Restoring Our Sponge Planet: A Water-Centric Solution to Climate Change

Benjakitti Forest Park | Turenscape and Arsomsilp Landscape Studio | Image: Courtesy of Turenscape

A recently published paper in Nature Water, authored by Kongjian Yu, Erica Gies, and Warren W. Wood, advocates for restoring our “Sponge Planet.” The article, titled To Solve Climate Change, We Need to Restore Our Sponge Planet [1], discusses an approach to tackling climate change by emphasising the importance of the water cycle. The authors argue, “Climate strategies focus primarily on carbon, largely ignoring the destabilized water cycle that’s amplifying disasters and accelerating climate change.” [1]. Instead, the authors advocate for the Sponge Planet model, which emphasises restoring natural water systems to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

The Sponge Planet model has three foundational principles: absorb rain where it falls, restore water’s natural slow phases, and adapt modern humans to accept more slow water on the land. These principles are exemplified in the global Slow Water movement, in which projects protect and restore wetlands, floodplains, mountain meadows and forests, and mimic these natural systems with permeable surfaces. [1]

Yu et al. discuss the fundamental misconceptions of nature-based solutions as a “nice, but can’t be a significant part of the solution”, and they feel that Slow water strategies are the solution as they “working with local geology, hydrology, ecology and cultures.”. The authors feel that this answer to climate change and restoring a Sponge Planet, and they go on to cite Pan, H. et al. [2] by stating that a decentralised approach is cheaper, lowers waterborne disease risks, and fosters community engagement in sustainable practices.

Grey to Green Ph2, Sheffield, UK. 2019 The UK’s longest green street retrofit 1.3km. Image: Arup 2023

Effective implementation of the Sponge Planet model requires understanding historical water patterns and prioritising projects that align with these natural paths. The article emphasises the importance of multi-featured cost-benefit analyses to highlight Slow Water projects’ economic and social advantages over traditional grey infrastructure.

U.S. Land Port of Entry, Columbus, New Mexico | MRWM Landscape Architects | Image: Robert Reck Photography
Sponge Garden | Rotterdam, The Netherlands | De Urbanisten | Image: De Urbanisten

Yu et al. provide several real-world examples of successful Slow Water projects, such as the Haikou Meishe River Restoration and the Dos Rios floodplain restoration in California. These case studies illustrate how the Sponge Planet model can be implemented effectively, offering ecological and social benefits.

Meishe River Greenway and Fengxiang Park, Haikou, China | Design Firm: Turenscape

“To solve climate change, we need to restore our Sponge Planet” is a thought-provoking and insightful article that challenges conventional climate strategies.

In recent times, landscape architects have been focusing on climate change by impacting what we can control by decarbonising our projects. However, the profession needs to take more significant action in advocating for broader change towards climate change.  As landscape architects, we should be compelled to move beyond our project sites and advocate for governments to change policy and work with local communities to adopt the Sponge Planet approach to climate change adaptation.  

Article written by Damian Holmes, Founder & Editor of World Landscape Architecture.

References

[1] Yu, K., Gies, E. & Wood, W.W. To solve climate change, we need to restore our Sponge Planet. Nat Water (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44221-024-00355-x

[2]  Pan, H., Page, J., Shi, R. et al. Contribution of prioritized urban nature-based solutions allocation to carbon neutrality. Nat. Clim. Chang. 13, 862–870 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01737-x

About Damian Holmes 3510 Articles
Damian Holmes is the Founder and Editor of World Landscape Architecture (WLA). He is a registered landscape architect (AILA) working in international design practice in Australia. Damian founded WLA in 2007 to provide a website for landscape architects written by landscape architects. Connect on Linkedin at https://www.linkedin.com/in/damianholmes/