This article situates nature-based solutions within the everyday metabolism of informal settlements in Ghana. It shifts attention from imported intervention models toward the practices, resource constraints and ecological knowledge already present in settlements where formal infrastructure and official data remain incomplete.

The study relates nature-based solutions to local flows of water, food, energy, waste and land and examines how their contribution depends on governance, access and community capacities. The evidence supports a bottom-up interpretation in which residents are not merely beneficiaries but active managers of socio-ecological systems.

The article contributes to debates on environmental justice by showing that nature-based solutions cannot be assessed only through aggregate ecosystem-service benefits. Their value also depends on who controls land, who performs maintenance, whose knowledge is recognised and whether interventions improve resource security for vulnerable households.