Transcript Climate change adaptation is still in its early stages

Draft Principles and Guidelines for Integrating
Ecosystem-based approaches to Adaptation in
Project and Policy Design
Angela Andrade , Rocío Córdoba, Radhika Dave, Pascal Girot, Bernal Herrera-F., Robert Munroe, Judy Oglethorpe, Emilia
Pramova, James Watson, and Walter Vergara.
http://iucn.org/cem
Introduction
Ecosystem-based approaches to adaptation (EbA):
'the use of biodiversity and ecosystem services to help
people adapt to the adverse effects of climate change'
‘… may include sustainable management, conservation and
restoration of ecosystems, as part of an overall adaptation
strategy that takes into account the multiple social,
economic and cultural co-benefits for local communities'.
Principles for EbA
1. Promotes the resilience of societies and ecosystems:
 Understands what makes resilient ecosystems and the services they supply.
 Works with communities and vulnerable peoples to create local ownership and
resilient local institutions.
 Ensures that local stewardship enhances livelihoods and ecosystem
management.
Tonle Sap Lake in Cambodia- CI : Ecological and community risk
assessments in 6 areas are being developed.
- Empowerment of communities to develop joint activities and
management practices to enhance food security and livelihood
resilience.
-Building Institutional capacity, access to information and
development methods to use flooded forest habitats.
- Ecological indicators established to understand long term impacts.
Local people are being informed by mapping important zones
vulnerable to changes in the extent and duration of Lakes’ annual
flood pulse.
Principles for EbA
2. Promotes multi-sectoral approaches, and ensure:
 Collaboration between sectors managing ecosystems and those benefiting
from Ecosystem Services.
 Cooperation across multiple levels and sectors to avoid conflicts.
 Multi-stakeholder processes when developing adaptation policy.
Principles for EbA
3. Operates at multiple geographical scales:
 Landscape approaches and impact assessments to identify cumulative and indirect drivers
of vulnerability.
 Lessons from integrated approaches for natural resource and ecosystem management.
 Develop strong and multi-scale linkages, as ecosystems do not necessarily relate to political
or administrative units, or to the scale in which the private sector operates.
African Wetlands- Hadejia – Nguru, Nigeria- Birdlife
Multi-scale considerations to capture upstream-downstream effects of
seasonal pools which support essential ES. Climate change has
compounded wetland shrinkage caused by upstream dams built to
provide a more consistent supply of water for irrigated agriculture in
response to droughts that were affecting communities both upstream and
downstream. Adaptation actions restored a more ‘natural’ flood pattern
and increased household incomes. Multi-stakeholder action groups, to
counter the mal-adaptation impacts of the dams by restoring wetland
ecosystems through clearing of Typha fields.
Principles for EbA
4. Integrates flexible management structures that enable adaptive
management:
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 Decentralized management
to the lowest appropriate level to foster greater efficiency,
effectiveness, equity and ownership, as advocated by the Ecosystem Approach.
 Addressing the lack of resources at these levels of management to ensure that
ecosystem processes and services are not adversely affected.
 Enabling local institutions to be key actors in adapting planning.
 Sustainable, long-term monitoring systems to enable multi-stakeholder learning and
adoption of new management decisions.
Kubulau District, Fiji. A flexible and responsive governance model for a
ridge-to-reef protected area network is being developed. In order to
improve socio-ecological resilience, WCS is working with village chiefs and
local committees to adapt the protected area network, as well as make
the EBM plan more “climate-ready. To strengthen social resilience new
communications tools are being developed, to deliver conservation and
management messages.
Principles for EbA
5. Minimizes tradeoffs and maximizes benefits with development
and conservation goals to avoid unintended negative social and
environmental impacts.
 Participatory planning, recognizing the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable.
 Multiple benefits of EbA channeled to the stakeholders and local communities.
Principles for EbA
6. EbA is based on the best available science and local knowledge
and should foster knowledge generation and diffusion.
 Facilitate networks to ensure that information is updated and provided in usable forms.
 Best available scientific knowledge and climate modeling used in conjunction with local
knowledge.
 Sharing and incorporating indigenous and local knowledge.
Climate change scenarios have been developed by IDEAM (INAP) in
Colombia, based on updated climate variability and climate change
information. These scenarios have been used for the development of
national policies and mainstreamed in sectors such as agriculture,
health and energy. Monitoring stations that measure more than 15
oceanographic parameters in the Caribbean sea were installed, as well
as 7 coral reefs stations and water and carbon monitoring stations in
high mountain ecosystems and models of glacier dynamics have been
installed in order to better know ecological process and the ecosystems
services they provide. These information is permanently disseminated
to all stakeholders through the web page of IDEAM, INVEMAR and other
institutions and it is being appropriately translated to local people.
Principles for EbA
7. EbA is participatory, transparent, accountable, culturally
appropriate and actively embracing equity and gender issues.
 Recognize the underlying causes of vulnerability: power imbalances and
entitlements to resources.
 Focus on equality and the special needs of marginalized social groups and full
participation of stakeholders.
 Vulnerability assessment and adaptation must be gender sensitive.
 Empower local people as directors of their own future.
Northern landscapes of Mali. Local people depend on natural
resources: pasture, fodder and water. Surveys developed by
CIFOR showed different views of climate change impacts and
vulnerability: Vulnerability assessments capture different
perceptions, otherwise they may lead to mal-adaptation or
inefficient adaptation efforts. Power relationships, interests,
norms and values may influence the judgment about who is
more or less vulnerable.
Guidelines for designing EbA
projects
1.
Prepare project structure
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Define core multidisciplinary teams.
Identify ecosystem boundaries.
Scope potential climatic and non climatic threats that contribute to vulnerability.
2.
Gather relevant data and expertise
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Synthesize available information knowledge from different disciplines and sectors on
important socio-ecological system components.
Obtain/ develop climatic projections, on ecologically and socially variables, and
spatial and temporal scales.
Obtain science based information and traditional/ local knowledge on past and
current climate variability, and impacts.
Identify key ecosystem services and stakeholders.
Map, model and evaluate the multiple flows of ecosystem services to diverse users.
Understand key social processes between system components and institutions.
Evaluate data on ecosystem services and climate change impacts to identify gaps for
research and elements to monitor.
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Guidelines for designing EbA
projects
3.
Conduct integrated vulnerability assessments and impact projections with
flexible criteria that address the linkages between human and
environmental systems:
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4.
Determine the exposure, sensitivity, adaptive capacities of vulnerable groups and
ecosystems.
Analyze past and current coping strategies to assess their sustainability under climate
change and for their effect on critical ecosystem services and other process.
Assess overall vulnerability of ecosystems and communities.
Identify feedback linkages and loops between ecosystems and people.
Analyze existing policy and institutional frameworks in the context of adaptation, and
identify strengths, constraints and opportunities.
Conduct participatory scenario exercise to consider how vulnerable groups, communities
and ecosystems under different, management and climatic projections.
Document levels of confidence or uncertainty in assessments.
Projects should be located within robust national and subnational
frameworks so as to enhance the long term chances of success.
- Understand national and subnational frameworks and share results.
- Ensure that planned activities are recognized in relevant strategies.
Guidelines for designing EbA
projects
5. Proceed with integrated planning
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Consider the maintenance of ecosystem services and biodiversity in plans
based on people´s needs for livelihood improvement.
Share assessment results with stakeholders and decision makers.
Agree on the spatial and temporal scales for plans.
Identify adaptation measures.
Ensure that short term adaptation measures do not compromise long term
options, which should focus on building resilience.
Ensure that adaptation strategies and plans are coherent with other sector
policies.
Make EbA resilience focused, or based on transformative change.
Guidelines for designing EbA
projects
6. Ensure the sustainability of monitoring and adaptive
management:
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Ensure sufficient resources for monitoring and support adaptive ‘learning-by-doing’;
Design monitoring systems to cover an adequate time period and operate at the most
appropriate scale to assess project effectiveness and any changes in vulnerability;
Involve local communities in monitoring.
Choose indicators that reflect resilience of all the components of the humanenvironment system and their inter-linkages.
Regularly evaluate and adapt the effectiveness of adaptation actions by using
monitoring results, and use a participatory process.
Design knowledge dissemination and learning mechanisms for effective learning.
Next Steps
• Expand target audience to different
sectors.
• Adjust principles/guidelines accordingly.
• Principles to be considered in medium-long
term adaptation planning process.
• Updated version to be presented in WCC in
Jeju. EbA Journey
http://data.iucn.org/dbtw-wpd/edocs/2011-064.pdf