Local | PANORAMA

Institutional agreements and participatory decision-making based on MARISCO method

MARISCO workshop

Nadia Manasfi

Planning and implementing EbA requires a holistic approach and strong inter-institutional coordination and cooperation. The multi-pronged approach adopted in Tungurahua encourages the participation of policy-makers, the private sector, farmers, civil society and universities, among others. The establishment of a cross-institutional platform enables frequent meetings for exchange and follow-up, while addressing concerns of all stakeholders. Tailor-made capacity development contributes to a shared understanding of the main problems and options for action. Participatory assessments (such as the MARISCO methodology) have allowed stakeholders to better understand how climate and non-climate risks can reinforce each other and how to deal with the resulting complexity. Complementary to the participatory assessments, technical assessments, hydrological models and a hydro-meteorological monitoring system provide decision-makers with hard facts on which to base policy. The results are clear and holistic strategies, theories of change and a monitoring system accepted by the majority.

*Political willingness to enable cross-institutional cooperation. *Willingness of key stakeholders to cooperate. *A shared understanding of the problem and its underlying causes. *Reliable empirical database to underpin participatory decision-making.

*Potential resistance to climate change actions can be reduced by inviting different stakeholders to participate in capacity development measures. *Building ownership and empowering communities by involving them in every step of the process (from identifying the problem to proposing solutions and implementing them) is an important success factor for the process.

Provincial Government of Tungurahua

Integration of climate change into development planning

Planning for the future

Nadia Manasfi

The institutional integration of climate change related risks and opportunities is a significant step in order to strengthen the legitimacy of any action and allows economic and human resources to be allocated to the subject and related activities. Water availability was addressed as a current (political) issue and connecting element, establishing links to other topics such as agriculture, health, biodiversity and stakeholders engagement. Climate change was introduced in development planning as a cross-cutting issue, rather than a separate topic. A systematic approach for integrating climate change risks and opportunities in combination with capacity development measures helped to minimise the additional challenge for development planners at the practical level.

*Well-developed legal and institutional framework for climate change at the national level. *Established development planning processes at the sub-national level *Long-term partnerships with key stakeholders. *Multi-level approach (linking local, sub-national and national level).

*Addressing initially current and tangible problems - such as water provision - helps to introduce the rather abstract topic of climate change into political decision-making. *The intensive support of the process of integrating climate change into the development plan of one local entity pays off as it serves as an example for others to follow.

Planning phase

Local

Subnational

Ecological Mangrove Restoration

Devonshire Castle mangrove restoration

NAREI

There are two approaches that have been used for mangrove ecosystem restoration worldwide. The artificial regeneration or planting approach that has been used extensively and the other approach that has been used more recently is the natural regeneration or the Ecological Mangrove Restoration (EMR) approach (http://www.mangroverestoration.com/pdfs/CBEMR-Infosheet-URLs.pdf). Guyana has adopted EMR principles to design and implement its mangrove restoration program. EMR principles purports five critical steps that are necessary to achieve successful mangrove restoration, the sixth step (seedling planting) is only recommended as a last option. Following the guiding principles of EMR, seedling planting was only used to increase recovery time of a site that met the necessary criteria, particularly elevation, to support mangrove restoration. At sites that did not meet restoration criteria, the project implemented sediment traps to aid accretion and planted Spartina grass to support soil consolidation.

Baseline information on the proposed restoration sites must be captured to determine the suitability of the site and guide selection of the most appropriate intervention. Baseline information collected should include physical (elevation, soil conditions, etc.), biological (presence of natural recruitment) and social factors (livestock grazing, harvesting, etc.). Suitable elevation is critical to successful restoration and one of the key criteria in determining the most suitable intervention.

The restoration of Guyana’s coastal mangroves is possible if planned properly with the collection of detailed baseline data on potential restoration sites. Thorough site analysis should be conducted prior to any intervention and baseline data, such as wave energy, shoreline elevation, anthropogenic activities and hydrology should be collected and analysed before any intervention is undertaken. Implementation of the EMR principles increases success rates significantly and has the potential to reduce restoration cost. Monitoring data under the GMRP indicates that when conducted on accreting sites of the right mud elevation, and soil consolidation, restoration of a protective belt of mangrove forest can be established rapidly.

Integrating ecosystem services into development planning

Link between ecosystem services and development sectors

GIZ Yasmina Adebi

Despite the strong dependence of the local and national economy on natural resources, the concept of ecosystem services is new for most decision-makers in Benin and Togo. Furthermore, due to a lack of knowledge about natural processes, the degradation and loss of natural resources was acknowledged, but their decline was often not attributed to current practices. Existing communal development plans focus on sectors such as water, agriculture and infrastructure, while not taking into account the importance of ecosystem services for these sectors. Training sessions on "Integration of ecosystem services into development planning" enabled stakeholder groups from different sectors to discuss issues of conservation of ecosystem services in the Mono Delta and to understand the link between conservation of these services and the sustainable development of the region. In order to improve the process of drafting development plans and strengthen the capacity of decision-makers at the local and regional levels, several workshops were organized to familiarize stakeholders with the ecosystem services approach and its application to the planning process.

• Participatory approach involving stakeholders and decision-makers from multiple levels and sectors. • Focus on the utility of ecosystem services for the economic development of the region. • Existence / creation of a good knowledge of natural processes in the region (water cycle, soil fertility, pollination, etc.) • Existence of training materials on the approach of integration of ecosystem services into development planning in the national language.

A major challenge in raising awareness among and training of stakeholders / decision-makers is the fact that there are large gaps in basic knowledge about natural processes (e.g., water cycle, improvement of soil fertility, pollination) and climate projections. It was therefore necessary to train decision-makers not only on the steps of integration of ecosystem services into the planning documents, but also on the links between these services and the sectors of interest as well as concrete measures to ensure the availability of ecosystem services in the long term in an uncertain climate scenario corridor. As a result, the technical assistance process takes a long time. In addition, little educational material (textbooks, films, etc.) on ecosystem services is available in French, and the didactic materials in English are not easily understood by many Beninese and Togolese decision-makers. It is therefore crucial to translate and/or develop adequate material.

Rehabilitating channels and hydrological flows in mangroves

Mangrove

Ana Elisa Peña Del Valle Isla

Mangrove rehabilitation

Ana Elisa Peña Del Valle Isla

In order for problems of salinity to be solved in perturbed mangrove ecosystems, as well as for fish production and migration to be optimized, it is vital that channels within the mangrove systems are properly cleared and maintained, even if this means cutting some trees. Clear and well-maintained channels permit the hydrological flows between salt- and freshwater sources in a mangrove to find a natural balance, favouring biodiversity. They also permit the movement of fish to and from the ecosystem in rhythm to those flows, as well as facilitating the natural expansion of the mangroves via greater seed dispersal.

- A committed local community workforce which is convinced of the benefits of rehabilitating the mangroves.

- Trained government agencies which know the best ways to rehabilitate mangroves.

- A sustainable programme of payments for temporary work by which the local community can be additionally rewarded for their service to ecosystem maintenance, thus providing additional adaptive economic capacity (see building block III).

- The keys to mangrove rehabilitation are channel restoration and maintenance, leading to improved hydrological network flows.

- Governmental programmes for temporary work payments and subsidies must not be relied upon, only, for generating local support for maintaining the mangrove ecosystems, since the money available for such programmes might not be guaranteed in the medium to long run.

- Rehabilitation and maintenance of mangroves is hard and grueling work – conviction and evidence of the benefits it brings to livelihoods is needed to sustain a community’s commitment to such a task.

Implementation

Monitoring

Local

Creating adaptive capacity as a buffer against risk

La Encrucijada

Ana Elisa Peña Del Valle Isla

CONANP is encouraging the fisherwives to diversify their families’ economic activities into:

- the production and sale of niche mangrove products, such as mangrove flower honey;

- the setting up of ecotourism activities, such as running tours inside the mangroves, bird watching trips.

CONANP is supporting this diversification in the following ways:

Providing capacity development to these cooperatives in the area of touristic business development and administration
Providing support for finding markets for new products.

The benefit of CONANP’s approach is to provide the fishing communities with an adaptive capacity buffer in terms of multiple income sources, to reduce economic risks when fisheries are affected by tropical storms or when CONANP is working to solve the problem of river contamination due to upriver communities.The risk reduction approach also increases the link between the fishing communities and the mangrove ecosystems in terms of identity and belonging, by opening up more opportunities for its sustainable use.

- An existing focus point of attraction for tourists, to make sure there is a flow of tourists and that costs in attracting tourism are kept viable;

- committed wives and supportive husbands;

- existing structures of social cohesion, leadership and organization (such as fishing cooperatives) to be able to support new entreprenuerial activities.

It is important, if local people are going to adopt new commercial activities, to be patient and consistent in advice-giving. Fear of a loss of income in the short term, will make people more risk-adverse to adoption. Before any investment in new activities, communities have to have evidence that these new activities are practicable and profitable.

It is vital to ensure local people have the capacity to market and attract customers to new products, whether honey or tourist services.

There is tourist infrastructure already in the reserve which is under-used. This is both an indication of the challenge of moving into ecotourism, and of an opportunity: the new touristic activities could be linked to existing ones for the mutual benefit of both.

It has to be recognised that capacities for managing businesses is likely to be low in marginalised communities. It is essential that training includes continuous support for locals on how to price services, and manage businesses.

Implementation

Local

Increasing community self-organization

Fishermen in La Encrucijada

Ana Elisa Peña Del Valle Isla

Local Fishing Cooperative in La Encrucijada

Ana Elisa Peña Del Valle Isla

Levels of community self-organization have been improved within fishing communities by strengthening their various capacities needed to define and self-regulate policies on sustainable fishing. This was done by:

-training on: fishing catch limits and productivity possibilities, how resources and fishing are interlinked;

- In the field, mentoring by NGOs on how fishermen can make group decisions and effectively plan the zonification of ecosystems into conservation and fishing/productive areas;

- Involvement of the fishermen’s wives and children in awareness-raising activities, leading to a strengthening of the learning process within families.

This has led to social cohesion within the zone, allowing the fishing cooperatives to negotiate and regulate amongst themselves to agree and enforce best practices for sustainable fishing; and increasing their capacity to find direct markets for their products, without the need for intermediaries. Being able to self-organize to the point of coming up with and implementing their own sustainable fishing solutions, made the communities owners of those solutions, which means the latter will be more likely to be maintained into the future.

- A network of NGOs experienced enough to be able to provide mentoring in the field to the fishermen;

- excellent teaching materials and methods appropriate to the communities;

- commitment of wives and children to the whole process;

- existing levels of organization upon which to build (e.g. fishing cooperatives);

- a shared sense of identity and belonging between the fishing cooperatives;

- an existing sense of pride and entrepreneurship in the local communities.

- It is of vital importance to make use of existing cooperatives to generate, lead and manage new techniques and regulations in the existing productive activities.

- People are more willing to get involved and practice self-organized initiatives for sustainable management when they perceive quick improvements in their productive activities related to the nurturing and rehabilitation of mangroves.

- Therefore, monitoring any benefits derived from initiatives is important.

- Inclusion of all family members in the process of developing self-organization skills and capacitation.

- Good management of the NGO network necessary for capacity development is essential.

- Enough resources should be available to continue working on the nurturing of the fishermen’s organizational capabilities up to the point where they are self-organizing.

Implementation

Local

Creating a sense of belonging to local ecosystems

La Encrucijada

Ana Elisa Peña Del Valle Isla

CONANP has acknowledged that “without peoples’ interest, you won't get anywhere” in terms of promoting sustainable community use of local ecosystems. It is therefore not only important to raise awareness within local communities of the relevant connection between mangrove ecosystems maintenance, fisheries and local livelihoods, it is of vital importance to create a sense of identity and belonging of those communities to those ecosystems. Identity can be developed by raising the awareness of the benefits of sustainable management of the resources directly in terms of benefits to local livelihoods. However, identity can also be further strengthened by encouraging the self-organized engagement of all members of the community in not only making use of different parts of the ecosystem to sustain livelihoods, but also in engaging in its nurture and rehabilitation. The rest of the building blocks in this solution all aid this further development of identity of the local communities as a part of their local ecosystems.

- The good functioning of the other building blocks in this solution;

- a network of NGOs who can effectively work with communities in promoting a sense of belonging and identity;

- the ecosystem is still healthy enough to be a potential source of community pride, and to return quick results (the mangroves are some of the best on the American Pacific coastline);

- a sense of entrepreneurship in the local communities.

The major lesson learned here was that, whilst initially the work with the fishermen was going well, the qualitative leap in progress and generation of synergies within the communities for raising the levels of commitment and effort for a transformation in attitudes and practices regarding the mangrove ecosystems in which they lived and its sustainable use, was the inclusion of their wives and children in the process.

Implementation

Local

Barrier Island Restoration for Disaster Risk Reduction

Fort Massachusetts before beach restoration

Mark Ford/National Park Service (US)

Fort Massachusetts after beach restoration

Mark Ford National Park Service /US

Barrier Islands have long been reported to provide disaster risk reduction from storm surge. Modelling shows that barrier islands contribute to storm surge attenuation, but do not remove it completely. Benefits include annual hurricane and storm damage risk reduction to the mainland, annual recreation benefits, and annual fishery losses avoided. By replacing sand back into the littoral zone, there is a long-term contribution to the sediment budget of the islands and an opportunity for island chains to replace lost sands from one place to provide growth in others. Sands are either barged in from other locations, or dredged from nearby sources, then pumped into degraded area in stages, which allows for some natural settling to occur.

Major funding, typically by federal government sources, is needed to conduct these restoration projects. Permitting and environmental impact studies must be completed to ensure no non-intentional adverse impacts occur.

Near shore and splash zone fauna will be temporarily displaced. Activities of nesting sea turtles may also possibly be displaced. Oversight of contractors performing sand placement is essential to ensure sand is placed properly in the correct place and to correct elevations.

Using Controlled River Diversions for Restoration

Water control structure in Louisiana, USA

Mark Ford/National Park Service (US)

River diversions have been built along the Mississippi River in Louisiana to help replace some of the lost function of periodic pulses of fresh water, historically delivered during periods of high water, into the coastal wetlands. River diversions are water control structures that allow controlled flows from the Mississippi River into various basins of the delta. The Davis Pond diversion, with a 300 cubic meter per second discharge, upstream from New Orleans, releases fresh river water into the Barataria Basin which strongly influences salinities and sediment loads into the Jean Lafitte NHPP Barataria Preserve. Abundant fresh water and nutrient input into the preserve results in a robust growth response from submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV).

Local and state governments provide funding for these expensive structures. Public agreement is essential as changes to the hydrology and the ecosystem will impact users, though most see this as an improvement.

Not everyone agrees that freshwater inputs are good. Commercial fishermen worry that their fishing grounds may change and they will have to travel farther, and use more fuel, to find the same species they currently catch. Excessive water and sediment inputs can also change the floating and submerged plant communities in ways not desired. Periodic monitoring is essential to be sure the diversions are managed and operated in an optimal manner.

Entirety

Local