📅 05 – 16 February 2024
Bangkok, Thailand & Online
As climate change effects intensify, Nature-based Solutions (NbS) emerge as potent tools to bolster resilience against disasters and climate shifts. Beyond serving as natural shields against hazards and reducing exposure, they play a dual role by extracting greenhouse gases and fostering ecosystem health.
Both aspects are pivotal for realizing Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) objectives. This training will acquaint attendees with NbS in the context of DRR and CCA, encompassing foundational principles and globally recognized NbS standards. Through real-world case studies from various Asian and Pacific regions, participants will gain insights into conceptualizing and rolling out NbS strategies for enhanced resilience. Participants will formulate an action blueprint detailing NbS integration into DRR and CCA initiatives by the course’s end, ensuring alignment with global best practices.
Cooperating with nature and enhancing its fundamentals are crucial for achieving climate and disaster risk reduction goals and addressing the complex societal challenges exacerbated by unplanned development over the past century. In March 2022, the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) officially adopted a definition for Nature-based Solutions (NbS) as efforts to protect, sustainably manage, and restore both natural and modified ecosystems in a way that effectively and adaptively addresses societal challenges, benefiting both people and nature. NbS, including forest conservation, wetland preservation, and restorative agriculture, significantly boosts resilience to disasters and climate change.
NbS are increasingly integral to the strategy for risk reduction, hazard exposure limitation, and resilience building against climate change and disasters. A study of 85 nature-based interventions in the global south found a 95% reduction in vulnerability, primarily by diminishing ecosystem sensitivity to climate impacts. These interventions also help reduce ecological exposure and boost social adaptive capacity.
Analyses indicate that NbS are essential for meeting 37% of the mitigation goals of the Paris Agreement and keeping global temperature increases below 2 degrees Celsius. NbS leverages nature’s potential and supports human rights, economic growth, sustainable livelihoods, health, biodiversity, gender equality, and other social and economic aspects. A well-executed NbS can effectively and cost-effectively address these issues.
This training course will introduce participants to the fundamentals of NbS and provide practical insights on their application in the face of climate change and disaster risks. The course will explore the basics of implementing NbS for resilience building and include case studies from various countries.
Course objectives
The specific objectives of the training are to:
- Introduce ecosystem services and nature-based solutions covering concepts, fundamental principles, and their importance in strengthening resilience to climate and disaster-induced hazards.
- Orient the participants to international frameworks around nature-based solutions, including IUCN’s Global Standard for nature-based solutions
- Provide practical insights to implement NbS for DRR and CCA and mainstream nature-based solutions into policies.
