area with the minor flooding potential is close to the green area which can function as water storage area.

Step 6: Identify a suitable area for your Nature-based Solution

Since the north of the city is very rural with water storage areas, you suggest to build the retention pond rather in the center of the city where there is a high runoff and river flood potential. By hiding all layers, you can see that this area is densely built but there area some parks which could gain a retention pond. Adding a retention pond to the park will simultaneously increase the attractiveness of the park.

Step 7: Get more insights with additional maps

Now, you identified a potential location and can continue with an in-depth analysis.

What does the Policy Catalogue has to offer?

→ you can open the policy document directly

→ it shows you a selection of similar policies

→ it presents you which NBS case studies (from the NBS Catalogue) are linked to this policy document

You have decided on the most suitable Nature-based Solution to lower the risk of flooding in your village but which legislation do you need to consider? You checked from the example Permitting Pathsand read about the European Floods Directive.

Step 1: Filter policy documents

Now, you want to know more about it. Open the Policy Finder and search for ‘directive’.

The results are shown below the map. The Floods Directive is presented with a brief summary. You can click on the file button to download and read the document.

Step 2: Find similar policies for Germany

Click on ‘Show similar policies’ to explore other important EU level policies.

You want to explore more flood related policies for Germany? Remove your directive search and make a new one: click on Germany on the map and from the mind map select hazard, (zoom out a bit) and then flood.

Step 3: Study the policies

Now, you can browse the policies that might affect your Nature-based Solution implementation.

You can always cancel the entry.

You can always save your draft and continue later (when logged in).

Once you have filled in all required information, you can

• Save your NBS;

• Save your NBS and add policies that were influencing the implementation of the NBS; or

• Save and add datasets presenting the NBS or that you used/produced for pre-assessment, monitoring, or evaluation.