Target 11
Restore, Maintain and Enhance Nature’s Contributions to People
Restore, maintain and enhance nature’s contributions to people, including ecosystem functions and services, such as regulation of air, water, and climate, soil health, pollination and reduction of disease risk, as well as protection from natural hazards and disasters, through nature-based solutions and/or ecosystem- based approaches for the benefit of all people and nature.
Restore, maintain and enhance nature’s contributions to people, including ecosystem functions and services, such as regulation of air, water, and climate, soil health, pollination and reduction of disease risk, as well as protection from natural hazards and disasters, through nature-based solutions and/or ecosystem- based approaches for the benefit of all people and nature.
Rationale
GSAP
Nature-based solutions and green infrastructure approaches explicitly designed to benefit wild species, such as the restoration of ecological networks, contributes to species viability, ecosystem service provision, and resilience to climate change.
Primary tools and resources
IUCN Global Standard for Nature-based Solutions (NbS)
The IUCN Global Standard for Nature-based Solutions (NbS) is a user-friendly framework for the verification, design, and scaling up of NbS. The Standard contains 8 Criteria and 28 Indicators and aims to provides users with a robust framework for designing NbS. The Standard is designed to support users to apply, strengthen, and improve the effectiveness, sustainability, and adaptability of their NbS interventions. It also provides a mechanism for developing a consistent approach to NbS.
Guidelines for planning and monitoring corporate biodiversity performance
These guidelines offer an approach for developing a corporate-level biodiversity strategic plan, including measurable goals and objectives and a set of core linked indicators, that will allow companies to measure their biodiversity performance across their operations. The Guidelines can be used by any company in any sector that has impacts and dependencies on biodiversity, whether large or small, national or multinational. They are aimed at sustainability teams, managers and other company staff whose roles include strategic planning and reporting related to biodiversity. The focus is on a full-cycle, results-based management approach (not just risk analyses, goal setting or indicator development), since assessing pressures on biodiversity, and planning and developing measurable goals, are key prerequisites for monitoring. They also explain how, by choosing and using appropriate core indicators and building internal capacity and partnerships, companies can aggregate and use biodiversity data at the corporate level in a meaningful way.
Guidelines for the application of IUCN Red List of Ecosystems categories and criteria
The IUCN Red List of Ecosystems is a global framework for monitoring the status of ecosystems. It is part of the growing toolbox for assessing risks to biodiversity and aims to support conservation, resource use, and management decisions by identifying ecosystems most at risk of biodiversity loss. The basis of the IUCN Red List of Ecosystems is the IUCN Red List of Ecosystems Categories and Criteria, a set of eight categories and five criteria that provide a consistent method for assessing the risk of ecosystem collapse. These Guidelines assist correct implementation of the IUCN Red List of Ecosystems Categories and Criteria by providing information on the development of the protocol and a detailed overview of the scientific foundations supporting the categories and criteria.
Guidelines for wildlife disease risk analysis
This IUCN-OIE publication provides an overview of the science-based processes and tools available for wildlife disease risk analysis and their application to a broad range of contemporary issues, including human-wildlife interactions, domestic animal-wildlife interactions and the impacts of massive ecological change on biodiversity conservation. The guidelines will be of value to those policy makers and decision makers faced with the social, political and technical complexities involved in wildlife-disease-associated scenarios.This is a companion volume to the Manual of Procedures for Wildlife Disease Risk Analysis.
Other tools and resources
Fortalecer la gobernanza para la AbE en la sub-cuenca compartida del río Sumpul (El Salvador-Honduras)
Los derechos de uso y la escasez de agua han causado conflictos en la cabecera de la subcuenca del Rio Sumpul (867 km2), compartida entre Honduras y El Salvador, lo que hace que, bajo un escenario de cambio climático, sea crucial la búsqueda de soluciones integrales que generen paz, desarrollo transfronterizo y resiliencia.
La gobernanza para la adaptación permite avanzar en esa dirección, promoviendo el trabajo multidimensional (multinivel y multisectorial), participativo, flexible y ecosistémico. Así, buscando el uso sostenible del agua como necesidad de adaptación en Sumpul, se reforzaron estructuras existentes de gobernanza, ampliando su representación, conocimientos y capacidad de gestión. A través del Comité Comunitario Binacional, se logró construir una agenda común basada en la construcción de confianza, diálogo y articulación de los actores de la cuenca alta. La agenda consideró la implementación de sistemas agroforestales y la conservación de suelos y fuentes de agua.
Desarrollo sostenible, adaptación al cambio climático y OMEC en zona buffer del Parque Nacional Tamá
El PNN Tamá es una estrella hídrica que abastece sectores productivos y comunidades de varios Departamentos al nororiente de Colombia y Estados al occidente de Venezuela. La falta desarrollo local, el conflicto armado, así como el cambio climático y la variabilidad climática han generado presiones frente al uso del suelo en la zona aledaña del PNN Tamá. Como solución, desde Parques Nacionales Naturales de Colombia innovamos la producción local sostenible de sistemas agrofroestales de café, el monitoreo participativo de recurso hídrico y las alianzas para la gestión de recursos, con lo cual se han fortalecido las inversiones y procesos de relacionamiento con actores estratégicos en favor de la conservación de los servicios ecosistémicos que brinda el Parque. Adicionalmente, hemos apoyado la declaratoria de Reservas Naturales de la Sociedad Civil, rodeando y protegiendo al PNN Tamá con áreas protegidas privadas manejadas por las comunidades.
Siembra y cosecha de agua de lluvia frente a la sequía en la Microcuenca de Huacrahuacho
Esta solución se implementó en la microcuenca Huacrahuacho, ubicada en un ecosistema altoandino llamado Puna sobre los 3.800 msnm. Se diseñó frente a los problemas de sequía y disminución de fuentes de agua, durante la época seca, para el consumo humano y el uso agropecuario. Tuvo como objetivos: captar, almacenar e infiltrar agua y recargar los acuíferos; incrementar/mantener el caudal de los manantiales; generar un microclima con mayor humedad; y conservar la biodiversidad.
La qocha, palabra quechua que significa laguna pequeña, fue el centro de un conjunto de medidas que incorporan forestación, zanjas de infiltración, manejo de pasturas naturales y acequias colectoras o aductoras.
Gracias a estas medidas construidas por las familias y a nivel comunal, se cuenta con más agua durante las épocas de estiaje, lo que ha permitido la recuperación de pastos naturales para la producción ganadera y un cambio hacia un paisaje más húmedo con mayor biodiversidad y belleza paisajística.
Conservación de páramos y bosques altoandinos para recuperar la regulación hídrica en la cuenca
Los escenarios de cambio climático en la Región Piura, anuncian escasez en la oferta hídrica, lo cual afectará a la población tanto en la parte alta (comunidad) como en la parte baja de la cuenca (usuarios del agua para riego). La solución contribuye a mejorar la resiliencia a través de acciones de conservación en los bosques de neblina y páramos (ecosistemas de montaña eficientes en la retención de agua) en la Comunidad de Samanga, para lo cual cuenta con un Área de Conservación “Bosques de Neblina y Páramos de Samanga” y su respectivo Plan de Manejo Participativo. Asimismo, se ha mejorado la capacidad adaptativa a través de acuerdos entre la comunidad y los usuarios – regantes, los que contribuyen a la sostenibilidad de las acciones de conservación (incluyendo fortalecimiento de capacidades y de desarrollo sostenible). Con esto, se busca recuperar y mantener el servicio de regulación hídrica de la cuenca del río Quiroz, sobre todo la oferta de agua en la parte baja.
Gestion résiliente des ressources en eau et sol au Burundi
Le projet applique des mesures d’adaptation dans les bassins versants vulnérables. Les ressources naturelles, telles que l’eau et le sol, sont gérées durablement afin de réduire l’érosion et d’améliorer les rendements agricoles. Des mesures d’adaptation « vertes », sans regret, telles que l’agroforesterie et le reboisement communautaire sont complétés par d’autres mesures telles que le stockage et la promotion de l’infiltration de l’eau de pluie et le travail de conservation du sol.
Un ejemplo de gobernanza y participación de pueblos y nacionalidades indígenas en el manejo de la Reserva de Producción de Fauna Cuyabeno, Ecuador
Las principales amenazas para la conservación de la RPF Cuyabeno provienen de las actividades petroleras, extracción forestal de productos maderables, caza ilegal, tráfico ilegal de vida silvestre, desarrollo agrícola bajo sistemas de monocultivos, expansión de la frontera agrícola y colonización.
El aumento de la visitación turística también es un reto que debe enfrentar la Reserva, ya que es un importante punto de ingreso hacia la Amazonía baja, y tiene interesantes valores naturales y culturales que son aprovechados con fines turísticos.
En términos socio ambientales, en la Reserva habitan 11 comunidades indígenas de cinco nacionalidades, con las que es necesario llegar a acuerdos relacionados con el acceso a la tenencia de la tierra y al uso sostenible de los recursos naturales del territorio. Esto representa un reto, pues se busca articular las visiones de manejo y conservación del territorio, entre estas comunidades indígenas y el Estado.
Xiamen practice – a case study of integrating Nature-based Solutions in coastal city development
As a typical coastal city, Xiamen, Fujian Province, China, faces serious societal challenges such as the impact of climate change, overexploitation of natural resources, and loss of biodiversity. Xiamen is implementing Nature-based Solutions (NbS) by strengthening ecological protection, promoting ecosystem restoration, building sponge city, supporting sustainable community development and green transformation of mines, while encouraging funding and diverse public participation. After more than 30 years of exploration and practice, the green development concept of harmonious coexistence between man and nature has been integrated into areas and processes of Xiamen’s economic and social development, making Xiamen’s practice a global example of excellence in NbS and a model for sustainable development of coastal cities.
IUCN SSC CPSG Species Conservation Planning Online Training Course
This is an introductory course to CPSG’s species conservation planning processes and tools. Our target audiences are government wildlife agency staff, IUCN SSC Specialist Group members, and other conservation professionals working in zoos, aquariums, universities or field programs, responsible for the development of species conservation plans. By the end of the course, participants will be able to: apply the CPSG Species Conservation Planning Principles and Steps to the design and facilitation of species conservation planning processes; demonstrate the role of the facilitator in consensus-based decision making; and select facilitation tools to help groups solve problems, make decisions, and develop plans. Click here to find out more about the course and how to apply to an upcoming session.
Nature based solutions report outlining the benefits of scaling NbS across ecological networks
Nature is in freefall. Humanity’s addiction to burning fossil fuels and converting natural ecosystems for agriculture is changing the climate, degrading once-productive lands and driving plant and animal species to extinction. And it’s no coincidence that millions of people each year are killed by the direct consequences of poverty, lack of clean water or adequate nutrition, extreme weather and exposure to new virulent pests and diseases.
We now have a better understanding of the power of nature and how to unleash its potential through an extremely important concept: nature-based solutions.
Protecting, restoring and enhancing natural ecosystems holds the potential to help tackle many of the challenges facing our planet – from climate change and nature loss to food insecurity – and to increase resilience to future risks. But these solutions need our support to overcome the structural barriers holding them back.
Manual of procedures for wildlife disease risk analysis
This IUCN–OIE publication provides a ‘how-to’ guide that will be useful to the growing and diverse range of professionals involved in assessment and management of wildlife-associated disease risk scenarios. The document has been co-written by 22 specialists in the fields of wildlife disease ecology, epidemiology, risk analysis, modelling, disease surveillance, diagnostics, wildlife management, research, teaching and conservation planning. These authors have pooled their knowledge and experience to make tools and processes at the cutting edge of wildlife disease risk analysis accessible to a broad global audience in an effort to ensure healthy ecosystems through better decision making. This is a companion volume to the Guidelines for Wildlife Disease Risk Analysis.
Environmental flows : demonstrations and knowledge sharing through regional and global networks to turn policy into action
Environmental flows improve water management by ensuring a sustainable water supply to meet the needs of people, agriculture, energy, industry and the environment. Environmental flows are effectively a balance between water resources development and the need to protect freshwater-dependent ecosystems. WANI has contributed to environmental flow assessments in river basins in Asia, America, and Africa over the last 10 years with the aim of reducing environmental impacts and increasing the benefits of river basin development. Through scaling-up, lessons learned have been mainstreamed into integrated water resources management (IWRM) allowing for the capacity building of existing legislation and the establishment of new, appropriate legislation on environmental flows. This influence on IWRM and water policy has resulted in better water resources management.
Solutions and case studies
Building with Nature for safe, prosperous and adaptive coastlines in Suriname
The Building with Nature initiative increases resilience along 10 km eroding coastlines, combining civil engineering with mangrove rehabilitation to build safe and adaptive coastlines. During 2015 and 2016 8 sediment trapping units were built (~1 km) to stop erosion and support mangrove rehabilitation. Technical measures include sediment balance restoration by permeable dams and mud nourishments, alongside mangrove rehabilitation. Socio-economic measures are currently being developed.
Empowering community-led sustainable management of clean fresh water through Pride for ARA methodology
Watershed management is, at its root, a human behavior challenge. But where humans are often the source of such problems, they are also the solution. Rare trains local leaders to implement behavior change campaigns that inspire communities to adopt new norms for how they interact with nature. Rare empowers communities in Colombia’s most water dependent geographies to participate in the management of their watershed ecosystems so that they benefit from higher water quality and flow and reduce the risk of droughts and floods due to extreme weather changes.
Since 2013, Rare has built the capacity of 14 officials of one of the largest regional environmental authorities of Colombia, Corporación Valle del Cauca, to engage local stakeholders in protecting riparian areas and improving land use practices using the Pride for ARA approach. These farmers are inspired by the Pride campaigns and the offer of technical assistance to protect critical ecosystems for watershed resilience.
Implementation of EbA measures in the Nor Yauyos-Cochas Landscape Reserve
A pilot was implemented to underpin the incorporation of an EbA approach into the planning tools for natural protected areas. The necessary methodologies and tools were developed, the vulnerability assessment was completed, the specific areas and the measures to be implemented were identified, including the communal management of native grasslands, vicuñas management (a wild relative of the llama), the expansion and conservation of wetlands and the restoration of water infrastructure.
Mapping and Valuing Ecosystem Services for Integrated Management
Ecosystem services were mapped and valued in a participatory process that included designing spatially-explicit scenarios of future human uses throughout Belize’s coastal zone. To understand the implications of different development scenarios, the team used InVEST models to map future value of coastal protection, recreation, and fisheries services. The resulting Plan can help the people of Belize plot a wiser course for managing the incredibly valuable resources their ocean and coast provide.
Transboundary integration and enhancement of public transportation system in a National Park region
Public transportation offers in the transboundary (TB) National Park region of Saxon and Bohemian Switzerland were successfully enhanced in a way that conserves natural landscapes while enabling an intensive nature experience for visiting tourists. A broad alliance of representatives from regional politics, tourism, nature conservation, transport and local population created a transportation networking concept whose implementation led to a significant increase in passenger numbers.
Spelt as Surrogate Habitat for Grassland-Dependent Wildlife Species
The project addresses the dilemma of finding an economically viable grain crop that would not sacrifice food production for wildlife/biodiversity benefits. With the use of the non-GMO grain crop, spelt (Triticum aestivum subsp. Spelta), an alternative vegetation type on land can aid and maximize habitat value for rare grassland species and increase biodiversity on the landscape while also providing the producer with an economical food crop. The project results indicate that biodiversity increased and from an agricultural standpoint spelt was a more economical crop than hay.
Using a weed relative to turn tree tomato resistant to drought and diseases
Solution is undertaken using scientific fruit plant propagation and conducting innovative top-wedge grafting of (tree tomato) tamarillo (Solanum betaceum) terminal bud stick scion into its poisonous wild relative bug weed rootstock tolerant to drought and resistant to soil borne diseases and pests as well as having longer roots than tamarillo and stronger ones. Both plants belong to Solanaceae plant family, hence grafting the two plants is compatible and methodology transforms bug weed (Solanum mauritianum) as required. This innovation has therefore created food, agriculture and economic opportunities by using grafting methodology to transform the poisonous bug weed into agro biodiversity resources problem globally. Innovation is expected to contribute to feeding the ever growing world population that is expected to be nine billion by 2050.
USING BIOINTENSIVE AGRICULTURE TO IMPROVE NUTRITION, INCOME AND FOOD SECURITY
The concept of food and nutritional security refers to the ability of all people at all times to have physical and income access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs for an active healthy life. It requires food being available enough, stable and accessible; without which inevitably leads to malnourishment that hinders individual performance.
Any enhancement of the food security calls for farmers’ sensitization and encouragement to adopt strategic methods that will not only cater to food and nutritional security but also income at a household level and sound management of the environment.
Climate change will affect availability, stability, utilization, and access to food security …(UN-ESCAP: Agriculture and Food Security, Asia)
When we farm in a way that maximizes the amount of carbon captured in our crops, and we return as much of that carbon as possible to the soil, we can effectively remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it in the soil.
Tourism as a driver for change
The Public Use and Recreation Program (PURP) addresses the problem of destructive recreational activities in Cabo Pulmo National Park. The Program provides guidelines to local tour operators to reduce negative impacts of tourism activities on the Parks’ habitats and ensures their economic sustainability. As a result limits on water sports practiced in the Park are set, which dramatically reduces the impacts on the reefs resulting from these activities.
Functioning watersheds in the face of climate change
This solution promotes the integrated management of coastal watersheds that drain into the Gulf of Mexico and the Gulf of California by aligning the investments of public and private agencies to address climate change impacts and coastal and marine conservation. It is the foundation for enduring cross-sectorial coordination and local participation to maintain and recover watershed functions that deliver ecosystem services, which benefit cities and rural communities.
Community-based Mangrove Conservation and Rehabilitation
Mangroves and beach forests provide coastal greenbelts that act as a protective buffer to sea level rise and storms. Moreover, they are particularly effective in mitigating global warming and rising carbon dioxide levels by capturing and storing carbon in both above- and below-ground biomass. On Panay Island, protection of remaining mangroves and rehabilitation of degraded areas is carried out by local communities and supported by local governments.
Water and fire management of a peat swamp forest
The solution recovered natural conditions and protects 3,900 ha of unique peat swamp forest ecosystem. The conservation of Melaleuca trees found in this forest type is a national priority because they buffer floods, recharge aquifers and provide habitat for endangered wetland species. About 25,000 people living in the park’s buffer zone benefit through the provision of clean water and small cultivated fish.
