Enabling nature-based solutions by embracing their limits: Insights from governing in complexity

Nature-based solutions (NbS) have become a central concept in contemporary conservation. While much scholarship and practice aim to refine and upscale NbS, we argue that it is important to recognize their inherent limits, which stem from the complexity of socio-ecological systems. Drawing on literatures about governing in complexity, we identify three fundamental sources of limitation: bounded steerability of complex adaptive systems, inescapable contestation of plural values and power, and persistent cross-scale misfits between ecological and institutional dynamics. These manifest as recurrent limits for NbS, including shifting priorities, unavoidable trade-offs, recurring conflicts, unexpected outcomes, external shocks, and contested knowledge. We outline implications for policy, practice, and research: emphasizing humility, adaptivity, and reflexivity as necessary conditions for advancing NbS without overstating their promise.