Community-based adaptation

ELINA VÄÄNÄNEN: There are significant links between nature-based solutions for adaptation and an approach called community-based adaptation or, in short, CBA. Before looking at these links, what is community-based adaptation? It is a participatory community-led approach to adaptation that aims to strengthen the resilience of poor and vulnerable communities to the effects of climate change. This approach is based on the rationale that to be effective, adaptation must address climate impacts in specific local contexts. This means that strategies must be developed through the participation of local stakeholders. Linking community-based adaptation and nature-based solutions can benefit both people and nature. Directly involving community members can help address local needs, build local ownership, and make nature-based solution strategies more sustainable over time.

Linking people and nature can also raise environmental awareness of local actors. What would integrating these two approaches look like? In practise, this includes ensuring the participation of local actors in the application of nature-based solutions. It is important that these solutions are appropriate to the local context and informed by local and traditional knowledge. So let me share with you some examples of integration. In the Seychelles, the government has taken a comprehensive approach to ecosystems and communities. The country has made community engagement and consultation a key part of the development of its national adaptation strategy. In Nepal, a community forestry programme is restoring degraded lands with benefits for both adaptation and mitigation.

These efforts are based on the self-motivated actions of local people but are also supported by the National Forest Legislation. While these are just some examples, there are opportunities to do much more to integrate meaningful community participation into implementation of locally-led nature-based solutions.