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Ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) advocates that well-functioning ecosystems are critical for building resilience and supporting society's adaptation to the adverse impacts of climate change. The National Department of Environmental Affairs, Fisheries and Forestry in South Africa has decided to mainstream EbA into its climate response actions, developing a strategy and set of guidelines to steer implementation. However, little work has been done to grasp different actors' perspectives and understandings of EbA, its implementation and how to link EbA to existing related projects and programmes that focus on natural resource management and ecological restoration. This research presents findings from a qualitative study in the Western Cape that sought to investigate what EbA means 'on the ground' and how it can be actioned. The objectives for this research were to 1) unpack how government actors in the Western Cape relate to, understand and give meaning to EbA in their specific and existing work contexts and how they relate EbA to other concepts such as green infrastructure, restoration and various forms of natural resource management (NRM); 2) explore the concerns and challenges encountered and what support is needed to implement EbA within each actor's sector; and 3) interpret what the findings mean for future conceptualization, and promotion of EbA mainstreaming in the Western Cape. Semi-structured interviews with 19 government officials and participant observation at EbA related events in South Africa were the main methods used in the research. Findings suggest that despite some conceptual confusion related to EbA, EbA can be 'grounded based on the three spheres EbA explicitly builds on; namely biodiversity and ecosystem conservation, climate change adaptation and socio-economic benefits. That said, the study also found that practitioners might struggle to successfully address climate change as one of the critical areas of EbA, due to the difficulties of integrating climate change science and projections into projects. In addition, three challenges were identified that relate to funding availability, silo mentality and the mismatch between short-term objectives and decision making in government, and the need for long-term thinking and planning. Increased climate change understanding together with effective demonstration and the use of applicable language that relates to what the different actors are already doing can help improve EbA uptake and mainstreaming, as well as address the challenges related to conceptual confusion, funding, silo mentality and short-term thinking.

Abstract Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) requires social learning and linkages between actors and levels under Adaptive Co-Management (ACM), especially in landscapes with high biodiversity and vulnerability, such as the Tropical Andes. Methodology: A multicriteria methodology was designed and applied to identify, characterize, select and evaluate the ACM and the constraining and enabling conditions for its effectiveness in EbA actions implemented between 2011 and 2015. Results: 1. The integration of conservation, restoration and sustainable production, and linkage among institutions and sectors through local leadership, enable knowledge coproduction, social learning and innovation. 2. Governance and planning based on a landscape approach, and acknowledgment of the diversity of contexts, promote dialogue, cooperation and institutional innovation. 3. Economic alternatives in production, marketing and local markets, as well as complete and adequate technology transfers, stable and planned funding and monitoring, promote sustainability.

Despite the growing interest in Ecosystem-based Adaptation, there has been little discussion of how this approach could be used to help smallholder farmers adapt to climate change, while ensuring the continued provision of ecosystem services on which farming depends. Here we provide a framework for identifying which agricultural practices could be considered 'Ecosystem-based Adaptation' practices, and highlight the opportunities and constraints for using these practices to help smallholder farmers adapt to climate change. We argue that these practices are (a) based on the conservation, restoration or management of biodiversity, ecosystem processes or services, and (b) improve the ability of crops and livestock to maintain crop yields under climate change and/or by buffering biophysical impacts of extreme weather events or increased temperatures. To be appropriate for smallholder farmers, these practices must also help increase their food security, increase or diversify their sources of income generation, take advantage of local or traditional knowledge, be based on local inputs, and have low implementation and labor costs. To illustrate the application of this definition, we provide some examples from smallholders' coffee management practices in Mesoamerica. We also highlight three key obstacles that currently constrain the use of Ecosystem-based Adaptation practices (i) the need for greater understanding of their effectiveness and the factors that drive their adoption, (ii) the development supportive and integrated agriculture and climate change policies that specifically promote them as part of a broader agricultural adaptation program; and (iii) the establishment and maintaining strong and innovative extension programs for smallholder farmers. Our framework is an important starting point for identifying which Ecosystem-based Adaptation practices are appropriate for smallholder farmers and merit attention in international and national adaptation efforts.

Africa is threatened by climate change, yet adaptive capacity of local communities continues to be weakened by ineffective and inefficient livelihood strategies and inappropriate development interventions. Practical and good activities for adaptation in Kenya is urgently and much needed to support adaptation actions, interventions and planning. The adaptation role of forest ecosystems has not been as prominent in the international discourse and actions as their mitigation role. This study therefore focused on the forest ecosystems as one of the natural resources used for adaptation to climate change impacts. The objective of this study was to evaluate Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) to climate change in Kakamega Tropical Rainforest Ecosystem. This study was descriptive and cross-sectional in design and relied on a mixed methods methodology. Anthropogenic Global Warming Theory and Adaptive Management Theory were used to guide the study. A conceptual framework showing the interrelationship between the dependent and independent variables was outlined. The study utilized both secondary and primary data. The target population was 20,000 households living up to 10 km from the forest edge in the selected communities neighbouring Kakamega Tropical Rainforest and 20 government officials within Kakamega County. A total of 184 members of the households and 20 forest officers were sampled as respondents in the study. The study findings revealed that EbA are measures which use ecosystem services to attain or support adaptation to climate change. The EbA initiatives included; policy and behavioral changes, targeted management, conservation activities, restoration of highly degraded dry forest and reducing biodiversity loss. It was concluded that forest ecosystems help to adopt or mitigate climate. The study recommended that there is need to conserve the forest to get rid of extreme temperatures and precipitation since it was a source of many services to the surrounding communities and that the forest ecosystem also helped to ...

Many smallholder farmers use Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) practices (e.g. shade trees in coffee plantations, or live fences) to improve the sustainability of their farming systems and to help crops adapt to climate change, yet little is known about the benefits and drawbacks of EbA practices that smallholder farmers perceive. In order to better understand how and why farmers use EbA practices, we characterized EbA practices commonly found on coffee and basic grains agroforestry systems (shaded coffee, dispersed trees in annual crops, forest fragments, riparian forests, and live fences) in 6 landscapes of Central America, using farmers' structured interviews. Specifically, we documented farmer perceptions of the benefits and drawbacks of individual EbA practices in 300 farms in Costa Rica, Guatemala and Honduras. Our study finds that the prevalence and type of EbA practices present on individual farms were related to farmer socioeconomic conditions, including farmer experience and access to training. Farmers indicated that the main benefits of EbA practices were avoiding erosion, improving soil fertility and organic matter, and regulating temperature, among others. The drawbacks of establishing and maintaining some of these practices, are the cost of maintenance and the intensity of labor required. Our study highlights key factors that influence the adoption and use of EbA by smallholder farmers, and provides insights into how governments, donors and development agencies could more effectively promote the broad-scale use of EbA practices in agricultural landscapes. (Texte intégral)

Ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) is a nature-based solution that has gained importance in the context of international climate policy, such as in the EU Adaptation Strategy (2013), which explicitly encourages its adoption and which should continue in The European Green Deal. This study aims to analyze how the EbA concept has been adopted in strategic adaptation planning at the municipal and intermunicipal levels in Portugal after the publication of the European adaptation strategy in 2013. Thus, a quantitative content analysis was carried out, based on EbA keywords, of municipal strategies and intermunicipal plans in Portugal. The term "ecosystem-based" has not been transposed as an explicit objective at the municipal and intermunicipal levels. All strategies and plans have included indirect references to the underlying elements of the EbA concept. This study highlights that although the EU Adaptation Strategy explicitly encourages EbA, this does not mean that it is adopted as a preferred adaptation approach at the local level in Portugal. The EbA seems to be more widely understood by the research community than by municipal technicians or private companies. It is necessary to explore how the EbA concept can be more widely accepted through the generation of co-benefits and by synergies between topics. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

The concept of ecosystem-based adaptation is advocated at international, national, and regional levels. The concept is thought to foster sustainability transitions and is receiving increasing interest from academic and governmental bodies alike. However, there is little theory regarding the pathways for its systematic implementation. It furthermore remains unclear to what degree the concept is already applied in urban planning practice, how it is integrated into existing planning structures and processes, and what drivers exist for further integration. Against this background, this study examines potential ways to sustainably mainstream ecosystembased adaptation into urban planning. Eight municipalities in Southern Germany were investigated to analyze the processes of mainstreaming ecosystem-based adaptation into current planning practice. Although the mainstreaming entry points for ecosystembased adaptation were identified to be appreciably different, the results of the study show how mainstreaming has generally led to patterns of change in: (1) on-the-ground measures, (2) organizational structures and assets, (3) formal and informal policies and instruments, (4) external cooperation and networking, and (5) the general working language. In all these areas, ecosystem-based adaptation to heat and flood risk is highly compartmentalized. Furthermore, although scholars have drawn attention to the risk of "mainstreaming overload," the results suggest that at the local level, the integration of ecosystem-based adaptation is strongly driven by departments' experience in mainstreaming other cross-cutting issues, namely environmental planning, climate change mitigation, and disaster risk management. Based on the findings, ways to leverage sustainability transitions via mainstreaming are discussed. It is concluded that systematic mainstreaming is a promising avenue for initiating and promoting local transitions and transformative adaptation. The study demonstrates the applicability of the presented mainstreaming framework for assessing and driving the mainstreaming capacity of local governments, thus also addressing the lack of related indicators highlighted in the Fifth Assessment Report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Decisions on how to adapt to climate change depend on decision-makers' knowledge and values. As decision arenas are often composed of stakeholders with conflicting worldviews, decision outcomes depend on power relationships, formal and informal rules and governance arrangements around decision processes. In the Peruvian Andes, several programs for adaptation to climate change aim at improving water supply during droughts, perceived to be increasingly severe and frequent, and implement adaptation options based on ecosystems or on technology and infrastructure such as dams. This study analyzes adaptation options for adaptation and water management in the Apurimac region in Peru. We propose a critical analysis of decision contexts on adaptation and water management and the implications of adaptation options on ecosystem services and equity. We identify different doctrines and preferences for technological or ecosystem-based options and relate them to stakeholder worldviews. We also explore whether some options are favored by decision rules and power relations. We analyzed existing adaptation projects and reviewed the literature related to ecosystem management and infrastructure for water management in the Andes. We conducted 25 semi-structured interviews to explore decision-making process. We applied a Q-methodology questionnaire to 72 stakeholders to identify different views and discourses on adaptation and water management. We identified four contrasting discourses with different priorities given to ecosystems vs infrastructure and different visions on equity and the role of government, communities and the private sector. Adaptation follows different pathways in a gradient between two contrasting stereotyped alternatives. One alternative focuses on ecosystem management to restore and protect the ecosystem services of myriad wetland ecosystems within mountain landscapes, but seems to be rarely considered by decision makers. The other alternative relies on technology and infrastructure through dam building to substitute technological water regulation for hydrological ecosystem services. The preferences of stakeholders for adaptation are related to their broader worldviews and are correlated to their institution types. The work highlights the major implications of adaptation decisions on ecosystem services (e.g., scenic beauty, carbon sequestration or wild plant supply) and equity (e.g., when dams benefit mostly urban and powerful actors). It also highlights the importance of power relationships in adaptation decision-making, as such relationships favor the values and knowledge of some stakeholders and give priority of their preferred adaptation options, for example technological options at the detriment of ecosystem-based options.

AbstractTo guide investments in ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) in developing countries, numerous stated preference valuation studies have been implemented to assess the value of ecosystem services. These studies increasingly use time payments as an alternative to money. There is limited knowledge, however, about how to convert time to money and how the type of payment affects willingness to pay (WTP). In this study, the results of choice experiments using time and money payments are compared in the context of EbA measures in Vietnam. Six, of which five individual-specific, conversion rates are applied. WTP estimates are found to be higher for time payments. Moreover, the type of payment vehicle as well as the conversion rate has substantial effect on mean WTP and WTP distributions. We discuss implications of these results for the conversion of time to money and the use of resulting WTP estimates in cost benefit analyses in developing countries.