Natural climate solutions handbook: a technical guide for assessing nature based mitigation opportunities in countries

An NCS analysis will help identify what land management actions have the greatest mitigation potential at any scale and in any landscape. The Nature Conservancy and partners have conducted a range of NCS analyses across the globe over the last 5 years. We developed this guide so that we could share the hard-won lessons learned by the scientists and conservation practitioners who have tackled these analyses. We’ve dug deep into the scientific literature, as well as our collective experiences, to gather as many best practices as possible for this guide in order to support a range of technical audiences and decision makers in scoping and conducting an NCS assessment. In this guide, we outline basic parameters for getting started with an NCS assessment, flag key decision points, and explain the factors to consider when making those decisions for your unique situation. This guide is structured to match the order of steps we generally follow when conducting an NCS assessment—from identifying purpose and audience, to prioritizing and defining locally relevant pathways, to identifying the extent of opportunity and relevant GHG fluxes for each pathway, to estimating mitigation potential and costs – noting that many of the steps are iterative, requiring refinement after another step has been conducted. We’ve shared guidelines and best practices for navigating these complexities and accurately assessing the naturebased climate mitigation potential in your country or jurisdiction. Whether you’re starting from scratch or already on your way, we’ve designed this guide so that you can jump into any section as your starting point. Our goal is to provide each reader with the tools they need to make the decisions that are most appropriate for their unique case.