Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Legal systems are designed to enhance social stability and security and to facilitate change in a deliberative and orderly manner; they have long been anchored by the assumption that events in the human environment occur within certain parameters—in effect, that the world is stationary. These qualities, though desirable, may impede human adaptation in a world where climate change, demographic shifts, and economic and cultural integration are causing unpredictable shifts. To facilitate adaptation, law must allow—and even incentivize—societies to choose and bring to scale novel solutions. Some entities are experimenting with nature-based solutions (NbS) to address environmental challenges but have been stymied by uncertainty, including legal constraints and ambiguities. Drawing lessons from interviews with actors designing and implementing NbS in Europe, with a particular focus on an initiative in Valladolid, Spain, this study seeks to understand how law may shape, incentivize, slow, or impede adoption and implementation of these solutions and considers how changes in law or legal mechanisms may enhance the ability to reap the benefit of those solutions. It builds on prior research in NbS, adaptive governance, resilience, and law to generate knowledge about how innovative solutions can be more effectively implemented in practice, even as uncertainty increases due to climate change and other factors. The results will help actors working with NbS to assess and address legal components that guide, structure, or limit the emergence of adaptation strategies using NbS in their jurisdictions.