INTEGRATED COMMUNITY- AND ECOSYSTEM-BASED APPROACHES TO CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION

The document examines the shift from top-down, infrastructure-heavy climate adaptation to integrated, bottom-up approaches. It details the roles of Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) and Community-based Adaptation (CbA), arguing that their conceptual overlap makes an integrated approach more effective. The author emphasizes the need for stronger quantitative evidence and the mainstreaming of these strategies into national and regional policy frameworks to achieve scale, drawing lessons from community-based natural resource management (CBNRM).

• Climate adaptation strategies have evolved from traditional, top-down, hard infrastructure-based responses toward dynamic, integrative strategies that address social and economic drivers of risk and empower local participatory decision-making.
• The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) identifies three 'entry points' for adaptation: addressing human security and ecosystem management, making incremental adjustments to institutions and physical structures, and implementing transformative adaptation that changes fundamental system attributes through innovation and new governance.
• Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) utilizes biodiversity and ecosystem services to help people adapt to climate change, with applications in Africa frequently appearing in the agricultural and forestry sectors via national adaptation programmes of action (NAPAs) and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
• Community-based Adaptation (CbA) is a human rights-based approach that prioritizes the most vulnerable, including women in least developed countries, by merging traditional indigenous knowledge with technical capacities to enhance livelihood resilience.
• There is substantial conceptual overlap between CbA and EbA, and integrating them allows practitioners to better account for both socio-economic complexities and ecological integrity, avoiding the misleading artificial separation of the two.
• To secure policy buy-in and scale impact, there is a critical need for more quantitative evidence, cost-benefit analyses, and the mainstreaming of CbA and EbA into local, regional, and national government planning processes.
• Community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) provides a model for CbA and EbA by demonstrating how devolving rights and management authority to local institutions, combined with tangible household benefits, can incentivize sustainable behavior.

APA

CHEVALLIER, R. (2017). INTEGRATED COMMUNITY- AND ECOSYSTEM-BASED APPROACHES TO CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION. South African Institute of International Affairs. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Policy-Insights-49.pdf

Chicago

CHEVALLIER, ROMY. INTEGRATED COMMUNITY- AND ECOSYSTEM-BASED APPROACHES TO CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION. South African Institute of International Affairs, 2017. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Policy-Insights-49.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=CHEVALLIER |first1=ROMY |title=INTEGRATED COMMUNITY- AND ECOSYSTEM-BASED APPROACHES TO CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION |publisher=South African Institute of International Affairs |date=June 2017 |url=https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Policy-Insights-49.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{chevallier2017integrated, author = {CHEVALLIER, ROMY}, title = {{INTEGRATED COMMUNITY- AND ECOSYSTEM-BASED APPROACHES TO CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2017}, month = jun, url = {https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Policy-Insights-49.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }