At the recently concluded Adaptation Futures Conference 2016 held in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, leading climate change adaption specialists, technical experts and practitioners deliberated on the challenges, oppornunities and lessons to learn in implementing EbA.
One of the sessions on EbA – entitled “Assessing ecosystem-based adaptation” and jointly organized by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), in partnership with UNEP-WCMC and Conservation International – focussed on the relevance and general applicability of the ecosystem-based approach in broader adaptation processes in various contexts. Delegates discussed how scientific uncertainty, data constraints and technical complexity can be managed to successfully bridge the science-practice gap and help optimise project design. The importance of conducting climate change risk assessments was highlighted.
In his presentation, Dr. Anthony Mills, CEO of C4 EcoSolutions (South Africa) and Chief Technical Advisor of EbA South, highlighted the role of long-term research in EbA planning and implementation. The long term research programmes developed in Mauritania, Nepal and Seychelles the frame of the EbA South initiative were presented. Those examples give evidence of the complexities involved in EbA.
Dr. Mills explained that in order to manage these complexities there is a need for:
- Involving a diversity of disciplines;
- Building on fortuitous experiments;
- Intelligent tinkering.
Long-term research can provide credibility and further help in securing adequate financial resources and encouraging public-private partnerships, he added. It can play a pivotal role in large scale EbA investments.
