From Nature Projects to Nature Infrastructure: A New Vision for the Greater Bay Area of China

New report sets out how a landscape-scale Nature-based Solutions portfolio can strengthen climate resilience, biodiversity and long-term prosperity in the Shenzhen River Basin

HONG KONG, Sept. 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the Columbia Climate School released a landmark report, A Resilient Greater Bay Area: Accelerating a Landscape-Scale Resilience Portfolio and Collaboration Model for the Shenzhen River Basin, alongside the Hong Kong Institute of Landscape Architects (HKILA) and a diverse coalition of partners. The report positions nature as critical climate-resilience infrastructure for the Greater Bay Area. It also outlines pathways to strengthen Nature-based Solutions (NbS) project development, cross-boundary coordination and investment across the Greater Bay Area (GBA) of China. The work represents a milestone of TNC's Resilient Greater Bay Area Program and the Columbia Climate School's Adaptation and Resilience Accelerator Program.

Launched during New York Climate Week, the release provides an international platform to facilitate exchange between New York and the Greater Bay Area on approaches to resilience governance, design and finance, and how they can inform landscape-scale portfolios of adaptation and resilience investment in both contexts.

The Greater Bay Area spans roughly 56,000 square kilometers, is home to more than 88 million people, and generates more than RMB 15 trillion in annual GDP—over US$2 trillion—placing the ecological transformation of the Greater Bay Area within a landscape of extraordinary global economic significance and continued urban growth. The cross-boundary Shenzhen River Basin concentrates these dynamics in one geography, making it a test case for the next generation of resilient development and adaptation investment. As climate risks such as extreme heat and flooding, together with biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation, increasingly affect interconnected watersheds, coastlines, and metropolitan regions, effective responses will require a shift from individual NbS projects to coordinated landscape-scale portfolios for investment, infrastructure, governance, and implementation.

"Hong Kong's Northern Metropolis region in the Shenzhen River - Deep Bay Basin has a unique opportunity to demonstrate how nature can be integrated into development before climate risks become locked into the landscape," said Lulu Zhou, Director of Strategic Partnerships for Climate Resilience, The Nature Conservancy Asia Pacific. "This report moves the conversation beyond individual projects and presents a broader vision for ecological infrastructure that can support both people and nature at regional scale. By treating wetlands, rivers and land ecological corridors as critical infrastructure, we can strengthen resilience while supporting sustainable economic growth."

Drawing on climate research, policy analysis, spatial planning, coalition building and stakeholder engagement, the report identifies the Shenzhen River Basin as a priority geography for advancing landscape-scale NbS. Spanning a highly urbanized river system and the internationally important wetlands and coastal habitats of Shenzhen Bay (Deep Bay), the basin brings together climate risk, ecological value, development pressure and governance complexity in a single connected cross-boundary landscape.

The report not only represents the culmination of a year-long collaboration, but also a starting point for continued partnership, investment, and action across and between the regions. During NbS Action Week in June 2026, more than 60 leaders and practitioners from over 40 organizations spanning government, finance, academia, engineering, design and conservation shaped an early and shared vision for NbS across the GBA.

A central finding is the need to shift from individual, fragmented NbS projects toward systemic, landscape-scale portfolios working across development lifecycles of infrastructure, housing, and other assets – from retrofitting existing urban areas, to embedding NbS into areas undergoing development, to protecting ecological systems and shaping future growth before development patterns and climate risks and adaptation potentials are fixed. For those portfolios to become investable, they not only need to deliver ecological and social performance, but also measurable risk reduction, avoided losses, and economic value. Where appropriate, revenue streams or other financial returns can support investment.

"The challenge is not simply to deliver more individual projects, but to understand how projects can be assembled into a larger and cross-boundary system of resilience," said Johanna Lovecchio, Senior Director of Engagement and Impact at Columbia Climate School. "This means connecting design and ecological performance with governance, risk reduction, and investments so that individual interventions add up to the transformation."

Design prototypes explored in the work include wetland and forest restoration, revitalized gei wai systems (tidal shrimp pond), oyster reefs, and urban ecological corridors. They represent not standalone projects, but interconnected resilience infrastructure that layers with housing, infrastructure, transportation, tourism, and technological investments.

The research also found that policy ambition across national, regional and municipal levels is already strong and increasingly aligned around building a climate-resilient and nature-positive future. The national 15th Five-Year Plan Outline places a dedicated focus on "enhancing the diversity, stability and sustainability of ecosystems" and identifies "accelerating the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development and building a Beautiful China" as a key national development priority. These policy directions closely align with the report's recommendations to advance climate resilience, biodiversity conservation and sustainable regional development through NbS. The greater challenge is translating that ambition into coordinated implementation across jurisdictions. Rather than creating entirely new governance structures, the findings point to the importance of leveraging and strengthening existing coordination mechanisms while embedding climate resilience and NbS into mainstream development and financial policies. Hong Kong's recently released NbS Design Guidelines provide an example of how this integration can begin early in the development process and help support more responsible implementation.

While significant expertise and institutional support already exist across the GBA, mechanisms for assembling NbS portfolios and matching them with capital and implementing practitioners and communities remain underdeveloped. The report concludes with a sequenced roadmap and prioritization approach: building public momentum, developing a pipeline of demonstration projects, and strengthening institutional capacities.

"The future resilience of the Greater Bay Area depends on our ability to think and act beyond individual sites and jurisdictions," said Paul Chan, Immediate Past President of the Hong Kong Institute of Landscape Architects (Asia Pacific)."Landscape-scale Nature-based Solutions offer a powerful opportunity to reconnect ecological systems, strengthen climate resilience and create long-term value for communities. This report provides an important foundation for translating vision into action through collaboration, good design and strategic implementation."

About the Report  

A Resilient Greater Bay Area: Accelerating a Landscape-Scale Resilience Portfolio and Collaboration Model for the Shenzhen River Basin and Deep Bay is the outcome of the Resilient Greater Bay Area (GBA) Program, a collaboration among The Nature Conservancy, Columbia Climate School and the Hong Kong Institute of Landscape Architects, with contributions from experts across government, academia, conservation, finance, engineering and design.
For the report download [LINK]
For Photos: [LINK]

About The Nature Conservancy Asia Pacific (TNC)

The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is a global conservation organization dedicated to conserving the lands and waters on which all life depends. Guided by science, we create innovative, on-the-ground solutions to our world's toughest challenges so that nature and people can thrive together. We are tackling climate change, conserving lands, waters and oceans at an unprecedented scale, providing food and water sustainably and helping make cities more resilient. The Nature Conservancy is working to make a lasting difference around the world in 83 countries and territories (39 by direct conservation impact and 44 through partners) through a collaborative approach that engages local communities, governments, the private sector, and other partners. TNC has been in Asia Pacific for over 30 years with projects in Australia, mainland China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Mongolia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. In 2019, TNC was awarded the Lui Che Woo Prize for Sustainable Development.
Website: http://www.tnc.org.hk
LinkedIn: The Nature Conservancy in Hong Kong
Facebook: TNC HK 大自然保護協會
Instagram: @tnc_hk

About Columbia Climate School

The Columbia Climate School exists to meet the defining challenge of our time. Building on a long history of leadership in climate and Earth systems, we are the nation's first graduate climate school. Our mission is to deepen understanding of the interconnected challenges affecting climate, Earth, and society; advance innovative and just solutions; and educate leaders who drive transformational change. Working alongside public, private, and civil society partners, we're building a more resilient, sustainable, and healthy future. Learn more at climate.columbia.edu.
LinkedIn: Columbia Climate School
Instagram:@columbiaclimate

About The Adaptation and Resilience Accelerator

The Adaptation and Resilience Accelerator is a program hosted by the Columbia Climate School and the Center for Resilient Cities and Landscapes. The Accelerator connects local governments and stakeholders with Columbia's urban design and planning, climate research, and economic disciplines to a global network of communities, practitioners, investors, researchers and policymakers. It unlocks physical, political, institutional, and financial pathways to implementation. Learn more at https://crcl.columbia.edu/content/publications

About Hong Kong Institute of Landscape Architects (HKILA)

Established in 1988, The Hong Kong Institute of Landscape Architects is a body incorporated by The Hong Kong Institute of Landscape Architects Incorporation Ordinance (Cap. 1162), with the objects, among others, to promote the advancement of landscape architecture, raise the standard and maintain the integrity of the landscape architectural profession, and to facilitate the exchange of information and ideas in relation to all aspects of landscape architecture and matters in connection with the landscape architectural profession.

SOURCE The Nature Conservancy