Climate Sense

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Ecosystem-based adaptation: managing

ecosystems to help people adapt to climate change

Julia Marton-Lefèvre, Director General, International Union for Conservation of Nature

cosystem-based adaptation identifies and implements a

range of strategies for the management, conservation and

restoration of ecosystems to ensure that they continue to

provide the services

that enable people to adapt to the impacts

of climate change.

There is growing recognition of the role that

well-managed ecosystems can play in supporting adaptation,

especially regarding increasing the resilience and decreasing

the vulnerability of people and their livelihoods to the impacts

of climate change. Well-managed ecosystems have a greater

potential to adapt to climate change, resist and recover more

easily from extreme weather events, and therefore continue to

provide a wide range of benefits on which people depend in

the face of climate change. In contrast, poorly managed, frag-

mented and degraded ecosystems can increase the vulnerability

of people to the impacts of climate change. Reducing the buffer-

ing that ecosystems can provide may lead to harsher effects from

extreme climate-related events.

Ecosystem-based adaptation is appropriately implemented as part of a

suite of adaptation responses including early warning, education, train-

ing, raising awareness, and structural and engineering measures (where

appropriate). Ecosystem-based adaptation shares many of the broader

attributes associated with good practice adaptation, such as providing a

balanced approach to climate and non-climate risks, helping avoidmala-

daptation, and supporting short- and longer-term needs. As with other

adaptation options, it is also important tomonitor and review ecosystem-

based measures, and implement adaptive management approaches.

Effective implementation of ecosystem-based adaptation requires the

availability and use of climate data, information and predictions at an

appropriate scale to the ecosystem being managed – for example at the

scale of the watershed for improved water and river basin management.

It also requires that such climate data be accessible for use by ecosystem

managers and planners, including those with limited understanding of

climate systems and processes.

Experiences on the ground

The following provides some examples of how ecosystem-based

adaptation can be applied in practice:

Sustainable water management

Many climate change impacts will be felt through water, which is to

say, through occurrences such as drought, floods, storms, ice melting

and sea-level rise. Water management is therefore a central issue in

effective adaptation policies, planning and action. River basins, aqui-

fers, coasts and their associated ecosystems are natural infrastructure

for coping with climate change. They provide water storage, flood

regulation and coastal defences vital for reducing the

vulnerabilities of communities and economies to climate

change. Ecosystem-based adaptation that builds andmain-

tains natural infrastructure and other ecosystem services in

river basins strengthens water, food and energy security in

the face of climate change.

Disaster risk reduction

Well-managed ecosystems act as natural barriers and

can reduce the occurrence and impact of, as well as aid

recovery from, extreme weather-related events such as

flooding, drought, extreme temperatures, fires, landslides,

hurricanes and cyclones. Restoration of coastal habitats –

such as mangroves and watershed vegetation – to provide

natural infrastructure can be a particularly cost-effective

measure against storm surges when compared with alter-

native coastal flood defence options.

Sustainable agricultural production

Ecosystem-based adaptation has many synergies

with sustainable approaches to agriculture, includ-

ing supporting agricultural resilience, landscape-scale

management, protection of water resources and the

incorporation of local knowledge into agroecological

production systems. Many indigenous farming practices

are already based on in-depth knowledge of adaptive

techniques, using specific crop and livestock varieties

to suit changing local ecosystem conditions. This will

help them adapt to the impacts of climate change and

climate variability.

Conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity

Ecosystem-based adaptation includes practices, such as

ensuring ecosystems remain intact and interconnected, to

allow for adjustment to changing environmental condi-

tions. These practices can include approaches to maintain

and restore fragmented or degraded ecosystems, or direct

support for processes such as pollination and nutrient

cycling. This yields sustainable benefits for the conserva-

tion of biodiversity.

Case study: Pangani river basin, Tanzania

In the Pangani river basin (Tanzania), over-allocation

is making water scarcity worse. The 3.4 million people

of the basin are further particularly vulnerable to

projected drying of the climate. With identification of

daptation

and

itigation

trategies