WCC 2016 Rec 107 - Activity Report

IUCN and partners published a Navigator of EbA Tools (https://www.iied.org/tools-for-ecosystem-based-adaptation-new-navigator-now-available), a searchable database of tools, methodologies, and guidance documents to support practitioners and policymakers to include EbA into adaptation planning.

IUCN co-authored A Framework for Assessing the Effectiveness of Ecosystem-Based Approaches to Adaptation (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128118917000165)

In 2019, IUCN, BMU-IKI, and UNEP launched the Global Fund for Ecosystem-based Adaptation, a grants facility managed by IUCN that provides targeted and rapid support mechanisms through seed capital for innovative approaches to EbA. https://www.iucn.org/theme/ecosystem-management/our-work/ecosystem-based-approaches-climate-change-adaptation/global-fund-ecosystem-based-adaptation

IUCN has significantly raised awareness and understanding of EbA among the adaptation and sustainable development communities as well as within multilateral policy frameworks, including as reflected in the drafting, adoption and operationalization of the CBD voluntary guidelines for the design and effective implementation of ecosystem-based approaches to climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction. At CBD SBSTTA in November 2019 there was strong recognition by Parties on the linkages and interdependence between biodiversity loss, climate change, desertification and land degradation, as well as the role of ecosystem-based adaptation as a strategy to address these linkages synergistically. (https://www.cbd.int/doc/publications/cbd-ts-93-en.pdf)

In just a few years, under IUCN’s leadership, FEBA has had important successes in synthesizing multi-stakeholder knowledge on EbA; disseminating this knowledge by convening the global EbA community around high-level events, technical workshops, and expert working groups; and raising awareness and understanding of EbA in multilateral policy frameworks. The network has grown to include more than 80 institutional members comprising government ministries and sub-agencies, UN bodies and conventions, NGOs, research centers, and other institutions. https://www.iucn.org/theme/ecosystem-management/our-work/ecosystem-based-approaches-climate-change-adaptation/friends-eba-feba/feba-members

The Nature-based Solutions for Climate Manifesto by Parties at the UN Secretary General’s Climate Action Summit demonstrated a widescale appreciation for the role of ecosystem-based approaches to tackle climate challenges and enhance ecosystem resilience, and encouraged world leaders to divert their attention and investments to NbS for climate. http://wedocs.unep.org/xmlui/handle/20.500.11822/29705

Through FEBA, both the EbA Qualification Criteria and Quality Standards (https://www.iucn.org/sites/dev/files/feba_eba_qualification_and_quality_criteria_final_en.pdf) and the Guidebook for Monitoring and Evaluating Ecosystem-based Adaptation Interventions (https://www.adaptationcommunity.net/download/ME-Guidebook_EbA.pdf) were published which set the first global standards for EbA as well as how to design effective M&E frameworks.