Building on a decade of collaboration, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) have launched a Global Fund for Ecosystem-based Adaptation. The Fund will “provide targeted and rapid support mechanisms through seed capital for innovative approaches to ecosystem-based adaptation.” Since 2010, the IUCN and UNEP have supported more than 80 EbA-related projects.

The Fund, which will run from 2020-2024, will receive €20m from the Federal Environment Ministry of Germany (BMU). The BMU made the announcement during the 2019 Climate Change Conference in Madrid. The Fund will draw from established IUCN and UNEP networks and platforms, including the Friends of Ecosystem-based Adaptation (FEBA), supported by IUCN, and the Global Adaptation Network, supported by UNEP.

EbA and nature-based solutions have been gaining traction as a way to simultaneously fight the climate and biodiversity crises, while also meeting other development goals and priorities. In 2019, they were stressed in parallel to the Climate Action Summit, especially with regard to forests, as well as at the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP 14) and the High-level Panel on Oceans, during Climate Week.

The announcement by UNEP and the IUCN comes in advance of the commencement of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration in 2021. [UNEP Press Release] [UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration] [SDG Knowledge Policy Update on Nature]