Going green: are ecosystem-based adaptation solutions gaining ground?

By Pieter van Eijk

“Ecosystems are crucial for climate adaptation!”. I must have uttered this sentence hundreds of times at the climate conference in Bali in 2007. To no avail. Participants shrugged and moved on considering my statement just as an attempt of the conservation community to jump on the adaptation bandwagon.

Little did I know how much would change. With the signing of the Paris climate agreement the importance of ecosystem-based climate adaptation is acknowledged at the highest level. Major funding windows for climate adaptation such as the Green Climate Fund promote the restoration of ecosystems such as mangroves, floodplains and peatlands as crucial adaptation strategies. The hard advocacy work towards recognition of Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EBA) paid off.

The author proposes four golden rules for successful EBA, drawn from presentations and a panel discussion at the Adaptation Futures Conference, in Rotterdam.