SIMPLIFIED APPROVAL PROCESS (SAP) TECHNICAL GUIDELINES

The guidelines define ecosystems and ecosystem services, explaining their role in climate resilience and the use of ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA). It outlines a framework for project proposals, including a classification of environments (marine, coastal, inland water, forest, dryland, island, mountain, polar, and cultivated), and emphasizes the need for an integrated systems approach. A key focus is on achieving a paradigm shift through natural capital accounting (NCA) to ensure the long-term sustainability of investments. The document also provides impact measurement indicators and a list of indicative SAP-able and non-SAP-able activities.

• Climate change acts as a driver of ecosystem degradation, affecting service flows and increasing the frequency and intensity of natural weather-related events. Specifically, sea level rise can negatively impact mangroves and wetlands, while increasing temperatures and precipitation changes may make arid and semi-arid regions drier.
• Ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) is identified as a nature-based solution that uses ecosystems and services to reduce vulnerability and enhance resilience to climate change, offering cost-effective measures with co-benefits for mitigation, poverty alleviation, and livelihood protection.
• Investments in ecosystem restoration are often undervalued due to faulty cost-benefit analyses that ignore external costs like greenhouse gas pollution. However, an assessment of over 200 investments across nine biomes showed benefit-to-cost ratios ranging from 0.05:1 to 35:1.
• A paradigm shift in the sector requires moving beyond GDP, which does not account for ecosystem service values, toward the development and support of a natural capital accounting (NCA) system. For SAP projects, this involves the explicit quantification, valuation, and attribution of ecosystem services and capacity-building to integrate NCA into national planning.
• The guidelines distinguish between SAP-able activities and those that are not. Eligible activities include the restoration of degraded coastal mangroves and micro/small-scale water conservation in drylands. Non-eligible activities include planting invasive mangrove species or extensive changes in hydrology such as stream diversion.

APA

Sagar, A., & Kim, J. (n.d.). SIMPLIFIED APPROVAL PROCESS (SAP) TECHNICAL GUIDELINES. Green Climate Fund. https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/230221-sap-ecosystem-and-ecosystem-services.pdf

Chicago

Sagar, Aarsi, and Juhern Kim. SIMPLIFIED APPROVAL PROCESS (SAP) TECHNICAL GUIDELINES. Green Climate Fund, n.d. https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/230221-sap-ecosystem-and-ecosystem-services.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Sagar |first1=Aarsi |last2=Kim |first2=Juhern |title=SIMPLIFIED APPROVAL PROCESS (SAP) TECHNICAL GUIDELINES |publisher=Green Climate Fund |url=https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/230221-sap-ecosystem-and-ecosystem-services.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{sagarndsimplified, author = {Sagar, Aarsi and Kim, Juhern}, title = {{SIMPLIFIED APPROVAL PROCESS (SAP) TECHNICAL GUIDELINES}}, institution = {Green Climate Fund}, url = {https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/230221-sap-ecosystem-and-ecosystem-services.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }