22 April 2016: The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) held an event to highlight initiatives at national, regional and local levels that mitigate and adapt to climate change through nature-based solutions. The event took place on the sidelines of the UN’s signing ceremony for the Paris Agreement on climate change.

The event, titled ‘Towards Nature Based Solutions,’ was moderated by Jeffrey Kluger, TIME Magazine, and convened on 22 April 2016, in New York, US.

Sandrine Dixson-Declève, Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All), said a key issue in energy in the developing world is accessibility, noting that access to sustainable and clean off-grid electricity, in combination with clean cook stoves, can have a dramatic impact on climate change.

Hasan Mahmud, former Minister of State for Environment and Forests of Bangladesh, spoke of national initiatives in his country, including two climate change trust funds with participation from Australia, the US and European countries, and a forest ownership programme for local communitie. He highlighted Bangladesh’s lead in installed capacity of home solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, having the largest number of such home systems in the world.

Nilda Mesa, Director, New York City Office of Sustainability, focused on climate change initiatives at the local level. She noted the New York City’s vulnerability to the effects of climate change, which she said have been included in the city’s ‘OneNYC’ plan. She reported that the city has made progress on energy, water and biodiversity, by investing heavily in solar PV as well as building energy efficiency, developing a public education campaign on plastics and water pollution, and raising awareness of the impact of the built environment on local biodiversity.

Eric Klinenberg, New York University (NYU), emphasized the importance of both the natural and the built environments in dealing with extreme heat. He highlighted the danger posed by heat waves, particularly in cities, saying these will become an increasingly common threat.

Tim Tear, WCS, called for more attention to the sustainability of soils, since they are directly related to the health of the biomes, for which they form the basis. He argued that sequestering carbon in soils has tremendous potential and scalability, and can support both mitigation and adaptation. Darren Long, also from WCS, said close to 90% of current investments are focused on mitigation, which generates faster returns than adaptation. However, the long-term avoided costs of adaptation should be of interest to the private sector.

Lorena Aguilar, IUCN, discussed progress towards including a gender dimension in mitigation and adaptation processes. She said gender-responsive climate change strategies and gender-sensitive nature-based solutions are starting to make a difference for some countries. Cyrie Sendashonga, also from IUCN, noted that IUCN’s World Conservation Congress will convene in Hawaii from 1-10 September 2016, on the theme ‘Planet at a Crossroads.’ [IISD RS Sources] [Conservation Congress webpage]