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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

Officers from the Ministry of Environment, Lands and Agricultural Development (MELAD) and one from the Ministry of Women, Youth, Sports and Social Affairs (MWYSSA) conducted a 15-day mission to Nonouti Island 16 - 31 October 2022  to support the Island Elders (Te Buroo n Nonouti) and the two villages/communities in the development of their integrated environment and natural resource management plan (IENRMP) and constitution, as well as mangrove picking and planting with church youth, recruitment of EEO (Environment Extension Officer).

From September 28 to October 5, 2022, officers from the Environment and Conservation Division carried out activities in Kiribati to improve food security, preserve the environment, and lessen the effects of climate change. The activities included building coastal beach brush, planting coastal areas, tagging turtles, delineating seagrass beds, selecting and planting mangroves on Nounouti with the cooperation of communities, and lastly monitoring mangroves planted by communities taking part in the mangrove competition which was initiated in April 2021.  

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.

The conservation, rehabilitation and climate-informed management of biodiversity and ecosystems increases resilience to climate change and provides low-cost and long-term solutions to protect lives, livelihoods and infrastructure, and advance progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals. Human, economic and social development relies on the health of natural systems. Ecosystems can significantly reduce the impact of floods, catastrophic storms and serious droughts, and can offset vast amounts of the world’s CO2 emissions.

Ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) has the potential to significantly enhance the resilience of society to climate change and could be a key part of national and global adaptation efforts. However, despite growing interest among policymakers, donors, scientists and practitioners, the current pace and scale of EbA implementation falls far short of its potential. The aim of this report by UNEP is to highlight the opportunities for scaling up the use of EbA to help put the world on a more climate-resilient and nature-positive pathway.

Partnerships

The CivTech Alliance is a worldwide network of public, private, and third sector organizations working across civic and government technology to support and nurture an ecosystem for developing products and services which make citizens’ lives better.

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.