Subnational | PANORAMA

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.

Open Data Kit for data driven marine management in Fiji

Snapshot of the ODK based App for marine management in Fiji

MACBIO

The MACBIO project assists its partners in developing effective approaches to marine management. In 2015 the project was requested to support the design and development of open-source mobile solutions for data collection in locally managed marine areas in Fiji, among others. Thorough research and testing of existing platforms and proven examples identified Open Data Kit (ODK), as a suitable open source solution, especially in combination with KoBoToolkit.

In general, app development was carried out in an iterative, responsive way. This approach proved to be very efficient and effective, and led to an increasingly improved app. It is important to note that training, tests and iterative improvement with all relevant stakeholders should not be underestimated, before successfully using an app in the field. Keeping the approach in house had clear advantages for responsiveness.

Strategic approach: Objective and the added value of an app

Don’t reinvent the wheel: Initial market research, discussions with stakeholders and the study of lessons learned
Proof of concept phase is important: Low cost building block systems
Devil is in the detail: User contexts, internet and electricity availability , costs and modalities of data plans etc
In house, iterative approach with quick feedback loops
Development step by step with users
Open source, compatible and scalable approaches, to avoid duplication of development effort, dependencies & lock in effects
Data sensitivity issues are important, also for building trust

Open Data Kit for data driven marine management in Fiji in combination with KoB…

A guide for App Development

Decision Tree for App Development

MACBIO

App development and use is a strategic process. This guide aims to assist in this process, follwing the Digital Principles.

First objectives and types of apps are analysed, before looking at strenghts and weaknesses, as well as alternatives to smartphones and apps as technology. A guide on researching the existing app market concludes this chapter.

Secondly the enabling environment of app development is considered, from user centred development, over budget considerations and development options.

Lastly, technical aspects of app development are explored, dwelling on user needs, functionality, platforms, back and frontend, distribution and hardware considerations.

Successful development depends on enabling factors, following a strategic process that helps to ensure that the app solution

is tailored to user's needs
uses the right type of technology to address the identified objective
doesn't reinvent the wheel, if other suitable solutions already exist
is within the budget
is developed, using resources effectively
has the required functionality
uses the most suitable platform
combines backend end frontend
is distributed well
considers hardware and connectivity

The below decision tree can help to understand whether and how an app may be a useful solution to a given problem statement, following these guiding questions:

"Do I need an App for that?",
"Who makes an App for that?" and
"How to make an App for this?"

This structure is based on our experience and aims to avoid app solutions that do not properly consider objective, user need, available resources and technical requirements.

A guide for App Development

The spectrum of Smartphone Apps in (marine) resource management

There is a wide spectrum of Smartphone Apps in (marine) resource management. This Block gives orientation in the app jungle, starting with definitions and background on smartphone and app usage, and the opportunities this provides e.g. for natural resource management.

Also, there is no need to reinvent the wheel, if the answer to “Isn’t there an app for this” is yes. A list provides an overview of different app types and examples from marine management and other sectors, with a special focus on the Pacific region.

Mobile technology is on the rise and more and more people have access to these technologies, as the computing power of smartphones increases, their price drops, mobile phone coverage and access to the internet becomes more widespread and digital literacy is increasing - in industrialized world, as well as in developing and emerging economies.

Apps are bedoming more and more popular and can be powerful tools, if the addressed problem and objective of the proposed (app-) solution is well defined.

While there are many enabeling factores that can turn apps into powerful tools, often however, novelty and technical feasibility can be deceiving. Digitizing a solution often merely digitizes the problem. Instead of just going with the fashion, the problem and objective of the proposed (app-) solution should be well defined, followed by a careful SWOT analysis and consideration of possible alternatives.

Specific benefits of apps could be, e.g. wide geographical reach, while a threat could be the lack of acceptance by certain audiences, depending e.g. on their cultural background and digital literacy.

Thus app development and use must be seen as strategic process. For such a strategic approach of app development, use and monitoring, it is crucial to identify the right type of app addressing the identified audience and objective, be it “citizen science”, “crowdsourcing”, engagement, education or individual data collection.

The spectrum of Smartphone Apps in natural resource management

Coastal Zone Co-management & Shared Governance Approaches

Local population collecting snails in co-management areas

GIZ Vietnam, 2014

Local communities use mangrove forests in order to get timber, to fish and to collect clams and other seafood. This human interference disrupts the natural rejuvenation process of mangrove forests, for instance when fishing nets carry away mangrove seeds. For successful mangrove rehabilitation, this has to stop – and mangrove rehabilitation is in the interest of the local communities, because more mangroves mean more fish, seafood and timber. This is where the co-management approach comes in. Co-management or shared governance is a partnership agreement in which the local population gets the right to sustainably use natural resources like forests, fish and shellfish, along with the responsibility to sustainably manage and protect these resources. The idea is to allow local communities to use the mangrove forests which are owned by the state for their livelihoods. In return, local communities take over a part of the responsibility to protect the forest. The co-management building block establishes a system of shared governance between the state and the communities. Amongst others, local communities respect that at certain times, they may not enter certain protection zones.

• One of the success factors of co-management is the inclusion of a component for the payment of environmental services (ES). The programme identified the beneficiaries of ES, namely clam cooperatives that need a functioning mangrove forest. • It is the local population who protects and manages the coastal wetlands. This is why the programme initiated a benefit sharing scheme whereby clam cooperatives pay for their benefits from a well-maintained and protected mangrove forest.

While the programme has developed a number of effective solutions in Phase I, it has become apparent that these solutions can only be implemented at a broad scale when they are part of the Vietnamese government system. Many of the solutions could only be piloted in the framework of a development programme, because current rules for Vietnamese authorities do not always allow such measures – for instance regarding mangrove rehabilitation, where current cost-norms force foresters to plant the cheapest mangrove varieties which are often not suitable for the areas they are planted in. Now, the programme is working with Vietnamese Government to include the technologies in the toolbox of the Vietnamese authorities.

Entirety

Subnational

Creating a technical advisory panel for sound planning

Plan of currently consents scheme – developed with input from the TAP

RSPB, 2015

The project answers to a technical advisory panel (TAP), which meets every six months. This is comprised of a wide range of relevant stakeholders, both directly and indirectly affected by the project. Relevant parties include: Natural England, the Environment Agency (four or five individuals representing each of various arms of the EA that are involved – the environmental permitting team, the land drainage consent team, and the seawall maintenance team), the Crouch Harbour Authority, the local planning authority, Defra, the Essex County Council authorities, the Rochford District Council’s head of planning, Crossrail representatives, the RSPB, individuals from the Centre for Environment, Fisheries, and Aquacultural Sciences (local fisheries advisors), and the Wallasea Island landowner (Wallasea Farms Inc). This panel was a critical source of expertise and analysis during early implementation, and continues to provide advice as the project is completed on potential barriers and means to overcome these.

The existence of the TAP provided an underlying sense of confidence in the planning and implementation process, in order to deal with foreseen barriers. The panel supported extensive modelling, environmental impact assessments, and redesign of solutions. In particular, the design of three smaller managed realignments rather than one large one helped to overcome the problem of scale which was faced in the project.

In a project with such a high chance of technical barriers as in Wallasea Island, a technical advisory panel can be instrumental in a smooth and successful planning and implementation process. The function is essentially to support the identification of both technical and regulatory barriers and development of means to overcome these prior to project implementation.

Fostering win-win solutions through innovative partnerships for landscape engineering

Crossrail Tunnel portal at Canning Town tube station in E London

RSPB, 9 October 2015

Within the Wallasea Project, land-raising and landscape engineering was innovatively approached by creating a novel public private partnership. Materials from the Crossrail tunneling project were transported to a low-lying coastal area at high risk of flooding, in order to raise the land. The project thus established a precedent for using largely waste material generated by a major infrastructure project to meet biodiversity conservation and climate change adaptation aims elsewhere. Financing stemmed from both the private company Crossrail as well as from the Environment Agency, with all parties profiting due to the economic as well as environmental benefits set off by recycling the leftover materials. With Crossrail on board as a delivery partner, the project represents a partnership between Europe's largest civil engineering project and Europe's largest intertidal habitat creation project.

Instead of paying to remove waste materials from tunnel construction, Crossrail opted to transport them to Wallasea Island. An unloading facility enabled the materials to be shipped and then distributed across the island to build the habitats. Crossrail covered most costs (e.g. land purchase and some staff costs), with the Environment Agency (RA) funding the rest. The EA `bought` into the project to deliver replacement habitats for areas impacted/lost within the local Natura 200 network.

While sufficient buy-in was obtained by RSPB to buy the land, funds had not initially been collected to carry out the project itself. At this point, Crossrail came forward with an offer of materials and funding that permitted the project to move forward with more confidence. The main lesson learned is thus to think ‘outside the box’ and consider novel (public-private) partnerships to tap into previously unconsidered resources, and making sure to highlight the range of benefits which will be delivered to each party as a result of the project. Furthermore, a strong relationship with the landowner was particularly important in the early design phases of the project, as this led to the ability of RSPB to take out a two-year purchase option. This meant that, for a two-year period, RSPB could purchase the majority of the island if they decided to, and the price would be fixed at the beginning of this period, thereby creating some certainty surrounding the initial costs of the project.

Integrating EbA into Provincial Climate Change Response Plans

Updating the Provincial Climate Change Response Action Plans (CCRAP) of Quang Binh province and Ha Tinh province for 2016 – 2020 was an important entry point for EbA mainstreaming. This process had been led by Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DONRE) of Quang Binh and of Ha Tinh with technical support from GIZ. The Provincial CCRAP is a legal basis for all coordinated efforts of Quang Binh and Ha Tinh provinces in response to climate change mitigation and adaptation. This CCRAP includes priority projects and programs implemented by different provincial agencies to response to climate changes in Quang Binh and Ha Tinh during the period of 2016 – 2020. Findings and recommendations from the Vulnerability Assessment for Socio-Ecological Systems including recommendations of EbA have been fed into the CCRAP process at both provincial and local levels to create synergies. Expected impacts are to reduce negative impacts of climate changes in Quang Binh and Ha Tinh in the short run and in the long run.

•Sufficient awareness on current and furture climate change impacts among provincial authorities •Willingness to cooperate across sectors and government agencies

oCapacity of provincial officers involved in the CCRAP updating process including DONRE, DPI, DARD was significantly improved but continuous capacity developmenemnt efforts are needed due to staff turnover oEbA has been perceived by provincial policy makers and professional officers as a promising measure to adapt to climate change in Quang Binh and Ha Tinh that has never happened before.

Planning phase

Subnational

Integrating EbA into the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) process for the revision of the National Land-use Plan for 2016 – 2020

This process had been led by General Department of Land Administration (GDLA), and Department of Appraisal and Environmental Impact Assessment (DAEIA) under Vietnam Environment Administration (VEA) with technical support from GIZ and in collaboration with Institute of Strategy and Policy for Natural Resources and Environment (ISPONRE). This was the first-ever effort had been made in this regard in Vietnam without any precedence. SEA constitutes a frontline tool for mainstreaming a range of sustainability related concerns in so-called ‘strategic’ decisions over the world. This is reflected, for example, in the increasing range of issues that both EIA and SEA have been expected to encompass: from human health and well-being to climate change adaptation. Vietnam has a fairly well institutionalized system of SEA, with the first legislation having been introduced in 2005 and a second generation legal framework being implemented in 2011. Thus SEA is considered as a good opportunity/vehicle to add on EbA topic into the strategic planning process. Expected impacts include an improvement of the regulatory framework for integrating EbA into the SEA process and the planning process in Viet Nam.

•The approval and verification of the COP 21 Paris Agreement at the global and national level have created a good enabling environment for CCA and EbA to find ways into the agenda of GoV •Awareness of policy makers and practitioners on CCA and EbA as a good complementary alternative to hardware solutions has been increasing, partially due to efforts of the GIZ/EbA project, •Political willingness on adaptation is very important to realize political commitments into practice because most of fin

•Integration of EbA into the SEA process is a big challenge due to lack of a sound legal basis and a clear, practical guidance •Recommendations from the SEA process have been taken into consideration into the revision of the National Land-use Plan for 2016 – 2020 so that the revised National Land-use Plan for 2016 – 2020 has become more climate change proven. •In-house training/capacity building on integrating EbA into the SEA process and conducting SEA with Climate Change considerations had been delivered to government officers from GDLA, VEA/MONRE, ISPONRE. •exisiting gap in the SEA regulatory framework, in which there was no clear guidance on how to consider CC and EbA into the SEA process. As a result, MONRE’s leaders agreed to start a legal formulation process for a Circular on Climate Proofing to facilitate adequate considerations of CC, CCA, and EbA into the SEA process.

Implementation

Subnational

EbA Capacity Development Strategy and Trainings

Impressions from EbA ToT

GIZ Vietnam 2016

Impressions from EbA ToT

GIZ Vietnam 2016

Structure of the Capacity Development Strategy

GIZ Vietnam 2016

Provincial institutions (government officials and training institutions) develop capacities to mainstreaming EbA based on a capacity development strategy (CDS) along 4 dimensions: people, organizations, networks& cooperation, and framework conditions. The CDS and roll out includes the following steps: 1. Capacity&needs assessment of a) target groups on EbA knowledge and learning habits via interviews b) 10 potential training service providers taking into account training experiences of international organizations (IUCN, WWF, UNDP). 2. Elaborating tailor-made training materials on the GIZ “Integrating climate change adaptation into development with a focus on ecosystem-based Adaptation” based on the Harvard Case Method and adapted to the Vietnamese context with IPCC SREX report terminology. 3. Carrying out a test training to come up with an intercultural sensitive didactic concepts and key topics. 4. Conduct ToTs for training service providers to institutionalize the EbA training in the long term. 25 participants from 4 different experienced training service providers in Vietnam were trained. 5. Conduct customized trainings for provincial technical staff by service providers bassed on TOT experiences.

•Increasing need for climate change adaptation in Vietnam in recent years, especially after COP21 •Increasing awareness of of climate change in sector policies, strategies and programming frameworks •Recent national policies and strategies of Vietnam to response to climate change emphasize EbA. •Concrete need of EbA capacity development by policy makers and practitioners in (non)-governmental organizations •Close cooperation of partners stakeholders

•Human Capacity Development measures need to be very practical and topic oriented. The training methodology including case methods offered experience-based learning and allowed to break down the complex issue into tangible steps generated practice-oriented knowledge. •Steady dialogue with other international organizations and the main governmental institutions should be established to benefit from synergies and take up new opportunities •Limitations when establishing a regular training offer on CCA/EbA: lack of a well-funded demand in Vietnamese institutions,experienced trainers barely exist. •Training courses duration not longer than 5 days because of a low commitment of full attendance •Field trips should be integrated as they are valuable learning experience for trainees. •To ensure sustainability training institutions rather than individual freelance trainers have been selected for the ToT training.

Implementation

Subnational