Ecosystem-based Adaptation
Over the past 50 years, humans have changed
ecosystems more rapidly and extensively than in any comparable period of
time in human history, largely to meet rapidly growing demands for food,
fresh water, timber, fibre and fuel. This has resulted in a substantial
and largely irreversible loss in the diversity of life on Earth.
- Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
G lobal climate
change is adversely impacting the world’s ecosystems and communities
directly dependent on these natural resources for their sustenance. The
changing climate is directly threatening the services that ecosystems
provide such as food, clean water, coastal protection, fuel-wood, soil
stability and pollination. While global efforts to mitigate the causes
of climate change are currently under way, adaptation is about ‘managing
the unavoidable’ and addressing the impacts that are already being
experienced by people and ecosystems. Ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA)
is a relatively new concept which uses the conservation, restoration and
sustainable management of ecosystems to provide services that enable
communities in adapting to climate change.
Healthy ecosystems such as intact forests and
wetlands are extremely beneficial to local communities for the many
livelihood benefits that they provide such as firewood, clean water,
medicines, shelter and food. They also form physical barriers against
some extreme weather events such as storm surges. As natural buffers,
ecosystems are often less expensive to maintain and more effective than
physical engineering structures such as dykes, levees or concrete walls.
Ecosystem-based adaptation thus provides a cost effective strategy to
protect communities from the adverse impacts of climate change. This is
a means of adaptation that is readily available to the rural poor.
EbA is especially effective at local levels where
there is a high degree of community involvement. It involves collective
action by government agencies, communities, development organisations
and other stakeholders to plan and empower local action that will
increase resilience of ecosystems and people in the face of climate
change. Ecosystem-based adaptation and community-based adaptation are
therefore mutually supportive.
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Case Study:
Ecosystem-based Adaptation through
Watershed
Development
Watershed development is an important component of
Ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) in a country like India where effects
of desertification are being felt as our water reserves are running out.
The Wasundhera approach adopted by Watershed Organization Trust (WOTR)
in 2005 has been implemented in 200 villages all over India. This
approach has helped develop partnerships between NGOs and villagers
based on regeneration of the resource base, equitable distribution of
benefits and gender equality incorporating the economic, environmental
and social tenets of EbA.
Each village programme is
context specific and caters to that reg ion’s
natural and human resources. The watershed development activities are
supplemented by incorporating local women and people from the lower
socio-economic classes in the Village Watershed Committees and Village
Development Committees. For example, in Pangam village in Dhule district
in Maharastra, five stakeholder groups namely big farmers, marginal
farmers, landless, women and youth were identified to determine
actionable priorities. After deliberation with the stakeholders, it was
found that the common thread linking most problems was the lack of
water. The field of concerns in the village was narrowed down to three
main issues: unemployment and lack of future work opportunities,
shortage of drinking and irrigation water and poor communication
facilities in terms of transportation and access to markets. The
watershed management programme for Pangam village was developed keeping
these concerns of the stakeholders in mind.
Making linkages between natural
resource management and economic prosperity is an important feature of
EbA. In some of the villages in Madhya Pradesh where the Wasundhera
approach has been operational, marked improvements have been observed in
just two years. The number of medium and better off families have gone
up from 12% to 23% and the number of poor families have dropped from 22%
to 11%. Out of four ranks in the socio-economic status, the average
family progressed from the 3rd to the 2nd rank. Greater involvement of
villagers through Village Development Committees helped them in
organising Gram Sabhas and Gram Panchayats. Once they knew their rights,
the villagers were able to organise government-funded improvement works
within their villages such as repairs to roads, household toilet
construction etc.
Source:
Jewler, S. Wasundhera Approach, WOTR |
Benefits of Ecosystem-based AdaptationEbA can
generate significant social & economic benefits, contribute to the
conservation of biodiversity and build on the traditional knowledge of
indigenous people and local communities. In addition, well managed
ecosystems have climate change mitigation potential through the
sequestration and storage of carbon in healthy forests, wetlands and
coastal ecosystems. Thus, EbA approaches provide extensive interlinked
benefits.
An important feature of Ecosystem based adaptation as
compared to other approaches is the pursuit of not only environmental
and adaptation benefits, but also of social benefits for the local
communities including vulnerable groups such as women, youth and
indigenous people. For example by promoting increase in income,
diversification of jobs, educational opportunities and gender equality.
Properly implemented EbA projects have the potential to deliver benefits
for local communities including water and food security, shelter, risk
reduction, medicine supply and local climate regulation.
It is very important to take the social dimension
into account when developing and implementing ecosystem based approaches
to climate change adaptation. Designing supporting government policies
and policy instruments is also very essential. Another critical factor
is to undertake the valuation of biodiversity and ecosystem services. We
rely on the ecosystem’s regulatory services (climate, flood control,
waste treatment) and provisioning services (freshwater, food and fibre).
Historically no price has been paid for these services but they do come
at a cost and need to be accounted for.
The concept of Ecosystem-based adaptation can be
applied at different geographical scales (local, regional, national) and
within various time frames (short to long term). It is most effective
when implemented as part of a broad portfolio of adaptation and
development interventions.
EbA is a cost-effective, robust and flexible strategy
that can cope with the magnitude and uncertainty of climate change. It
is prominent in both national and international funding mechanisms as it
provides a viable strategy for pursuing development goals simultaneously
with climate change adaptation and mitigation. Synergies between climate
change adaptation and other economic and social goals have the potential
to be achieved through the EbA approach.
However, additional actions and supportive local
conditions are required to successfully pursue Ecosystem- based
adaptation at a broad scale. Necessary factors include adequate and
locally accessible financing, exploration of public-private partnerships
and payment for ecosystem services, cross-sector integration of
investments in EbA as well as an alignment between goals at the national
and local levels. There is also a need for effective collaboration
between policy makers, local communities and capacity building
organisations as well as the existence of supportive political will.
q
Sachi Singh
ssingh1@devalt.org
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