Knowledge sharing, capacity building, integrating science and local knowledge and raising awareness about climate change impacts and the benefits and potential of sound ecosystem management is crucial for successful Ecosystem-based Adaptation.
Science, knowledge, tools and methods- what can be done?
Our understanding about the role of ecosystems in people-centred adaptation is still incomplete, scattered, and often difficult to access by practitioners and policy makers.
Given sufficient information and shared experiences, people can often develop strategies that help them adapt to climate change. In many parts of the world, people are already adapting to the changes in climate they are experiencing. However, this can still lead to an adaptation deficit in the future if such adaptation strategies are just keeping up with the observed changes. Another risk is that adaptation strategies may result in short-term benefits but longer term adverse effects. Such mal-adaptation is likely if the resilience of ecosystems or the consequences of human interventions on all people sharing the same ecosystem are not taken into account.
Knowledge products
An important aspect of all Union wide projects are the knowledge products generated. Providing complete and solid evidence on the benefits and effectiveness of EbA will facilitate adoption and promotion of EbA by decision-makers across all scales of governance.
