Nature based solutions: UNEP’s effort to promote a cost-effective tool in the fight against climate change and disaster risk

On September 26^th Dr. Karen Sudmeier-Rieux, Senior Advisor for Disaster Risk Reduction at the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), was a speaker at the “Let Nature be the Solution” session at the European Research and Innovation Days conference in Brussels. This article will provide a brief overview of her inputs.

 

Dr. Karen Sudmeier-Rieux’s contributions highlighted the role nature can have in the fight against natural hazards. These disasters have been increasing both in frequency and intensity as a result of climate change, in the past years.

Nature and healthy ecosystems have the power to restore, regulate and protect from climate extremes and natural hazards,” Dr. Sudmeieir-Rieux explained “What is required is an urgent, massive investment effort to conserve and restore biodiversity and ecosystems, and a drastic change in the way we interact with and depend on nature, in order to unlock its full potential, whilst reducing our impact on the environment. “

UNEP has been working for over a decade to promote global awareness of the role of ecosystems in disaster risk reduction, and the mainstreaming of ecosystem-based solutions into the global Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) agenda. Ms Sudmeieir-Rieux gave the example of the Partnership for Environment and Disaster Risk Reduction (PEDRR), which was established in 2008. PEDRR is a global alliance of 24 UN agencies, NGOs and special institutions, which seek to promote and scale-up the implementation of ecosystem-based DRR and that it is mainstreamed in development planning at global, national and local level. In this context, PEDRR provides technical and science-based expertise and applies best practices in ecosystem based DRR.

“There are significant opportunities at the global, local and community levels to invest more in nature-based solutions and many of these opportunities are already highlighted in international framework agreements, such as the Sendai Framework for DRR, the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement, just to mention a few, Ms Sumdeier-Rieux explained.  We now have more examples of what works at local level and what are the challenges and research questions for expanding nature-based solutions.  These include implementation guidelines for hybrid and green infrastructure for different types of ecosystems and hazard situations; benefit-costs analyses and feasibility studies with scenarios comparing grey / green / hybrid solutions to reducing disaster risk; and an expanded catalogue of case studies illustrating how and where nature-based solutions work.

Building on previous Eco-DDR projects, the European Commission has awarded a three-year project to UNEP, to focus on scaling up Eco-DRR interventions and promote its large scale deployment. The project will be managed by UNEP’s Crisis Management Branch, that will collaborate with Partners for Resilience to develop models for implementing community based Eco-DRR solutions in Indonesia, Haiti, Uganda, India and Ethiopia.

Globally, there is now a wider acceptance of the idea to return to nature and embrace nature-based solutions as cost-effective ways to build more resilient systems to face climate change. This approach was recently openly supported by many political leaders at the UN Climate Action Summit, mentioning for example the restoration of peatlands and reforestation, as measures they have undertaken to face the climate emergency and promote sustainable development.

Find more information on Eco-systems based disaster risk reduction here: https://www.unenvironment.org/explore-topics/disasters-conflicts/what-we-do/risk-reduction/ecosystem-based-disaster-risk

Find more information on Eco-DRR projects supported by the European Commission between 2013 and 2016: https://europa.eu/capacity4dev/ec/documents/eco-drr-factsheet

Find more information on the European research and innovation days at the following link: https://ec.europa.eu/info/research-and-innovation/events/upcoming-events/european-research-and-innovation-days_en