Governing natural climate solutions: prospects and pitfalls

There is widespread and growing enthusiasm about Natural Climate Solutions (NCS), yet concerns about their social and environmental outcomes are intensifying. These outcomes are contingent on governance arrangements. This paper aims to synthesise recent social science work on climate and natural resource governance with the growing literature on NCS rooted in the natural sciences. It does so by examining three interlinked elements of governance - discourse, institutions and actors. The review finds that crisis narratives, a narrow focus on carbon, and challenges with integrating institutional complexities into modelling studies risks marginalising dynamics associated with key governance concerns, including land rights and inequalities. Reflecting on these concerns the paper outlines three priority areas for future work on NCS: Access, Burden-sharing and resisting Co-option. Despite the promise and appeal of NCS, if fundamental governance questions continue to be marginalised, the agenda may end up entrenching a narrow range of interests.

Automated summary

This paper examines the social and environmental outcomes of Natural Climate Solutions (NCS) and emphasizes the importance of governance arrangements. It outlines three priority areas for future work on NCS and highlights the significance of addressing governance issues.