Browsing by Author "Heller, Nicole"

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    Mainstreaming Ecosystem Services in National Adaptation Planning
    (2014-04-24) Adrien Comte
    Developing countries are starting the process of planning for climate change adaptation at the national level. One of the options available is ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA), which recognizes the value of ecosystem services and biodiversity for reducing people’s vulnerability to climate change. The effectiveness of EbA is increasingly recognized and EbA options have been used by least-developed countries but only timidly. This research analyses the use of EbA in 18 national adaptation plans produced by a representative sample of developing countries across the globe. It found that all plans proposed at least some EbA measures, mostly in the coastal sector, followed by the water sector, the agriculture sector, and finally the urban sector. The extent to which EbA is used in these different sectors appears to follow the state of the literature. EbA is recognized in these plans for providing many ecosystem services linked to reduced vulnerability to climate change. Moving forward, evidence on effectiveness should be developed for the agriculture, water, urban, and to a lesser extent coastal sector. Financing of EbA should be increased for implementation, and co-benefits emphasizing the cross-cutting nature of EbA should be incorporated in the development of national plans.
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    The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Community Rating System; Evaluating its functionality as a robust climate change adaptation strategy
    (2014-04-23) Ronneberg, Kristina
    Climate impacts are increasing in frequency and severity. As a result there is growing demand in communities around the world for immediately actionable and scalable climate change adaptation solutions. Unfortunately, there are few examples of active, and successful, adaptation projects at the present time. One promising option in the United States is the extension and modification of existing programs such as the Community Rating System (CRS), a federal flood management program. Supplementing FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), the CRS incentivizes communities to adopt advanced flood management practices in order to reduce community vulnerability. Informed by a review of pertinent literature, interviews, and public document analysis, this study examines whether the CRS can be used as a legitimate adaptation tool today, and in the future. Analysis suggests that the CRS, as currently structured, does not satisfy adaptation’s central definitions and goals. However, the program is capable of being used to broadly build community adaptive capacity. With some modifications (increased incorporation of climate science projections and greater attention to vulnerable populations), the CRS should successfully function as adaptation solution, and is a promising tool to grow large-scale climate resilience.