Initial situation
The project promotes the increased use and establishment of ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) measures in the Mesoamerican region. The objective is to integrate the EbA approach into the social, economic, and environmental policies of the countries involved, as well as into their decision-making processes and governance structures. This will increase the capacity of different actors at the local and national levels to adapt and make population groups and ecosystems less vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Building on existing EbA initiatives and new EbA projects in the region, the project gathers and presents information on the benefits associated with EbA. For these purposes, it develops tools such as databases and monitoring and evaluation systems, including appropriate criteria and indicators. A regional EbA platform supports the dissemination and application of existing knowledge.
The AVE project is implemented in five other Central American countries, where regional experience enriches national and local work at each learning site (see map).
GUATEMALA
· IUCN works hand in hand with community organizations and Guatemala’s Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MARN) to scale up learning from EbA measures throughout the Highland region.
HONDURAS AND EL SALVADOR
· Together with the Trinational Commission of the Trifinio Plan, stakeholders in the binational Sumpul River sub-basin are learning about the multiple benefits of EbA to address the impacts of climate change on their crops. The project also works with communities in the Goascorán River basin and, in El Salvador, in the coastal area of the Paz River.
COSTA RICA AND PANAMA
· Work is being carried out to improve food security for Indigenous and local communities in the binational Sixaola River basin. Recently, the 5th Agrobiodiversity Fair was held with more than 100 participants, including producers, municipal authorities, Indigenous representatives, academia, government institutions, and non-governmental organizations.
· Costa Rica and Panama carry out a reforestation campaign in the Sixaola River basin during an event in which children, young people, and adults planted more than 3,000 trees in order to reduce the erosive impacts of the river during floods.