Strengthening of the social, ecological and agricultural resilience in the mediterranean ecosystems and watersheds face to global change and others factors of changes.
Background
SEARCH is a three year regional project working in five countries (Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Lebanon and Palestine) to develop and pilot a resilience framework for local action planning capacities and methodologies to increase climate change resilience through joint learning, planning and testing by
In developing such a Climate Resilience Framework, SEARCH will actively empower and build resilience of both local target groups in communities and watersheds and government staff working in relevant government agencies at the Governorate/District as well as the National Level.
Resilience is understood as the capacity to cope, address and overcome adverse impacts from external factors, such resilience is also important to strengthen and build in face of other important external factors, such as population growth and rural-out migration, conflicts and wars, and economic globalization. Resilience of ecosystems is closely related to resilience of people.
Ecosystems have their intrinsic resilience, which, however, may be put at risk by over-exploitation of the natural resource base in these ecosystems. Fostering ecosystem resilience by strengthening and safeguarding the intrinsic values and services of these ecosystems will help people to strengthen their own resilience in facing adverse external factors. Vice versa, building resilience of people through innovative action in the domain of management of water and other natural resources will also be instrumental in strengthening the intrinsic resilience of ecosystem.
IUCN-Med’s role
The purpose of IUCN is to ensure proper and efficient management of the SEARCH project, in recognition of the different roles and responsibilities of each partner. It is understood by the parties that SEARCH is a regional project and that actions by the partners in one of the above mentioned five countries will influence the project as a whole as well as the programmes of partners in the other four countries.
Objectives and results
Overall objective: Increased social and ecological resilience in watershed ecosystems of the Mediterranean Region in the face of climate and other drivers of change.
This will be accomplished by working towards “developing and piloting a Resilience Framework for local action planning capacities and methodologies to increase climate resilience through joint learning, planning and testing by stakeholders in demonstration sites. This will be done through four approaches/components;
- Capacity building in the use of climate change adaptation tools, strategies and planning through action learning and exchange at the different levels. This forms a critical basis for the further implementation of the project.
- Joint Participatory action planning. It is the conviction of SEARCH that the above mentioned goal can only be reached when people and their organizations come to work together at different levels of influence and decision making.
- Demonstrating through pilot projects. SEARCH will ground the above strategies through the design and development of innovative examples in selected pilot areas at the district and community level in the targeted areas.
- Documenting the methodologies and learning processes, as well as sharing of valuable information and knowledge at all levels. In the course of the project, SEARCH will give a close and structured attention to document how it has been dealing with the issues at stake in both written and by visual means
Expected Results:
1. Capacities and knowledge of local and community stakeholders in the use of climate change adaptation tools, strategies and planning are increased through learning and exchange actions in regional networks.
2. Local action planning for climate change adaptation increases institutional capacities and coordination and is demonstrated using practical and participatory approaches to building livelihood and ecosystem/biodiversity resilience.
3. Climate vulnerabilities and disaster risks are reduced by the implementation of pilot local actions in demonstration watersheds.
4. Practical tools/guidelines are jointly developed and applied with policy makers to contribute to regional, (sub) national and sectoral strategies and plans for climate change adaptation, poverty reduction and economic development
Partners
In each of the five countries, SEARCH will develop partnerships with key stakeholders, including government agencies, NGOs, end-users and the private sector.
The SEARCH Partnership is facilitated by the following partners:
o Centre for Environment and Development for the Arab Region and Europe (CEDARE) in Egypt.
o Coptic Evangelic Organization for Social Services (CEOSS) in Egypt.
o Arab Women Organization in Jordan
o Badia Research and development Center in Jordan
o Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) in Ramallah, Palestine
o Palestine Hydrological Group (PHG) in Ramallah, Palestine
o Society for the Protection on Nature in Lebanon (SPNL) in Lebanon
o MADA Association in Lebanon.
o Abdelmalek Essaadi / Tetouan University of Marruecos.
o IUCN Regional Office for West Asia (IUCN ROWA) in Jordan.
o IUCN Med in Malaga, Spain.
o With the support of:
IUCN WANI in Switzerland.
Centre for Development Innovation (CDI) - Wageningen UR en los Países Bajos y Diversity –Associates DIV-A.
Donors
This project has been funded by the European Union
Este proyecto está financiado por la Unión Europea
Duration
Started January 2011 and finished in 2014.
Total budget (eligible costs): 199,194 €
For more information: marcos.valderrabano@iucn.org
IUCN-Med receives core financial support from the Ministry of Environment of the Junta de Andalucia, the Ministry of Environment and Rural and Marine Affairs and the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) among others.
