GOAL:

1. Using ecosystems and traditional knowledge to help people adapt to climate change: Building the evidence base

2. Workshop Goal and Objectives • GOAL: • To evaluate the evidence base for EbA, including the role of traditional knowledge, through exploring practical applications in the field. • OBJECTIVES: • Outline the potential role of EbA and traditional knowledge in climate change adaptation. • Review the current evidence base for the effectiveness of EbA. • Share lessons learned from the field in building the evidence base. • Identify key gaps in the evidence base.

3. Workshop agenda and format • Three sessions: • Setting the scene(3 presentations) • Implementing EbA in the field – building the evidence base(4 presentations) • Evaluating progress, identifying gapsBreakout groups:Science Policy Traditional Knowledge Institutions & FundingExpert panel

4. Brief overview of Ecosystem-Based Approaches to Climate Change AdaptationDave Hole, Conservation International

5. Still setting climatic records!

6. Extreme weather in 2012 Hurricane Debby, Florida Midwest drought 3rd year of drought in China Bangladesh floods

7. There are many ways of ‘doing’ adaptation Hardoptions Soft options ‘Good’ adaptation is a process that selects the most effective actions from a range of options for a given adaptation context

8. Complex socio-ecological systems • 1.4 billion people live in extreme poverty • 70% live in rural areas – their lives and livelihoods dependent on natural resources

9. “The use of biodiversity and ecosystem services in an overall adaptation strategy. It includes the sustainable management, conservation and restoration of ecosystems to provide services that help people adapt to the adverse effects of climate change” (CBD AHTEG, 2009) • What are ecosystem-based approaches to adaptation (EbA)?

10. Clarity around EbA goals People Biodiversity Impacts where we work? • Goal: Reduce VU of people • Customers: People • Co-benefit:Reduce VU of species/ecosystems • Goal: Reduce VU of biodiversity • Customers: Species/ecosystems • Co-benefit:Reduce VU of people

11. 1) Quantifying the adaptation service • Significant reduction in loss of life in Orissa during 1999 cyclone (Das & Vincent, 2009, PNAS) • Wave reduction in the range of 50 – 70% per 100m (Quartel et al, 2007, J Asian Earth Sci; Mazda et al, 2006, Wetlands Ecology & Management) • Careful in extrapolating to all situations! (Feagin et al, 2010, Cons Lett) • Need framework(s) that inform conditions under which adaptation service is provided

12. 2) Sustainability of the adaptation service • Will the ecosystem still be there, in the same form, in 20-50 years? • E.g. Potential loss of FW services to downstream beneficiaries from cloud forests in many regions • Need better understanding of CC impacts on ecosystem stability and function

13. 3) Cost-effectiveness • Studies are often of variable quality • Methodological inconsistencies e.g. use variable discount rates • Often fail to account for all costs and benefits • Limited to a subset of EbA contexts • Need tools that allow comparison of engineered and ecosystem options

14. Take home messages • Thinking still required on interpretation of EbA • Critical need to build the evidence base • Robust M&E will be key • Way forward? – ‘learn-by-doing’!