On (a): IUCN collaborates, amongst other with the Global Green Grey Community of Practice, which holds monthly webinars and develops various knowledge products, including on coastal resilience. For example:
- In December 2020 the Community released Practical Guide to Implementing Green-Gray Infrastructure (co-authored by IUCN). Established in 2020 and led by Conservation International, this CoP is a collaboration of organisations across the conservation, engineering, finance, and construction sectors to generate learning and innovation to achieve climate adaptation benefits for communities, their future generations, and biodiversity. More information: Global Green-Gray Community of Practice https://friendsofeba.com/wgs/green-gray/
- June 2022: As part of this CoP collaboration, the joint UNFCCC-IUCN policy brief Innovative Approaches for Strengthening Coastal and Ocean Adaptation: Integrating Technology and Nature-based Solutions was launched at the UNFCCC SBSTA Ocean and Climate Dialogue in Bonn, June 2022. Produced in collaboration between IUCN, the Friends of EbA network, the UNFCCC Technology Executive Committee and the UNFCCC Nairobi Work Programme Expert Group on Oceans, this policy brief provides an overview of the value of innovative adaptation approaches that integrate technology and nature-based solutions in oceans and coastal ecosystems and communities as well as the challenges and opportunities to increase their uptake and scaling. The policy brief is available to download here; and 2021 UNFCCC event series details available on the UNFCCC TEC website here: https://unfccc.int/ttclear/events/2020/2020_event07.
- Recent guidance from the Community of Practice is focused on engineering & construction guidelines for integrated seawall-mangrove ecosystem green-grey solutions (available at https://cicloud.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/default-source/s3-library/publication-pdfs/guyana-green-gray-infrastructure-engineering-guidelines-inclexecsumm-final-updatedfront.pdf?sfvrsn=fa704d98_2).
- In 2022, the Community of Practice published the Green-Gray Infrastructure Funding and Finance Playbook, which includes input from IUCN and builds on the earlier Practical Guide to Implementing Green-Gray Infrastructure (released in 2020 to provide the tools for project proponents and engineers to identify, fund, plan, design, construct and monitor green-grey infrastructure projects to increase the resilience of vulnerable cities, communities, and assets around the world). The new Funding and Finance Playbook guides public and private sector project proponents and investors on the infrastructure funding and financing models that can be used for green-grey infrastructure projects. It clarifies how to tailor funding and finance models for specific project contexts and enabling environments. It then sets out strategies to engage more mainstream infrastructure proponents and investors to consider green-grey infrastructure projects. The Playbook is a resource for local and national governments, environmental practitioners in non-government organisations, project developers (contractors, engineers, designers, and planners in the public and private sectors), and financial institutions looking to better understand how to accelerate green-grey infrastructure development and investment growth.
On (b): IUCN provides key knowledge products on integrating environmental risk screening on the one hand, and NbS inclusion, on the other hand, linked to finance options (Blue Infrastructure Finance).
Efforts are ongoing through projects//mechanisms such as the IUCN-led Global Ecosystem-based Adaptation Fund (GEBAF), the Blue Natural Capital Financing Facility (BNCFF), the Blue Carbon Accelerator Fund (BCAF) and the IUCN’s Technical Advisory to the global Subnational Climate Fund (SCF), where relevant IUCN screening tools and standards (incl. are being used (incl. NbS).
For example, a recent project selected by BNCFF in 2023 supports the Blue Indigo Foundation, a local NGO in Colombia that works with local communities and institutions to provide long-term coastal protection by increasing the coral reef extent, size and roughness. This hybrid reef approach will protect coastal infrastructure, notably a public road and commercial and residential properties, including local Raizal ancestral households, from extreme weather events by creating a natural buffer for waves and marine surges. Read more about this project here: Restoring coral reef barriers using hybrid green-grey reefs - Blue Natural Capital.
On (c): For the request on the Global Coastal Forum:
o Various resolutions/decisions of the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS, 2017), Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (2018), Convention on Biological Diversity (2018) and this resolution of IUCN (2020) have called for a multi-stakeholder global coastal forum that brings together key actors to facilitate the protection, conservation, effective management, wise use and restoration of coastal ecosystems and ecologically associated habitats.
o To help answer this call, a range of informal consultations and meetings organised by multiple international NGOs supported by government agencies, conventions and experts has taken place since 2017 to provide science- and evidence-based processes to support and mainstream local, national and international conservation imperatives. An International Advisory Meeting on the World Coastal Forum held in January 2022 in Yancheng City, Jiangsu Province, China, hosted by the People’s Republic of China’s Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) and Jiangsu Provincial People’s Government, where 19 organisations approved the initiative to organise the WCF, forming the WCF Establishment Group coordinated by BirdLife International and Eco Foundation Global (with support from IUCN).
o The Consensus Document was developed – with input/support from IUCN – which the founding Partners of the WCF signed during the WCF launch at a Ramsar COP 14 side event on 8 November 2022, Geneva, Switzerland. The World Coastal Forum was formally launched at the Ramsar COP14 in November 2022 as per the announcement of President Xi Jinping, followed by the Yancheng Government's announcement that they would host the first conference in 2023. Since then, the work programme has been developed with input from the IUCN Secretariat and includes the development of the first State of the World’s Coastal Ecosystems Report by 2026 and the associated World Coastal Ecosystems Conservation Toolkit by 2027.
o The first international World Coastal Forum conference will be held on 25-27 September 2023 in Yancheng in the Jiangsu Province of the People’s Republic of China. The Conference will be hosted by the Chinese Ministry of Natural Resources, the National Forest and Grassland Administration and the Jiangsu Provincial People’s Government and supported by Eco Foundation Global and the World Coastal Forum Coordination Group (including IUCN Secretariat among other representatives from government agencies, international conventions, non-government organisations and advisors). The Conference will focus on four main themes: (1) Addressing challenges in coastal wetland conservation and protection, (2) Promoting coastal conservation knowledge and best practices, (3) Ensuring sustainable development in coastal regions, (4) Raising awareness and engaging coastal communities, decision-makers, business leaders and other key stakeholders in coastal ecosystem conservation.
o A State of the World’s Coastal Ecosystems report will synthesise information about coastal ecosystems and associated habitats, species and ecosystem services. It will be produced approximately every ten years to inform decisions and actions related to coastal ecosystem conservation. The report will highlight the overall conservation status, key threats, knowledge gaps, and opportunities presented by conservation and restoration efforts that make a positive difference. The review will use best-practice methods and an evidence-based approach, including a literature review, analysis of existing datasets, and consultation with key stakeholders and practitioners. IUCN Secretariat will join forces with the National Marine Data and Information Service, James Cook University and BirdLife International to develop the first State of the World’s Coastal Ecosystems report by 2026. The format will be an independent high-impact overview of the state of the world’s coastal ecosystems and associated coastal-dependent species and ecosystem services in a concise, focused, accessible report, which will also highlight the urgency for joint action for the coastal ecosystem management and restoration by multi-stakeholders and international cooperation.
o The World Coastal Ecosystems Conservation Toolkit will be provided and maintained/updated by a global network of partners, the World Coastal Ecosystems Conservation Guidance Network, to underpin a transformative improvement in the conservation status of coastal ecosystems. It will be an online toolkit of guidance and decision support tools on the best available evidence-based practice.
IUCN Secretariat is aware of extensive work being carried out by Members and Commissions that are crucial for the implementation of this resolution and encourage to share their activity report for inclusion in the next reporting cycle.
On (c)
From Coalition Clean Baltic (CCB) under policy influencing/advocacy: In 2021 CCB continued advocacy actions at the policy level and continued monitoring different projects development; within this work CCB communicated mostly with local Member Organizations and addressed intergovernmental organizations such as HELCOM (Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission, an intergovernmental organization governing the Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area, also known as the Helsinki Convention) and national authorities in the countries concerned. This work has comprised of the following major activities: We have expressed concerns at HELCOM HOD 60-2021 on D33 Offshore Oil Drilling, Lynetteholm Artificial Island and Deepwater Container Terminal in Swinoujscie; CCB appealed to the Danish Parliament with a copy to the European Commission, calling to postpone the decision on Lynetteholm project until proper EIA is performed and consultations done; CCB also co-signed an open letter to the International Commission for the Protection of the Odra River against Pollution (ICPO), and the Water Directors of Czech Republic, Germany and Poland regarding lignite mine Złoczew in Poland.
