1. Draft Principles and Guidelines for Integrating Ecosystem-based approaches to Adaptation in Project and Policy Design
Angela Andrade , Rocío Córdoba, Radhika Dave, Pascal Girot, Bernal Herrera-F., Robert Munroe, Judy Oglethorpe, Emilia Pramova, James Watson, and Walter Vergara.
A group or organizations led by CEM-IUCN and ELAN, interested in developing the concept of EbA and making it available and useful for policy making and planning are proposing for further discussion a set of principles and guidelines for policy and project development, to be used by decision makers, planners, practitioners, financial institutions, and others.
The principles proposed can be a foundation for considering approaches for EbA in overall policy making and planning process to adaptation. Priorities will differ in different countries and situations.

2. Introduction Ecosystem-based approaches to adaptation (EbA):
'the use of biodiversity and ecosystem services to help people adapt to the adverse effects of climate change'
‘… may include sustainable management, conservation and restoration of ecosystems, as part of an overall adaptation strategy that takes into account the multiple social, economic and cultural co-benefits for local communities'.
Since 2009 many members of IUCN and CEM have been promoting the use of EbA as one option for CCA.
The concept was defined by the CBD AHTEG on Biodiversity and Climate Change in 2009 as “the use of biodiversity and ecosystem services to help people adapt to the adverse effects of climate change”. This definition was elaborated by the CBD-COP 10 decision on Climate Change and Biodiversity in Nagoya, and interest among parties at the UNFCCC has grown. At SBSTA 35, under the NWP, SBSTA requested the UNFCCC to compile information on EbA for COP 17.
Losses in Ecosystem Services due to climate change and other pressures directly affect human wellbeing and further increase the vulnerability of societies.

3. Principles for EbA
Promotes the resilience of societies and ecosystems:
Understands what makes resilient ecosystems and the services they supply.
Works with communities and vulnerable peoples to create local ownership and resilient local institutions.
Ensures that local stewardship enhances livelihoods and ecosystem management.
Tonle Sap Lake in Cambodia- CI : Ecological and community risk assessments in 6 areas are being developed.
- Empowerment of communities to develop joint activities and management practices to enhance food security and livelihood resilience.
Building Institutional capacity, access to information and development methods to use flooded forest habitats.
Ecological indicators established to understand long term impacts.
Local people are being informed by mapping important zones vulnerable to changes in the extent and duration of Lakes’ annual flood pulse.
Principle 1.
Ecological and community risk assessments are being conducted in the Tonle Sap Lake in Cambodia, by CI. It is a critical ecosystem for people and wildlife. Livelihoods and food security of millions of people depend on this biologically rich lake, its seasonally flooded forests and its rivers. This is one of the most productive inland fisheries in the world and provide fertile land for rice production. This area is under threat from various anthropogenic pressures including climate change. More than 95% of the lake´s flooded forest cover has been lost during last 3 decades. Climata change induced alterations to the duration and intensity of the annual surge of floodwaters from the Mekong river into the lake are additional emerging considerations to be included in management practices and plans.

4. Principles for EbA Promotes multi-sectoral approaches, and ensure:
Collaboration between sectors managing ecosystems and those benefiting from Ecosystem Services.
Cooperation across multiple levels and sectors to avoid conflicts.
Multi-stakeholder processes when developing adaptation policy.
Principle 2:
Ecosystems underpin the functions of diverse sectors and segments of society with multiple stakeholders depending on the services they provide in different landscapes. All prople depend on well functioning ecosystems.

5. Principles for EbA 3. Operates at multiple geographical scales:
Landscape approaches and impact assessments to identify cumulative and indirect drivers of vulnerability.
Lessons from integrated approaches for natural resource and ecosystem management.
Develop strong and multi-scale linkages, as ecosystems do not necessarily relate to political or administrative units, or to the scale in which the private sector operates.
African Wetlands- Hadejia – Nguru, Nigeria- Birdlife
Multi-scale considerations to capture upstream-downstream effects of seasonal pools which support essential ES. Climate change has compounded wetland shrinkage caused by upstream dams built to provide a more consistent supply of water for irrigated agriculture in response to droughts that were affecting communities both upstream and downstream. Adaptation actions restored a more ‘natural’ flood pattern and increased household incomes. Multi-stakeholder action groups, to counter the mal-adaptation impacts of the dams by restoring wetland ecosystems through clearing of Typha fields.
Local strategies to secure ecosystem services for adaptation are of great value. The functional scale of ecosystems and their drivers span across broader spatial scales. This is important to avoid Mal Adaptation : Action taken to avoid or reduce vulnerability to climate change that impacts adversely or increases the vulnerability of other systems.
Hadejia-Nguru wetlands lie on the southern edge of the Sahel Savannah in Nigeria and are comprised of permanent lakes and seasonal pools, all connected by channels. These seasonal pools support many ecosystem services outisde the area, such as irrigation, livestock grazing, fishing,. Climate change has compounded wetland shrinkage caused by upstream dams built to provide a more consistent supply of water for irrigated agriculture in response to droughts that were affecting communities both upstream and downstream. These developments did not consider downstream effects, nor provision for current needs without jeopardizing mid- to long-term benefits. As water levels have dropped and the velocity of water flow in the rivers has decreased, Typha, a native wetland plant species, has thrived and blocked waterways (with invasion increasing from 550 ha to over 200 km2 in the last 5 years). Local communities reported that this phenomenon has prevented a natural flooding regime to occur, so that water was not able to reach the floodplain and pools, whilst at the same time causing flooding of productive farmland areas upstream of the blocked channels.

6. Principles for EbA
4. Integrates flexible management structures that enable adaptive management:
Decentralized management to the lowest appropriate level to foster greater efficiency, effectiveness, equity and ownership, as advocated by the Ecosystem Approach.
Addressing the lack of resources at these levels of management to ensure that ecosystem processes and services are not adversely affected.
Enabling local institutions to be key actors in adapting planning.
Sustainable, long-term monitoring systems to enable multi-stakeholder learning and adoption of new management decisions. ”.
EbA has to operate under conditions of imperfect knowledge and uncertainties, as it is difficult to predict from current ecological knowledge on how ecosystems will adapt. Flexibility is essential to address short term challenges whilst promoting long term socio-ecological resilience.
Kubulau District, Fiji, to develop a flexible and responsive governance model for a ridge-to-reef protected area network. The initial locations of the community-managed protected areas were informed by baseline surveys of resource condition and resource use patterns, and determined through a participatory, consultative process. The resulting network of 17 village-managed fisheries closures (known as tabu areas), three district-wide no-take marine protected areas, one island nature reserve and one proposed forest park is managed under Fiji’s first ridge-to-reef management plan. The Kubulau Ecosystem-based Management (EBM) plan, endorsed by the high council of chiefs in 2009 and overseen by the Kubulau Resource Management Committee (KRMC), contains management rules to regulate human activities and resource use within the protected areas network and adjacent lands and waters of the district.
Kubulau District, Fiji. A flexible and responsive governance model for a ridge-to-reef protected area network is being developed. In order to improve socio-ecological resilience, WCS is working with village chiefs and local committees to adapt the protected area network, as well as make the EBM plan more “climate-ready. To strengthen social resilience new communications tools are being developed, to deliver conservation and management messages.

7. Principles for EbA
5. Minimizes tradeoffs and maximizes benefits with development and conservation goals to avoid unintended negative social and environmental impacts.
Participatory planning, recognizing the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable.
Multiple benefits of EbA channeled to the stakeholders and local communities.
EbA can result in multiple benefits including increased livelihood assets, biodiversity conservation and increased water and food security. This might involve the management of ecosystems for the provision of certain services at the expense of others.
Trade offs can occur between short and long term benefits.

8. Principles for EbA
6. EbA is based on the best available science and local knowledge and should foster knowledge generation and diffusion.
Facilitate networks to ensure that information is updated and provided in usable forms.
Best available scientific knowledge and climate modeling used in conjunction with local knowledge.
Sharing and incorporating indigenous and local knowledge.
Climate change scenarios have been developed by IDEAM (INAP) in Colombia, based on updated climate variability and climate change information. These scenarios have been used for the development of national policies and mainstreamed in sectors such as agriculture, health and energy. Monitoring stations that measure more than 15 oceanographic parameters in the Caribbean sea were installed, as well as 7 coral reefs stations and water and carbon monitoring stations in high mountain ecosystems and models of glacier dynamics have been installed in order to better know ecological process and the ecosystems services they provide. These information is permanently disseminated to all stakeholders through the web page of IDEAM, INVEMAR and other institutions and it is being appropriately translated to local people.
Principle 6:
The challenge for effective responses to uncertainty lies in understanding how to improve management and adequately adjust to changes.
Essential to include stakeholders and balance scientific knowledge and frameworks coming from multiple sources.
In Colombia, the Integrated National Pilot to climate change implemented by the Colombian Government, through IDEAM and other institutions, together with CI Colombia, developed climate change scenarios based on updated climate variability and climate change information. These climate change scenarios have been used for the development of national policies and sectors such as agriculture, health and energy. 2 monitoring stations that measure more than 15 oceanographic parameters in the Caribbean sea to improve the knowledge of marine ecological dynamics were installed, as well as 7 coral reefs stations and water and carbon monitoring stations in high mountain ecosystems and models of glacier dynamics have been installed in order to better know ecological process and the ecosystems services they provide. These information is permanently disseminated to all stakeholders through the web page of IDEAM, INVEMAR and other institutions and it is being appropriately translated to local people.

9. Principles for EbA
7. EbA is participatory, transparent, accountable, culturally appropriate and actively embracing equity and gender issues.
Recognize the underlying causes of vulnerability: power imbalances and entitlements to resources.
Focus on equality and the special needs of marginalized social groups and full participation of stakeholders.
Vulnerability assessment and adaptation must be gender sensitive.
Empower local people as directors of their own future.
EbA is context and place specific, requiring knowledge, mobilization and action tailored to particular conditions. Briad stakeholder inclusion is essential. Vulnerability is socially differentiated, so perceptions are different.
This area(Lake Fagubine) has been almost completely dry since the droughts of 1970 and has been transformeds from a water based to a forest ecosystem. The distribution of vulnerabilities within livelihoods and groups shifted when the ecosystem evolved from a lake to a forest. Several programs have sought to bring the water back and restore related economic activities. It is not clear if refilling the lake is viable under CC conditions. Local communities focus more on adaptation strategies, social and ecological interactions, and local dynamics such as lake-forest transition, migration and conflicts, land tenure reform, National and subnational levels focus more on technical adaptation, such as refilling the lake and sedentarization of herders.
Northern landscapes of Mali. Local people depend on natural resources: pasture, fodder and water. Surveys developed by CIFOR showed different views of climate change impacts and vulnerability: Vulnerability assessments capture different perceptions, otherwise they may lead to mal-adaptation or inefficient adaptation efforts. Power relationships, interests, norms and values may influence the judgment about who is more or less vulnerable.

10. Guidelines for designing EbA projects
Prepare project structure
Define core multidisciplinary teams.
Identify ecosystem boundaries.
Scope potential climatic and non climatic threats that contribute to vulnerability.
Gather relevant data and expertise
Synthesize available information knowledge from different disciplines and sectors on important socio-ecological system components.
Obtain/ develop climatic projections, on ecologically and socially variables, and spatial and temporal scales.
Obtain science based information and traditional/ local knowledge on past and current climate variability, and impacts.
Identify key ecosystem services and stakeholders.
Map, model and evaluate the multiple flows of ecosystem services to diverse users.
Understand key social processes between system components and institutions.
Evaluate data on ecosystem services and climate change impacts to identify gaps for research and elements to monitor.

11. Guidelines for designing EbA projects
Conduct integrated vulnerability assessments and impact projections with flexible criteria that address the linkages between human and environmental systems:
Determine the exposure, sensitivity, adaptive capacities of vulnerable groups and ecosystems.
Analyze past and current coping strategies to assess their sustainability under climate change and for their effect on critical ecosystem services and other process.
Assess overall vulnerability of ecosystems and communities.
Identify feedback linkages and loops between ecosystems and people.
Analyze existing policy and institutional frameworks in the context of adaptation, and identify strengths, constraints and opportunities.
Conduct participatory scenario exercise to consider how vulnerable groups, communities and ecosystems under different, management and climatic projections.
Document levels of confidence or uncertainty in assessments.
Projects should be located within robust national and subnational frameworks so as to enhance the long term chances of success.
- Understand national and subnational frameworks and share results.
- Ensure that planned activities are recognized in relevant strategies.

12. Guidelines for designing EbA projects
Proceed with integrated planning
Consider the maintenance of ecosystem services and biodiversity in plans based on people´s needs for livelihood improvement.
Share assessment results with stakeholders and decision makers.
Agree on the spatial and temporal scales for plans.
Identify adaptation measures.
Ensure that short term adaptation measures do not compromise long term options, which should focus on building resilience.
Ensure that adaptation strategies and plans are coherent with other sector policies.
Make EbA resilience focused, or based on transformative change.

13. Guidelines for designing EbA projects
Ensure the sustainability of monitoring and adaptive management:
Ensure sufficient resources for monitoring and support adaptive ‘learning-by-doing’;
Design monitoring systems to cover an adequate time period and operate at the most appropriate scale to assess project effectiveness and any changes in vulnerability;
Involve local communities in monitoring.
Choose indicators that reflect resilience of all the components of the human-environment system and their inter-linkages.
Regularly evaluate and adapt the effectiveness of adaptation actions by using monitoring results, and use a participatory process.
Design knowledge dissemination and learning mechanisms for effective learning.

14. Next Steps Expand target audience to different sectors.
Adjust principles/guidelines accordingly.
Principles to be considered in medium-long term adaptation planning process.
Updated version to be presented in WCC in Jeju. EbA Journey
Assemble team/participants interested in developing principles and guidelines (use SBSTA report Ecosystem-based approaches to adaptation: Compilation of information to identify actors to engage and try to address knowledge gaps identified in report in guidelines)
- Reach out to development organisations to take advantage of their relative greater experience of adaptation guideline/guidance development (lucky to have CARE involved with their technical team that has already developed CBA Guidance, CCVA; and asked individuals from Tearfund and Practical Action to review the current principles and guidelines/guidance) and to assist those working on ecosystem-based approaches to adaptation/integrated approach to adaptation
Tailor these to different sectors (agriculture, fisheries, forestry, water, transport, health) terminology/situations (move beyond use for those practicing practical adaptation projects, national adaptation planning and financial institutions), given need for integrated and cross-sectoral approach to adaptation planning
Principles related to ecosystems and their role in adaptation should be included in medium- and long-term planning processes, specifically analysis of ecological impacts should be included and a prioritisation of no/low regret implementation approaches that do not erode the resilience of natural systems and support human needs into the future. The principles outlined by Angela could be advanced to meet/assist the NAP guidelines process. Integration into NAPs/NAPAs will facilitate broader ‘learning by doing’ on ecosystem-based approaches to adaptation.