Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) has the potential to generate economic returns and provide multiple benefits, such as improved health, biodiversity protection, food security, and alternative livelihood opportunities, all of which can build resilience to climate change. With over 10 years of application in global and local contexts, EbA has emerged as an essential approach to adaptation that is effective in building ecological, social, and economic resilience. To fully maximize and deliver EbA at the scale and pace needed, it must be put at the heart of countries’ national development and climate strategies. The National Adaptation Plan (NAP) process provides an opening to do just this. By enabling countries to strategically integrate adaptation into their decision making, planning, and budgeting, the NAP process strives to make adaptation part of standard development practice.

The following guidance note presents “why” and “how” the NAP process can be utilized as a key mechanism and driver to mainstream and upscale EbA. It is based on a recent analysis of 19 completed NAP documents that reviewed the inclusion of ecosystems and uptake of EbA measures. The document builds on the lessons learned from the review and identifies guiding principles and actions accordingly. It also presents an overview of ecosystems, ecosystem services and their role in adaptation, and how managing their transformation under a changing climate can contribute to reducing climate risks and impacts for both people and ecosystems. Furthermore, it focuses on guiding principles and recommended actions along the steps of the NAP process to integrate and enhance EbA.

Despite increasingly compelling evidence in support of natural infrastructure projects, large-scale investment is still lagging.

In this report, we provide a template and guidance for project champions and funders specifically to fund natural infrastructure projects.

Rather than starting with general categories of nature-based projects and their overall benefits, this report outlines a path to investment based on identifying specific drivers and project champions for nature-based solutions and then aligning the design of natural infrastructure projects with available financing tools.

Research highlights the value of natural infrastructure projects by focusing on their broad benefits. This report focuses on providing guidance to project champions and funders to bridge the gap between early-stage valuation and feasibility studies and project finance.

The research highlights that natural infrastructure champions are most likely to succeed in developing innovative and pragmatic finance solutions when they focus on identifying a driver, identifying a lead beneficiary or project implementer, developing a pitch, establishing a partnership, and securing catalyst/predevelopment funding.

Recommendations for funders and investors in natural infrastructure include funding targeted research to fill data gaps and develop performance metrics, convening and aligning potential natural infrastructure beneficiaries, supporting efforts to achieve scale, and providing dedicated pre-development support.

The next phase of IISD’s development will be guided by five core priorities—Climate, Resources, Economies, Act Together and Engage. Together these five priorities form our CREATE strategy, presented in this document. They will guide our actions over the next five years. 

We have focused externally on areas we deem ripe for transformation, where shifts in policy have the potential to change the nature of the game within this decade and where we have a proven record of making significant gains. Internally, we have highlighted areas for increased efficiency, effectiveness, and impact to ensure we can deliver on our goals.

Now more than ever, the global community faces choices that can either lead us toward or away from a more peaceful and prosperous future. Which will we choose?

For IISD, the answer is clear. Join us, and let’s create a more sustainable world together.

Often underfunded and overstretched, the governments of developing countries need help to protect their citizens from the climate crisis.

There's a new sense of urgency and these countries need your support.

Visit iisd.org/donate and make a difference today.

Learn how your voice and actions can inspire generations to come.

The world’s freshwater supplies are under serious threat from pollution, climate change, growing populations, and competition over resources. Researchers at IISD Experimental Lakes Area are currently studying the effects of oil spills, prescription drugs, cannabis, and plastics on our lakes and rivers.

Your critical support will allow us to expand our research to keep tackling emerging threats to one of the most essential elements we need to survive: fresh water.

The time to act is now. Help us protect our precious fresh water.

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This paper from IISD's Best Practices series examines recent state practice in bilateral investment treaty (BIT) terminations and related drafting, along with presenting options and recommendations for states interested in addressing their stock of older BITs through termination and renegotiation.

The paper begins by examining treaty termination in the context of public international law, along with the types of termination clauses that are common in BITs. It then examines recent trends in the drafting of termination and survival clauses in investment treaties. The paper considers how these terminations are implemented in practice, as well as what states have done to address survival clauses when terminating these treaties. Lastly, the paper sets out factors that states may wish to consider in deciding how to terminate a BIT, and outlines recommendations for preparing for and carrying out termination.

SAVi is an assessment methodology that provides policy-makers and investors with a comprehensive analysis of how much their infrastructure projects and portfolios will cost throughout their life cycles, taking into account risks that are overlooked in a traditional valuation.

SAVi uses a combination of system dynamics and project finance modelling to capture the full costs of environmental, social, economic and governance risks. Moreover, SAVi calculates the dollar value of externalities that result from infrastructure development.

The database is one of the central pillars for infrastructure project assessments with the Sustainable Asset Valuation (SAVi) methodology. It provides informed estimates of the systemic costs and benefits related to infrastructure projects when project-specific information is unavailable. This database is designed to help estimate the financial performance of infrastructure assets. It includes the value of social, environmental and governance externalities, and climate risks that are typically unaccounted for in conventional project assessments.

The authors examine past awards and some of the policy concerns that have emerged; valuation techniques used in determining the amount of compensation; and some of the provisions seen under newer investment treaties to try to address concerns raised. The authors then present options for reform that states could consider, which are meant to encourage new, creative thinking in this important field.

An earlier version of this paper was published in October 2019 as an "advance draft for comment," which garnered valuable feedback from academics and private legal practitioners. Some of these topics were also presented and discussed at an August 2019 webinar entitled Damages in International Investment Law. A sequel to that webinar was held on November 24, 2020, to examine options for reform in further depth.

The guide is based on approaches piloted by the NAP Global Network through Targeted Topic Forums (TTFs)—multi-day events that explored key themes related to the NAP process, including sectoral integration, financing and gender.

Attended by government representatives from 23 countries, these international learning and knowledge-sharing events successfully shared technical know-how, facilitated peer-to-peer exchange and inspired advances in countries’ NAP processes around the world.

A common reflection from TTF participants after these events was how helpful they would find it to use these same facilitation approaches with their own departments or ministries. In response to these requests, we have developed this guide to share the approaches used during the TTFs so they can be applied in other domestic and international planning processes.

This guide is for people that want to hold inclusive, participatory events in which different stakeholders come together to collectively generate ideas and identify actions they will take to make progress toward adaptation. It will help move away from presentation-heavy meetings and invite people to think and plan differently for their next event.

Key Messages

• Responsible investment in food, agriculture, and forestry requires a clear policy and regulatory framework, both at the national and ASEAN-wide levels. Policy-makers, the private sector, civil society and other stakeholders all have valuable roles to play in this respect.
• Done correctly, investment can have a critical role in supporting food and nutrition security, creating jobs, tackling poverty, and achieving other important development outcomes for the region and its individual member states. Investment can also come with significant risks to local communities and indigenous peoples, if not done responsibly.

The ASEAN Guidelines on Promoting Responsible Investment in Food, Agriculture and Forestry were adopted by ASEAN Ministers on Agriculture and Forestry (AMAF) in October 2018 and were developed in response to a decision by that same group the year prior.

The guidelines have as their main objective the promotion of responsible regional investment in food, agriculture and forestry that ensures economic development, while also incorporating and reflecting the diverse circumstances of different ASEAN member states. Ensuring responsible investment in these sectors will be key in meeting the food safety and security needs of the growing population of the Southeast Asian region.

The guidelines are grounded in the Committee on World Security’s Principles for Responsible Agriculture and Food Systems (CFS-RAI). They were developed through a multistakeholder process involving the ASEAN Secretariat, Grow Asia, the International Institute for Sustainable Development, the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation and a World Bank trust fund.