ecosystems

Report

Is Ecosystem-Based Adaptation Effective? Perceptions and Lessons Learned from 13 Project Sites

Ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) is an increasingly popular strategy for addressing the linked challenges of climate change and poverty in poor countries, where dependence on natural resources for lives and livelihoods is high. But EbA is neither widely nor consistently implemented. It is not sufficiently mainstreamed into national and international policy processes and receives a small proportion of adaptation finance. This is in part due to a weak or poorly consolidated evidence base on EbA effectiveness.

Evaluation

Mid-Term Performance Evaluation of the Sustainable and Thriving Environments for West Africa Regional Development (STEWARD III) Project

Sustainable and Thriving Environments for West Africa Regional Development (STEWARD III) is a forest conservation and sustainable livelihoods project implemented by the U.S. Forest Service’s International Program (USFS-IP). It works in transboundary priority zones in the Upper Guinean Forest ecosystem, occurring in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Côte d’Ivoire. It is the third iteration of the STEWARD program.

Activity

Resilient Waters – Southern Africa

Southern Africa has significant biodiversity and natural resources, as well as a robust legal framework for natural resource management across borders. However, most countries in the region are water scarce or water stressed. National policies lack harmonization across countries and between sectors, and poor and vulnerable populations lack enough benefits and incentives for sustainable resource management.

Activity

Securing Mountain Waters and Livelihoods

Project focused on creating sustainable synergies and partnerships between 3 sectors: the academic institutions that produce the climate, ecosystem and economic information that is used to successfully respond to climate change, the regional and local governments that mobilize public investment for climate change adaptation and mountain communities who manage natural resources and water systems, putting local actions into place that reduce climate change risks.

Annual Report Story

Constructed Wetlands Solve Wastewater Woes

In the future, urban areas in the Dominican Republic will face increased risk of severe flooding, sea level rise, higher temperatures, and changes in rainfall patterns. This flooding and uneven rainfall exacerbates wastewater disposal challenges for the 75 percent of the country’s residents who are not connected to regulated wastewater and sewage systems. Large-scale treatment facilities are not feasible given the lack of available land and localization of major settlements, so the Climate Risk Reduction Project “thought small.”

Final Report

Securing Mountain Water and Livelihoods Project, 2014-2017 – Final Report

The Securing Mountain Water and Livelihoods Project was launched in April 2014 and was implemented by The Mountain Institute (TMI) in partnership with University of Texas, Austin (UTA) over three years under a cooperative agreement with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) as part of the larger USAID-Peru Climate Change Adaptation Program.

The Project’s aim was to improve communities’ capacities for landscape management for the conservation of ecosystems and to contribute to human well-being in the context of climate change.

Evaluation

Final Performance Evaluation of USAID/Philippines’ Biodiversity and Watersheds Improved for Stronger Economy and Ecosystems Resilience Project (B+WISER)

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and USAID partnered in 2012 and implemented the Biodiversity and Watersheds Improved for Stronger Economy and Ecosystems Resilience (B+WISER) program to support the Government of the Philippines in implementing environmental policies and conducting programs to prevent forest and watershed disturbances and biodiversity loss. Over a six-year implementation period (2013-2018), B+WISER focused on managing the natural resources as well as reducing environmental disaster risks in the country.

Report

Integrating Green and Gray: Creating Next Generation Infrastructure

A new generation of infrastructure projects that harness the power of nature can help achieve development goals, including water security and climate resilience. In this report from the World Bank and World Resources Institute, both organizations are calling for green infrastructure, such as mangroves and wetlands, to play a bigger role in traditional infrastructure planning. Integrating nature into mainstream infrastructure systems can produce lower cost and more resilient services.

Report

What Does Climate Change Mean for the Limpopo Basin?

The objective of the Resilience in the Limpopo Basin Program (RESILIM) of USAID Southern Africa is to enhance the resilience of people and ecosystems in the Limpopo Basin Program (LRB) by strengthening the capacity of the Limpopo Watercourse Commission (LIMCOM), and its key stakeholders, to address issues of climate change adaptation and biodiversity conservation within the context of trans-boundary integrated water resources management (IWRM).