Ecosystem Management

EbA: Strengthening the evidence and informing policy

Ecosystem management and restoration can be a very important part of climate change adaptation, and communities can play a central role in the process, but the evidence base needs strengthening.

Boats parked in Dakar, Senegal Photo: Jeff Attaway CC BY 2.0 Through the project "Ecosystem-based Adaptation: Strengthening the evidence and informing policy", IUCN, the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), and UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) are working together to show climate change policymakers when and why EbA is effective – the conditions under which it works, and the benefits, costs and limitations of natural systems compared to options such as hard, infrastructural approaches – and promote the better integration of EbA principles into policy and planning.

These partners are working in Bangladesh, China, Nepal, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Senegal, South Africa, Uganda, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Peru to develop clear country-specific policy recommendations and explore opportunities for and obstacles to uptake.

Through this project, IUCN is buidling directly upon the results and lessons gained though earlier initatives such as Ecosystems Protecting Infrastructure and Communities (EPIC) and the global EbA in Mountains Programme.

This project is part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI). The German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) supports this initiative on the basis of a decision adopted by the German Bundestag.

This project runs July 2015-September 2019. Read more about the project here.

Project flyer Photo: IIED 2015 Key project publications:

Ecosystem-based adaptation: question-based guidance for assessing effectiveness, Hannah Reid, Nathalie Seddon, Edmund Barrow, Charlotte Hicks, Xiaoting Hou-​Jones, Ali Raza Rizvi, Dilys Roe, Sylvia Wicander (2017), IIED Report (en français | en español)

Ecosystem-based approaches to adaptation: strengthening the evidence and informing policy. Research overview and overarching questions, Nathalie Seddon, Hannah Reid, Edmund Barrow, Charlotte Hicks, Xiaoting Hou-Jones, Val Kapos, Ali Raza Rizvi, Dilys Roe (2016), IIED Report

Ecosystem-based approaches to adaptation: strengthening the evidence and informing policy (2015), IIED, IUCN and UNEP-WCMC Project flyer (en français | en Español)

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