Ri Majol, the people of the Marshall Islands were known for their superior boat building and sailing skills for centuries. They traveled frequently between their atolls (for trade and war) on big offshore canoes called Walap (some of them 100ft long). The lagoons of their low-lying coral atolls where crested by sails of smaller outrigger canoe designs for rapid inside lagoon transportation, food gathering and fishing. Together with Waan Aelõñ in Majel, we are reviving the traditional knowlege combined with modern technology. The ambitious goals of the Marshall Islands in the sea transport sector have become the main driver and motivation for us to pursue and to transition towards a low carbon fleet for the Marshall Islands for transport inside the lagoons and between atolls. Currently, a 150 ft. Training Vessel is about to be constructed and delivered to RMI by the 2nd half of 2022. After the agreement of the design, the market survey process started with the objection to identify shipyards that are interested and capable of building the new built as drafted in the tender design. The Maritime Training Approach in the Marshall Islands sets a clear focus on Low Emission Sea Transport Education and will train future sailors as part of the national fleet operators.

In the framework of the implementation of the REM, in 2016, productive alternatives were included as part of the management strategies, a real challenge where the distance and lack of communication makes everything difficult, an alternative was sought that could be taken there under these conditions, taking into account that there were already projects such as handicrafts, resins and other typical products such as chili bell pepper with which there were no successful results because they had an extractive vision, in addition they faced the complex mobility of the region.This is an exercise that is still in the process of construction and strengthening for the area of influence. Remote work has been done in this situation of pandemic and public order problems, but progress continues to be made. There have been good professionals working on the issue and successful results have been obtained, being one of the parks that has made the most progress in the tourism proposal thanks to the degree of maturity of the work team.

The EbA measure was discussed and included as a practical implementation measure during the development of the following public policies in the region: (a) PACS - Santos Climate Action Plan 

(b) Municipal Plan for Recovery and Conservation of the Atlantic Forest (PMMA) (c) Subnational adaptation governance study and (d) São Paulo State Adaptation Plan under the Race to Resilience

The construction of these plans and guides was made with the involvement of a large number of diverse actors, were approved and will be launched on January 2022.

While the inception phase of the EbA measure at Monte Serrat, in 2019 the elaboration of the PMMA and PACS began to be discussed and were finally approved in 2021. Since the beginning, the PMMA applied the EbA cycle and gender equity and climate change lens. 

The EbA methodology was characterized as a common goal of the multi sectors that encouraged diverse political will and allowed the integration between environmental, urban and risk reduction policies in the municipality of Santos. Public policies institutionalizing enables EbA enhancement, replication and involvement of the private sector. 

In the period at the end of 2019 and beginning of 2020, together with the Community Association, dialogues began to plan the implementation of the EbA proposal. The suggestions of residents, city hall technicians and the GIZ team were observed. However, in February and March 2020 there were torrential rains (extreme events) that caused landslides on Monte Serrat and other hills in the municipality, causing death in some of them and destruction of homes, making it impossible to continue the work.

While the community was recovering and restructuring, the COVID pandemic began and, with that, the cancellation of all the activities of the actors involved. During this period, the community also remained united, seeking to minimize the damage caused by job losses and illnesses caused by the pandemic.

In the brief period between the end of the rains and the beginning of the pandemic, the city's technicians started to recover the slopes of some hills by planting native species according to the EbA methodology learned. However, the pandemic prevented the continuation of all work on Monte Serrat and on the other hills.

After adapting to the new pandemic scenario, during 2020 and 2021 virtual meetings were held in order to monitor the situation of the community, to resume activities and plan the Communication project.

The gender approach of Monte Serrat recognizes women as victims but also part of the solution. Climate change affects groups that are socially, environmentally, and economically vulnerable differently, be it women, indigenous peoples or communities. On the other hand, women's decision-making responses to climate risks can be faster and more efficient.

It is essential to think of solutions that respect the right to non-discrimination of these groups. Guided by international recommendations, gender mainstreaming favors the participation and equitable engagement of all people living in Monte Serrat. In addition, the idea was to promote representativeness in the technical staff responsible for implementing the EbA measures.

Gender equity was reinforced in all stages and resulted in greater participation of women, including pregnant, nursing and women with newborns and babies, without the embarrassment of bringing children to the workshop space. They were welcomed and given special attention through the support of the municipality's Secretariat of Social Assistance.

This made it possible for women to feel comfortable to contribute to the construction of EbA solutions that benefit them directly, by giving suggestions for a recreation area for their children with fruit trees that could be used in cooking.

The sense of community on Monte Serrat and surrounding hills was fundamental to choose an active social participation approach. After all, it is the people living there who feel the impacts caused by climate change, such as landslides. The frequent visits by the Municipality Hall (Civil Defense) and the constant contacts with locals were extremely important to gain the trust of the community, especially to engage young people and more recent residents in the area. 

The relocated families were invited to participate in the workshops to value their history and the ties built in the region and  to take advantage of the benefits of the EbA measure.

The strategy of the participatory approach, joint between public authorities, civil society and the assistance of ProAdapta, (i) built community knowledge about climate change and its link to local climate vulnerability and (ii) strengthened relationships of trust among the diversity of stakeholders involved. The high-risk areas that have been vacated need to be urgently and consensually designated before any attempt of reoccupation, therefore the urgency of the EbA workshops. 

Residents of other neighboring hillsides that suffer from the same landslide problems were invited to participate to replicate the methodology and upscale the solution.

The Local Committee (LC) begins its formation with a group of people who share a common interest in the same territory. It defines the name of the CBI and its geographic limits, the way it will work, what rules it must follow internally and with what objective the corridor is formed. It can work in the form of an association, alliance, executive or support committee, management group, technical coalition, among others. In its formation process it is recommended to have at least one community leader, representation of local governments of the CBI territory, an NGO or non-profit organization, a representative of the productive or private sector and an institutional representative, who together will be responsible for managing alliances and facilitating the contribution of other actors interested in promoting technical and financial resources in their territory. The representativeness of the different sectors (public, private, academic, civil, etc.) is essential for the success of the CBIs, since they contribute with their knowledge and capacities for the adequate logistics of the CBIs, facilitate the discussion among all the representatives and provide different points of view so that the decision making is integral, from broad perspectives and echoes what happens in the management of the CBI in the communities and institutions that comprise it.

For understanding the local situation of quality and quantity of water resources, climate aspects and water needs in order to plan judicious and sustainable use of water, it is a key to gather all information. Therefore the Water Health Chart is prepared by the Water Caretakers and the Village Water Management Team (VWMT) in a cluster level event including participation of villages. The process involves answering key questions of the Water Health Chart, mostly common rural pattern of water resource management. Parameters like domestic water access including that of people living in hamlets, water needs for agriculture, water levels in dug wells and bore-wells during the year and many more reflect the ‘health status of water’ in a village. But it also includes social aspects with questions like “Is the education of girls affected by having to fetch water?”

The Water Health Chart makes a village community aware of the real situation of their water resources and water availability for their living and livelihoods. Thus, understanding the situation and problems related to water, triggers a ‘call to action’ to achieve prudent water management. The process also focuses on the behavioural change of users towards the adoption of appropriate water use practices.

For the inception phase of the Project and based on the analysis of the local context, the process of Free, Prior and Informed Consultation with the Lenca Communities was planned and designed.The preparation of the FPIC consisted of selecting the methodological tools and instruments that, validated in the institutional practice of the SNV, would allow for consultation in an environment conducive to overcoming the challenges imposed by the work in the project's area of influence, characterized by partiality and foreign interests that generated distrust or the perception of partiality to the project.

The purpose of this block is to generate tools to understand and evaluate the impacts and opportunities that biodiversity and ecosystem-based adaptation to climate change offer in the face of climate change conditions. To this end, three types of training processes were developed:

Valuation of ecosystem services

• Awareness-raising actions on the role of riparian ecosystem services in reducing the vulnerability of livelihoods to floods.

Increased climate resilience of livelihoods,

• Workshops for the elaboration of impact chains (community analysis of the vulnerability of their livelihoods).
• Workshops to define and prioritize actions for adaptation to climate change.
• Working meetings for the analysis and development of the implementation strategy.

Actions in the territory

• Training and formation of the AbE Squadron (group of women and men in charge of seed collection, location of sites to be reforested and planning of activities for this purpose).