The publication is the result of collaboration between the Euroclima Program and the Climate Change and Risk Management Directorate of the Colombian
Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development.
In Colombia, risk management has generally focused on emergency response and disaster management and very little work has been done on the inclusion of ecosystems and their ecosystem services in territorial planning, risk reduction and climate change adaptation. Despite this, in recent years and considering the different problems generated in the relationship between society and nature, work has begun to recognize the services provided by ecosystems or the services provided by natural systems to face different challenges associated with climate variability and climate change.
In this sense, Ecosystem-based Disaster Risk Reduction (Eco DRR) together with Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) have become natural alternatives to face the effects of climate variability and climate change within the great framework of Nature-based Solutions (NBS).
Therefore, the Euroclima Program is working together with the Directorate of Climate Change and Risk Management of the Ministry of Environment of Colombia, the International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policy (FIIAPP) and the Spanish Agency of International Cooperation for Development (AECID) in the scaling of nature-based solutions, mainly those oriented to Eco-DRR, to improve resilience in coastal marine socio-ecosystems of Colombia.
With this news, we are pleased to announce the publication of the Guide for the implementation of Ecosystem-based Disaster Risk Reduction measures that seeks, in a didactic way, to share a methodological route and guidelines to facilitate the implementation of Ecosystem-based Disaster Risk Reduction (Eco-DRR) measures with emphasis on the marine-coastal regions of the country.
"The Eco DRR guide will orient territorial managers in the country, especially in the Colombian Caribbean and Pacific, on how to develop projects that implement Ecosystem-based Risk Reduction measures, so that they can contribute to reducing the impact of the different climate-related threats, particularly to the populations and local communities in these regions, while conserving or recovering biodiversity. This is aligned with our National Development Plan, as we are guiding the regions to become more resilient to face the climate crisis we are currently experiencing," said the Colombian Minister of Environment, Susana Muhamad.
We also invite you to watch this brief video presentation of the guide.
The publication of this guide concludes the first phase of this action, which consisted mainly of the definition of a conceptual and methodological framework for the Eco- DRR approach in Colombia, the development of the guide and capacity building in the Pacific and Caribbean nodes.
The second phase, which is starting, consists of the implementation of a pilot project of Eco-DRR measures in a strategic ecosystem of the marine-coastal regions of the country. This project was formulated, seeking that the measures are implemented according to the methodological guidelines set out in the guide and that were fed with the participation of strategic actors during capacity building.