Pathways to low carbon resilience: Developing a regulatory mechanisms toolkit for nature-based solutions in British Columbia's municipalities

Nature-based Solutions (NbS) offer an opportunity for municipalities to address three planetary crises, namely pollution, climate change, and biodiversity loss (United Nations, n.d.), while also improving the health and equity of residents. For municipalities to mainstream the use of NbS, they will need to adopt regulatory mechanisms that facilitate and require NbS uptake. This study sought to support that effort by developing a toolkit of recommendations for the use of regulatory mechanisms, which were derived from a literature review and content analysis of key resources. The toolkit's utility was tested by applying it as an analytical framework in a case study of Port Moody, British Columbia, Canada, and conducting a workshop with the City's staff. The key findings of this study are that regulatory mechanisms can play an important role in advancing NbS in urban areas, although they will need to be tailored to the local context of the municipality.