Water is the primary medium through which most people on earth will experience climate change. Shifting rainfall patterns, retreating glaciers, and extreme weather events are causing fluctuations in water availability, supply, and quality. These impacts disrupt millions of lives and threaten food supplies, energy production, and human health.
Healthy biodiverse ecosystems can help people adapt to or better manage these changes. For example, better-protected wetlands can help purify water and control floods. Conserving or restoring forests or grasslands can slow run-off, increase soil water retention, and recharge groundwater resources. When it comes to farming, changes such as planting more diverse crops, including drought-tolerant native varieties, can help food production cope better with changing rainfall patterns. These activities fall under the umbrella of Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA), a strategy that focuses on enhancing biodiversity and ecosystem services to help societies become more resilient to climate impacts.
I was fortunate enough to speak to a range of stakeholders in South Africa and Uganda about their experiences designing and implementing a range of ecosystem-based activities at different watershed scales. A watershed is any area of land that channels rainfall and snowmelt to creeks, streams and rivers and eventually flows into reservoirs, bays and the ocean.
When ecosystem-based activities are integrated with a watershed approach it allows people to more effectively envision and manage the complex links between land, water and human activities. For example, in the large montane forest ecosystems near Uganda’s Mount Elgon’s peak a watershed approach has allowed natural resource managers to understand how deforestation, unsustainable agriculture practices and erosion of riverbanks affect water quality and exacerbate floods, landslides and droughts.
In addition, as a shared resource, water can be a common entry point – and watershed approaches can bring together different stakeholders – government, communities, NGOs, water users, media, researchers and the private sector – from across diverse sectors that may not otherwise work together.
An integrated multi-stakeholder approach is crucial for ensuring a healthy ecosystem that underpins our ability to adapt to climate change.
I was fortunate enough to speak to a range of stakeholders in South Africa and Uganda about their experiences implementing and coordinating a range of ecosystem-based activities at different watershed scales.
To mark World Water Day on March 22, 2021, The International Institute for the Environment and Development published a storymap that I co-authored which showcases some of the lessons from both countries about how using biodiversity and restoring ecosystem functions can help communities adapt to water-related impacts of climate change.
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