Public acceptance of nature-based solutions for Climate Change adaptation

Negative public attitudes are a major barrier to the adoption of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS), and there is little cross-national evidence on the factors behind these attitudes. This paper investigates the individual values, perceptions, and behaviours behind public acceptance of NBS in Europe, using a cross-sectional, representative survey across four European regions. We found scepticism of NBS benefits to be the key factor behind negative attitudes towards NBS. Higher levels of trust in authorities or exposure to environmental hazards increase the positive attitudes and offset the negative effect of scepticism on NBS acceptance. While the sociodemographic and health-related factors played a marginal role in acceptance, valuing environmental quality and expecting the authorities to take more responsibility for reducing environmental risks were the strongest predictors of positive attitudes towards NBS.