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Supporting a Community of Practice on Ecosystem-based Adaptation

The International EbA Community of Practice aims at knowledge and experience sharing and mutual learning beyond projects, institutions and regional boundaries.
Surya  Meihdhy

Introduction

People worldwide depend on intact ecosystems and the services they provide, such as soil fertility, clean water and food as well as buffering of extreme weather events. This is especially true for poor people in developing countries, whose livelihoods are closely linked to natural resources.

Climate change is one of the major causes of changes and deterioration in ecosystem services and its impact will most likely increase in the future. At the same time, functioning ecosystems help people to mitigate and more importantly to adapt to climate change at local, national, regional, and global levels. Ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) is the term used to designate measures designed to strengthen people’s ability to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change through the sustainable use and preservation of ecosystems.

EbA is increasingly being incorporated into national climate policies and the international climate debate as a viable yet to date largely under-utilised strategy for adapting to climate change. At the same time, calls for the integration of adaptation measures into existing planning and decision-making processes at various levels are heard again and again, with a view to better management of climate risks in the sensitive sectors in the partner countries.The development and dissemination of information and knowledge is essential to strengthen ecosystem-based adaptation in planning and decision-making processes.

The International EbA Community of Practice aims to support knowledge and experience sharing and mutual learning between projects, institutions and regional boundaries focused on building the resilience of those people most vulnerable to climate change using EbA approaches. This learning and knowledge network is facilitated by the BMUB-IKI-funded and GIZ-implemented global project Mainstreaming EbA.

Building a Community of Practice

Members of the International EbA Community of Practice are international institutions such as IIED, IUCN, WCMC, SEI and FAO, and many of the world’s countries, particularly Mexico, Peru, South Africa, Viet Nam, the Philippines, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Central Asia, Colombia, Brazil and Mali, which are all partner countries of the Mainstreaming EbA project.

A member space was set up to ensure that key needs related to ecosystem-based adaptation are being addressed in a joint and coordinated manner to help work towards a collaborative learning. For subscription, please contact [email protected]

On AdaptationCommunity.net, the new subsection on Ecosystem-based Adaptation informs on practical examples, field-proven tools, key publications and the ongoing webinar series of the International EbA Community of Practice (see below).

All knowledge products and experiences are being integrated into the updated 2-4 days training course on Mainstreaming EbA for development planning. It is available upon request in Spanish and English. For further questions please contact [email protected]

EbA Webinars

As part of this community of practice GIZ is running a series of EbA webinars. Details of these webinars and links to recordings of past webinars are provided below.

Finance options and instruments for EbA: Discussion series

1st webinar Finance options and instruments for EbA: Overview and application experiences(27 February 2018)

  • Overview of EbA-relevant finance options (by Climate Focus)
  • Experiences from practitioners: Private sector engagement in the Caribbean Coast in Mexico (by The Nature Conservancy)

Upcoming

2nd webinar Finance options and instruments for EbA: Experiences from practicioners(7 March 2018)

Please register here.

Climate Risk Assessments: Discussion series in collaboration with SNRD Asia

Organized by SNRD Climate Change Adaptation Working Group in collaboration with the international EbA Community of Practice

1st webinar Climate risk assessment in an adaptation policy context (24 October 2017)

  • GIZ’s new Risk Supplement to the Vulnerability Sourcebook
  • Country insight: Reconciling risk & vulnerability assessment for land use planning in the Philippines

2nd webinar Climate risk assessment for Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) (2 November 2017)

  • Community NEWS: 2nd EbA Community of Practice Workshop
  • Expert input: Climate risk assessment for Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA)

Evidence of EbA measures: Discussion series in collaboration with UNEP REGATTA/Practical Solutions

Why is it relevant to have evidence on the effectiveness of EbA, how to generate this evidence and communicate it to the target groups?

2 March 2017: Generating evidence on Ecosystem-based Adaptation

  • Presenters:
    • Xiaoting Hou. Researcher, Biodiversity and Forests – Natural Resources Research Group, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED).
    • Karen Podvin. Climate Change Adaptation Program Officer, IUCN Regional Office for South America (Ecuador).
    • Giovanna Egas Tapia. Specialist in climate risk management at the subnational level, Directorate General for Climate Change, Desertification and Water Resources, Ministry of the Environment in Peru

16 March 2017: Evidence on the effectiveness of Ecosystem-based Adaptation (II): Valuating and communicating the economic benefits of EbA

  • Agenda
    • Economic tools for counting, capturing and investing in ecosystems as climate adaptation infrastructure – Lucy Emerton (Environment Group)
    • Valuating economic benefits of EbA in Thailand: EbA sediment trap versus dredging- Roland Treitler (GIZ, Thailand)
    • Communicating “Building with Nature for Coastal Resilience” – Susanna Tol (Wetlands International)

6 April 2017: Evidence on EbA effectiveness (III) – Experiences from Central Asia and Viet Nam

Agenda

  • Cost-benefit analysis as a communication tool for Mainstreaming EbA – Experiences from a data scarce Region – Paul Schumacher (GIZ)
  • Quantifying adaptation benefits and comparison of coastal protection adaptation projects in Viet Nam – Michel Köhler (the greenwerk)

Discussions series “EbA-relevant tools and methods

15 September 2016 – Assessing risk and vulnerability in an EbA context

  • Agenda:
    • Community NEWS: IUCN World Conservation Congress
    • Guideline for Vulnerability Impact Assessments under EbA
    • Vulnerability Assessments in EbA Projects – Experiences from Central Asia
    • How to build capacity for applying EbA Tools?

13 October 2016​Assessing risk and vulnerability in an EbA context

  • Agenda:
    • Community NEWS: International Workshop on EbA experiences by INECC in Mexico
    • Solutions for Ecosystem-based Adaptation under PANORAMA
    • Climate Change Impact Assessment for the Atlantic Forest in Brazil

24 November 2016 – Identifying and prioritizing EbA options

  • Agenda:
    • Community NEWS: UNFCC CoP 22: Side Event on sectoral NDC implementation
    • Community NEWS: HABITAT III: Financial instruments for urban EbA
    • Tool to prioritize adaptation options: Integrating EbA
    • Experience from application in Colombia
    • Conclusions on ” EbA tools & methods”

Discussions series Latin America – “Indicators for EbA” (in Spanish)

25 October 2016​ – International & national experiences with indicators for measuring hydrological ecosystem services in the context of EbA (I)

  • Agenda:
    • Adaptation Indicator System of Mexico
    • Adaptation Indicators – Example from Morocco

31 November 2016 – International & national experiences with indicators for measuring hydrolocial ecosystem services in the context of EbA (II)

  • Agenda:
    • International Experiences (GIZ Germany)
    • National Experiences (SNIC, Colombia)
    • Regional Experiences (Condensan, Peru)

Sharing success in Ecosystem-based Adaptation – EbA Solution Portal

The EbA Solution Portal fosters sharing of field-proven knowledge and experience on Ecosystem-based Adaptation in different regions and ecosystems around the globe. It shows that inspiring and replicable solutions can be found everywhere on this planet and that EbA or “green solutions” are a state-of-the-art-reply to climate change impacts and deliver a multitude of benefits for societies, economies and environment .

This new global exchange platform under the PANORAMA initiative was officially launched at CBD CoP 13 in Cancún. Now the portal is open to connect practitioners and decision makers and to solution providers from all countries, sectors and levels to share their stories and learn how others tackled challenges across the globe.

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