From 10 to 13 May PLACARD was present at Adaptation Futures 2016, the fourth biennial conference on climate change adaptation. The conference gathered more than 1,600 participants from 102 countries in the city of Rotterdam, promoting discussions across different sectors on how to prepare for the impacts of climate change.
PLACARD hosted a science-practice session on ecosystem based approaches for climate change adaptation (EbA) and disaster risk reduction (Eco-DRR). Gathering around 65 participants, the session aimed to identify synergies between EbA and Eco-DRR implementation and explore how to mainstream the use of nature based solutions to enhance collaboration between climate change adaptation (CCA) and disaster risk reduction (DRR).
The session started with three introductory presentations by Fabrice Renaud (UNU-EHS), Jaroslav Mysiak (CMCC) and Peter Hobson (Centre for Econics and Ecosystem Management), on the most recent knowledge regarding ecosystem based solutions for CCA and DRR.
Participants were then asked to work in groups and identify lessons learnt and next steps for EbA and Eco-DRR science, policy and implementation. Groups were composed by participants from various fields of expertise (science, economy, social sciences and policy), allowing for a multidisciplinary discussion. Key points identified during the discussion included:
- the need for more knowledge and data, namely on expected impacts and effectiveness of ecosystem based solutions; costs and benefits of ecosystem based solutions; and vulnerability of ecosystems to climate change;
- the need to better integrate ecosystem based measures for CCA and DRR in governance and development plans; and
- the need for multi-stakeholder involvement and long-term monitoring during implementation stages.
The session report is available as a pdf (460 KB)