The Criteria of the Standard are based on an analysis of guidelines and criteria of existing Ecosystem Approaches.

After creating your account on the online self-assessment tool, we recommend the following steps for initiating and completing your self-assessment:
Document Exchange: Collect all relevant documentation related to your project to support your assessment. This includes reports, data sheets, and project outlines.

Project level kick-off calls and identifying focal points: Organize meetings with your project partners to discuss the assessment requirements and the individuals that will contribute to the assessment process – for example your gender and governance specialist. We advise appointing a focal point for your assessment to coordinate and consolidate inputs.

Complete a rough and fast assessment: Please conduct a preliminary assessment using the self-assessment tool, aiming to cover all 8 criteria within 2-3 hours. This rapid assessment will help identify key areas of focus and the interlinkages between various indicators.

Complete a detailed assessment: After completing the first fast assessment, refine and finalize your assessment by providing detailed rationales and implementation tools. Don’t forget to save your input into the assessment!.

The self-assessment’s users are relying on their own judgement and understanding of how well they meet the indicator under consideration. The indicators’ rating system is based on a traffic light system providing them with four possible ratings: insufficient, partial, adequate and strong. The rating for the indicators under each Criterion will define the overall rating for their respective Criterion.

Select your indicator score: The self-assessment provides guidance at the indicator level through:
a set of “guiding questions”. Under each indicator, you will find a set of questions regarding your intervention to help understand the level of adherence to the indicator. You are also able to find additional guidance and insights on the interlinkages between different indicators and Criteria by hovering over the “i” button in front of the guiding questions.
Guidance under each rating: additional guidance for each rating for each indicator is available by hovering over the “i” button for the rating.
Provide rationale: Explain how you reach the selected score for each indicator.
Tools for implementing: Reference the documentation generated to support the rationale and scoring of the indicator. You may also upload these documents as part of your self-assessment process.

The design and implementation of NbS interventions are very context-specific and vary based on the scale of the project (which is also defined by the scale of the societal challenge(s) NbS are designed to address), the thematic area, the sector, as well as the ecosystem they rely on, amongst other factors. That is why a set of global Criteria is necessary to guide the context specific design. However, a series of actions can support this process:
NbS Strategy: Developing an NbS Strategy that outlines the links between the problems, the actions to address these problems and intended outcomes of each action.

Stakeholder mapping and engagement plan: Given the complex and long-term nature of NbS interventions, it is imperative to establish appropriate governance mechanisms throughout the life-cycle of the project. Mapping stakeholders that directly and indirectly link to the intervention and promoting joint decision-making mechanisms starting from the design stage of the project throughout implementation and monitoring and evaluation phases are one of the necessary steps in NbS design and implementation.

Risk Assessment: The IUCN NbS Standard intends to support the long-term sustainability of the interventions by establishing mechanisms that could minimise risk and maximise impact. Therefore, a risk assessment study is necessary to identify potential internal and external risks and their drivers. The NbS approach is promoting a system-based instead of a site-based approach, so the risk assessment should encompass the risks that are posed to the intervention, as well as the risks that the intervention could pose to the social and economic constructs and ecosystems.

Social and environmental impact assessment: The NbS Standard promotes the identification, documentation and benchmarking of measurable social and environmental outcomes of the NbS intervention. The SEIA identifies these outcomes and conducts baseline assessments for benchmarking purposes.

Cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit assessments: Conducting this study to understand the economic aspects of NbS, identifying and documenting all the types of benefits provided (financial and non-financial; economic and non-economic), who receives them, what the costs of provision are, and who bears those costs. This study will also be used as basis for identifying trade-offs and establishing appropriate safeguards.

Monitoring and evaluation plan: A robust monitoring and evaluation plan designed based on the NbS strategy provides the necessary information for measuring progress and identifying any emerging risks and opportunities during and after the project implementation. This monitoring and evaluation system is designed for the project’s life cycle and should be accompanied by a learning system that can guide corrective actions where necessary.

The Standard is accompanied by two additional documents:
a booklet (the guidance document) where the Standard is presented in its criteria and indicators, together with demonstrative case studies and a guidance which narrates what each criterion and indicator mean.

Additionally, a self-assessment tool is developed to assist the application of the Standard in a consistent and documented manner. You can access the online self-assessment tool here.

For support on how to create and log in to your account, please see here: Online Self-assessment Tool Login User Guide.

For more information on how to operate the platform, please see here: Online Self-assessment User Manual.

The Standard could be applied at any stage of the life cycle of an intervention. It can inform the design of the project. During the implementation phase, applying the Standard facilitates identifying risks and opportunities and taking appropriate measures (in line with Criterion 7: Adaptive Management). Applying the Standard to completed interventions results in collecting lessons learned and informing future interventions.