Manoeuvring barriers: Assessing adaptive strategies for and persistent barriers to urban Nature-based Solutions in Lilongwe, Malawi

Urban Farm DB summary

Urban Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are promoted globally as multifunctional and cost-effective, and municipal interest is growing in cities of the so-called Global South. Yet research remains clearly biased toward the Global North, with particularly few studies on cities in Sub-Saharan Africa — leaving a high risk that maladapted NbS, modelled on examples from elsewhere that do not meet local requirements, get adopted. This article examines the barriers to adopting urban NbS in Malawi's cities and the opportunities for successful implementation, drawing on qualitative data (workshops, narrative expert interviews, group discussions) gathered over five research stays in Lilongwe between 2022 and 2024, and analysing in detail the strategies used by those implementing the Lilongwe Ecological Corridor Initiative (LECI), a large-scale NbS in the capital.