Clinton Global Initiative
The Conservancy commits $25 million to protect people and nature in a warming world
Over the next three years, the Conservancy will further develop ecosystem-based adaptation (EBA), and evaluate how and when“green” infrastructure is more cost-efficient than “gray” infrastructure. These practical demonstrations and economic analyses will be used to challenge governments and partners to make nature a powerful and cost-efficient ally in the fight against climate change.
“We, along with many governments and communities, believe these adaptation strategies have significant potential. Now we aresetting out to demonstrate how to scale it up to its full potential,” said Tercek. “Through this commitment, we intend to show how preserving and enhancing nature and its natural systems is a cost-effective way to address the problems that vulnerable people and communities are dealing with right now because of climate change.”
Ecosystem-based approaches promise multiple benefits for societies, local communities and individual livelihoods. For example, preserving mangrove forests protects coastal communities from wave and storm damage and also provides fish and wood that a concrete seawall does not. These natural solutions also increase local engagement and action, by bringing stakeholders into the process and securing resource management in local communities.
The commitment includes identifying almost two-dozen field existing sites in the United States and around the world where the effectiveness of ecosystem-based adaptation will be tested and the relative costs and benefits evaluated. Lessons and outcomes will be used to inform and challenge wider adoption of these approaches to prepare natural resources and communities to adapt to climate change. Examples of regions where ecosystem-based adaptation will be tested may include:
- Northern Reefs of Palau – more frequent El Niño events and warmer waters could lead to more coral bleaching events. By identifying and mapping more resilient sites throughout the entire region, we can protect the most resilient sites to re-seed the reefs – like having “savings in the bank.”
- Great Lakes – the lakes are home to 95 percent of North America’s freshwater on which more than 40 million people depend. Without proactive approaches in the next few years, rising temperatures and more severe storms may lower lake levels and will increase the flow of nutrient laden sediments into the lakes. Within these large areas, the Conservancy will undertake ecosystem based adaptation projects to protect and conserve coastal systems that support nature and people. For example, we will work with farmers to restore wetlands and riparian vegetation, and to modify current storm water-handling infrastructure like drainage ditches so that water released by more intense storms is more readily absorbed by the land, rather than flowing quickly across fields, carrying soil, fertilizers, and pesticides into sensitive aquatic systems.
- Coastal Louisiana– A national treasure, the coastal zone is home to nearly 2 million people and critical industries that help feed and power the nation, but the state is experiencing the highest rate of land loss in the country. Adaptation projects will include restoring the natural capacity of coastal rivers to build land, and using coastal restoration and non-structural means to provide improved hurricane protection.
Also at CGI, the Conservancy is reporting on the tremendous progress on our 2006 pledge to invest $2 million to create a realistic, cost-effective framework for tackling deforestation and support developing nations' efforts to reduce carbon emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD). From this initial pledge, The Conservancy became a founding participant and the only non-governmental organization in the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF), launched in 2007 at the UN Climate Conference in Bali, Indonesia. The FCPF has now become established as one of the world’s most significant initiatives for helping countries get ready for REDD, with $165 million in funding commitments from a dozen countries, including $5 million from the Conservancy. The Nature Conservancy is also investing in large-scale 2nd-generation REDD pilot projects in Indonesia and Brazil.
