Nature is essential for building resilience to climate change. Many countries’ national adaptation plans (NAPs) have placed a focus on Nature to scale up actions for ecosystems to help people to adapt – for example, through protecting wetlands and restoring mangroves to help withstand the impacts of floods.
Given the importance of ecosystems across global environmental agendas and the interlinkages between the climate and biodiversity crises, accelerating the use of nature-based solutions will be pivotal.
In our new synthesis report, Tracking Progress on the Integration of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) and Ecosystem-Based Adaptation (EbA) in NAP Processes, the NAP Global Network explored these themes in more depth.
Our findings show that NbS and EbA solutions rank high among adaptation options in NAP documents, indicating that countries are indeed using the NAP process as a strategic framework to implement and integrate EbA and NbS at scale and across sectors. At the same time, the results show a high level of awareness among governments that ecosystems are significantly compromised by accelerating climate change, and that this threatens their long-term viability and functionality.
This blog outlines key findings and insights from our full report that takes stock of how countries are integrating ecosystem considerations, including the uptake of NbS and EbA, into their NAP processes.
Box: What are nature-based solutions and ecosystem-based adaptation?
| Nature-based solutions are “actions to protect, conserve, restore, sustainably use and manage natural or modified terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine ecosystems which address social, economic and environmental challenges effectively and adaptively, while simultaneously providing human well-being, ecosystem services, resilience and biodiversity benefits (UNEA, 2022).” | Ecosystem-based adaptation refers to “the use of biodiversity and ecosystem services as part of an overall adaptation strategy to help people adapt to the adverse effects of climate change (CBD, 2009).” |
6 Key Findings on the Integration of Ecosystems in NAPs
The NAP Global Network completed a review of 57 NAP documents to better understand the extent to which countries have adopted nature-based and ecosystem-based approaches into their NAP documents. The findings demonstrate important progress towards delivering EbA and NbS at scale and align with the increased traction that they have gained among adaptation decision-makers and the adaptation community over the last few years.
Below are a few key findings on the extent and ways in which NbS and EbA are integrated into the NAP documents:
- Reference to NbS/EbA: 44 out of 57 countries made explicit reference to the two terms, and NAP documents submitted more recently to the UNFCCC have a higher likelihood of mentioning them.
- Priority Sector: 49 out of 57 countries identify at least one priority sector related to ecosystems, biodiversity, or the environment. The prioritization of these sectors demonstrates the value countries place on nature in climate change adaptation efforts. The most common sectors prioritized are forests/forestry and coastal/marine/fisheries.
- Climate Risk Assessment: 40 out of 57 countries include information and data about the climate risks and vulnerabilities that their ecosystems face from climate change. This highlights the awareness among governments that ecosystems and their services are being compromised by accelerating climate change.
- Climate-Biodiversity Nexus: 49 out of 57 countries refer to the links between climate change and biodiversity loss. This provides evidence that there is growing recognition of the linkages between the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss among policymakers and practitioners.
- NBSAP: National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) is the main policy instrument mandated under the Convention on Biological Diversity, and provides national-level strategic direction on the protection and management of biodiversity. Only 27 out of 57 countries reference their NBSAP within their NAP documents, indicating a potential disconnect between national climate change adaptation and biodiversity planning processes.
- NbS/EbA Actions: All countries include one or more actions related to protecting, conserving, restoring, sustainably using, and managing natural ecosystems in their NAP documents. 55 out of 57 include more than one type of action.
How to Strengthen NbS and EbA across NAP processes. The findings of the review are of relevance to a range of actors and offer some considerations:
- NAP teams in different countries should focus on enhanced coordination and collaboration with relevant colleagues, such as the biodiversity and environmental teams, to build closer synergies with newly updated NBSAPs. This helps ensure that the NAP process informs the upcoming update of the NBSAPs to advance the implementation of EbA and NbS. The strong emphasis on sustainable management leaves room for NAP teams to expand protection and conservation measures, such as establishing and expanding protected areas.
- For bilateral and multilateral funders, this report highlights a shared focus on ecosystems that directly support productive sectors, like forestry and fisheries. These priorities could influence funder countries which aim to strengthen the integration of NbS and EbA into their strategies. While considerable needs remain in these sectors and related ecosystems, funders could also consider investing at scale in less traditional ecosystems, such as cities, mountains, and grasslands, which remain underrepresented in countries’ NAPs.
