Ecosystems and communities existence is symbiotic to CBA9

By Milcah Rajula and Bob Aston

As the third day of the 9th International Conference on Community-Based Adaptation (CBA9) is happening at the Safari Park Hotel in Nairobi, many participants’ core business and sessions of the day is focusing on “Evaluating Ecosystem- based adaptation Effectiveness”.

The sessions are each focusing on how ecosystems provide communities with a wide range of goods: water supply, food, timber, flood regulation, waste treatment amongst others. However, this is going to be short lived as the climatic invariability is eroding livelihoods despite the numerous efforts countries are making to adapt to the impacts of climatic change.

Case in point is that most adaptation efforts have focused on large infrastructure: large dams and sea walls, with little consideration of the role of ecosystems. Additionally, policies enacted at the national and local level lags behind as it mostly attributions to awareness of Ecosystem- based Adaptation (EBA) contributions to livelihoods is limited.

The Government of Kenya is collaborating with International Institute of Environment and Development (IIED) and African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS) to ensure that this conference attains maximum and measurable solutions. This is in retrospect to policy makers demonstrating the effectiveness of EBA in improving the capacity of communities to adapt to the impact of climate change.

In addition, the contribution to sustaining and improving livelihoods and maintaining and protecting ecosystems. Compared to other adaption approaches, EBA’s costs and benefits while applying its approaches needs understanding. One thing to look out for as a constraint is the lack of access to its evaluation tools, adequate data and agreed baselines and indicators and recommended approaches to up- scaling.

CBA9 participants in participatory exercises #EBA

Some of today’s key note speakers include: Keith Alverson, UNEP; Lili Ilieva, Practical Action; Paul Nteza, UNDP Uganda, Rosemary Mukasa, United Nations Environmental Assembly, Alejandro Argumedo, Asociacion ANDRES among others.

Participants are reporting on the latest research and their project work from across different sectors and countries, highlighting the fact that there are different ways of measuring the success of community-based adaptation.

Consequently, they are able to choose from eight sessions which include: evaluating ecosystem-based adaptation effectiveness; estimating loss and damage; tools and techniques for measuring effective adaptation and resilience; climate information services for effective CBA; indigenous knowledge, culture and adaptation; do you have the innovative CBA M&E ‘wow factor’; exploring ecosystem-based adaptation with participatory exercises; poster market place.

Recommendation is that developing countries must adapt to a changing climate and the extreme weather conditions to which they are and will be experiencing. Deliberations on whether to determine accurate loss and damage estimation in regards climate change adaptation is the main focus for EBA strategies to effectively be put in place.

IIED and partners: BCAS, created the CBA conferences to highlight that effective adaptation to climate change takes place at community level. Past CBA conferences have focused on scaling up best practices, ensuring a scientific basis to action, communicating and mainstreaming CBA and ensuring adaptation funding reaches community level.

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