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Thematic area

EBA

Ecosystem-Based Adaptation

The conservation, rehabilitation, and management of biodiversity and ecosystems increases resilience to climate change and has the potential to provide low-cost and long-term solutions to protect lives, livelihoods, and infrastructure, while advancing the achievement of multiple Sustainable Development Goals. UNDP supports countries to integrate conservation and targeted restoration of natural ecosystems and degraded landscapes – such as mangrove forests, wetlands, and catchment forests – into an overarching strategy for ecosystem-based adaptation that provides protection against climate change threats, either as part of a hybrid adaptation strategy or as standalone measures. The main areas of work include enhanced management to safeguard ecosystem services, restoration of coastal wetlands to protect communities against storms, slope stabilization through agroforestry and natural forest regeneration, halting or reversing land degradation and desertification, promoting sustainable productive landscapes, and improving water resources management, as well as catalyzing finance from the private sector for ecosystem-based approaches in order to build socio-ecological resilience. Ecosystem-based adaptation is included within countries’ National Adaptation Plans, and cuts across multiple sectors with relevance for food and water security, among other societal needs.

Human stories

Raquel Castillo Puentes dreams of protecting her lands and building a climate-resilient future for generations to come with the support of a Green Climate Fund-financed UNDP-supported project in Colombia’s La Mojana.

In Cuba, ecosystem-based adaptation is a cost-effective way to preserve and restore natural habitats and protect coastal communities.

With financing from the Global Environment Facility and backing from UNDP, Bhutan is building resilience for its people, forests, and wildlife. The partnership has reaped real-world benefits for tens of thousands of Bhutanese, including in the most remote mountain communities.

Resources

When Vicente Núñez noticed several years ago that Cuba’s southwestern gulf coastline and its rich plant and wildlife were disappearing, he knew something had to be done.
 
He experimented by replanting different types of mangroves.

17 November 2022 – A team comprised of staff from the departments of Agriculture and Livestock (ALD) and Environment and Conservation (ECD) from the Ministry of the Environment, Land and Agriculture Development (MELAD), Coastal Fisheries (CFD) from Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources Development (MFMRD),  Local Government Division from Ministry of Internal Affairs with the company of Office of Attorney General (OAGs), Kiribati Meteorological Services (KMS) from Office of Te Beretetitenti, the Internal Trade and Business along with Tourism (TAK) from the Ministry of Tourism, Commerce,

The Tourism Authority of Kiribati (TAK) in collaboration with the Business Promotion Unit of the Ministry of Tourism, Commerce, Industry and Cooperatives (MTCIC) continued its community-based tourism programme on Nonouti Island from 14 – 31 October 2022.   Through this mission, the team worked with participating communities to develop their community-based tourism business plans. This included consultation with participating communities on business name ideas, package and pricing and other necessary information required for the business plan completion.

On September 24, a team from the Ministry of Tourism, Commerce, Industry and Cooperatives (MTCIC) departed Tarawa for Abemama island. The mission lasted for 21 days with the purpose to undertake training, consultation, and awareness to strengthen business initiatives through increasing trade from local products and value-added products from in-land and marine resources to enhance food security under the impacts of climate change.

Partnerships

BIOFIN was initiated ten years ago at the 11th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP11), by UNDP and the European Commission, in response to the urgent global need to divert more finance from all possible sources towards global and national biodiversity goals. Now present in 40 countries, BIOFIN is working with governments, civil-society, vulnerable communities, and the private sector to catalyze investments in nature. Investments that create jobs and opportunities for communities reeling from the impacts of COVID-19.

Since 2000, UNDP's global biodiversity program, with financing from the Global Environment Facility and other sources, has been successful in helping to strengthen more than 3,000 protected areas covering more than 680 million hectares including marine, terrestrial, and indigenous and community-conserved areas; and undertaking interventions in production sectors and development planning, covering more than 250 million hectares of production landscapes and seascapes.