EOC representatives summarize five key messages from the regional workshop 'Mainstreaming ecosystem-based approaches to climate change into biodiversity conservation planning in Viet Nam,' held in Hanoi on 15 & 16 October.
1. Workshop participants agreed that EBA is a useful and cost-effective approach to biodiversity conservation in the GMS. Mainstreaming EBA in biodiversity landscape conservation could strengthen the resilience of species and ecosystems to development pressures, including land use change and climatic pressures. Healthy ecosystems could also help reduce the vulnerability of local communities to climate change impacts.
2. While EBA itself is not new, there are still large knowledge and capacity gaps in harnessing the potential of EBA for climate change adaptation. GMS countries need technical and financial support from development partners, including the ADB, to implement EBA approaches. Support is also required for creating an EBA framework suitable for the GMS context, a roadmap for EBA capacity building, establishing pilot projects to demonstrate the effectiveness of EBA approaches in different settings, and setting up an effective monitoring and evaluation framework for EBA activities. Other key challenges include mainstreaming EBA approaches into development and conservation policies and securing sustainable financing for implementation.
3. More thinking is also needed on how to implement EBA in combination with infrastructure planning to effectively address climate change. Capacity to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of different EBA options should be strengthened.
4. Workshop participants emphasized the need to continue the momentum generated from this workshop to take EBA forward in the GMS . More regional workshops and projects on EBA are seen as necessary and should be promoted by development partners
5. Country representatives requested that the Environment Operations Center, through the Core Environment Program (CEP), plays a lead role in promoting transboundary collaboration, capacity building, and knowledge sharing on EBA in the GMS. As a regional program, CEP is well-placed to be a prime vehicle to support GMS countries in implementing and leveraging larger investments for EBA. To do so, EOC should integrate EBA into various aspects of the CEP program.
Further information about the workshop, including access to all the presentations, is available from the EBA event website.
Published: 17th October 2013