Publication: Biodiversity, Climate Change, and Adaptation : Nature-based Solutions from the World Bank Portfolio
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2008
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2012-05-18
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Climate change is a serious environmental challenge that could undermine the drive for sustainable development. Since the industrial revolution, the mean surface temperature of earth has increased an average of 1degree celsius per century due to the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Furthermore, most of this change has occurred in the past 30 to 40 years, and the rate of increase is accelerating, with significant impacts both at a global scale and at local and regional levels. While it remains important to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reverse climate change in the long run, many of the impacts of climate change are already in evidence. As a result, governments, communities, and civil society are increasingly concerned with anticipating the future effects of climate change while searching for strategies to mitigate, and adapt to, it's current effects.
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“World Bank. 2008. Biodiversity, Climate Change, and Adaptation : Nature-based Solutions from the World Bank Portfolio. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/6216 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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Publication Biodiversity, Climate Change, and Adaptation : Nature-Based Solutions from the World Bank Portfolio(Washington, DC, 2008-09)Climate change is a serious environmental challenge that could undermine the drive for sustainable development. Since the industrial revolution, the mean surface temperature of earth has increased an average of 1degree celsius per century due to the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Furthermore, most of this change has occurred in the past 30 to 40 years, and the rate of increase is accelerating, with significant impacts both at a global scale and at local and regional levels. While it remains important to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reverse climate change in the long run, many of the impacts of climate change are already in evidence. As a result, governments, communities, and civil society are increasingly concerned with anticipating the future effects of climate change while searching for strategies to mitigate, and adapt to, it's current effects.Publication Environment Matters at the World Bank, 2009 Annual Review : Banking on Biodiversity(World Bank, 2010)This issue of environment matters celebrates the 2010 international year of biodiversity and describes some of the challenges and opportunities in protecting biodiversity for the benefit of humankind. From the world's highest mountain ranges to the lowland plains, and from the great oceans and coastal wetlands to agricultural landscapes, nations and communities rely on the bounty and services of natural ecosystems. Biological resources and the goods and ecosystem services they provide underpin every aspect of human life and livelihoods, from food and water security to general well-being and spiritual fulfillment. In many countries, it is the poorest of the poor who are most dependent on these benefits. Yet, as the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment showed, biodiversity is under severe threat, as ecosystems are being lost and degraded more rapidly and extensively than at any comparable period in our history. Habitat loss and fragmentation, overexploitation of resources, pollution, invasive alien species, and, increasingly, climate change will all lead to further biodiversity loss. One of the key challenges of the coming decades will be how to reconcile biodiversity conservation and development if we are to achieve the twin goals of poverty alleviation and a sustainable future for all. The World Bank is already a major global funder of biodiversity initiatives, including support to more than 624 projects in over 122 countries during the last 20 years. It is actively supporting national actions to safeguard biodiversity and improve natural resource management. Many of these projects have supported globally important protected areas, but efforts have also been made to mainstream biodiversity conservation in the production landscape. As well as national efforts, the Bank has supported numerous partnerships with international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to promote global and regional biodiversity initiatives.Publication Convenient Solutions to an Inconvenient Truth : Ecosystem-based Approaches to Climate Change(World Bank, 2010)Global warming and changes in climate have already had observed impacts on natural ecosystems and species. Natural systems such as wetlands, mangroves, coral reefs, cloud forests, and Arctic and high-latitude ecosystems are especially vulnerable to climate-induced disturbances. However, enhanced protection and management of biological resources and habitats can mitigate the impacts and contribute to solutions as nations and communities strive to adapt to climate change. Biodiversity is the foundation and mainstay of agriculture, forests, and fisheries. Biological resources provide the raw materials for livelihoods, agriculture, medicines, trade, tourism, and industry. Forests, grasslands, freshwater, and marine and other natural ecosystems provide a range of services often not recognized in national economic accounts but vital to human welfare: regulation of water flows and water quality, flood control, pollination, decontamination, carbon sequestration, soil conservation, and nutrient and hydrological cycling. Current efforts to address climate change focus mainly on reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by adopting cleaner energy strategies and on reducing the vulnerability of communities at risk by improving infrastructure to meet new energy and water needs. This book offers a compelling argument for including ecosystem-based approaches to mitigation and adaptation as an essential pillar in national strategies to address climate change. Such ecosystem-based strategies can offer cost-effective, proven, and sustainable solutions that contribute to, and complement, other national and regional adaptation strategies.Publication Convenient Solutions to an Inconvenient Truth : Ecosystem-based Approaches to Climate Change(World Bank, 2009-06-01)The World Bank's mission is to alleviate poverty and support sustainable development. Climate change is a serious environmental challenge that could undermine these goals. Since the industrial revolution, the mean surface temperature of earth has increased an average 2 degree Celsius due to the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Most of this change has occurred in the past 30 to 40 years, and the rate of increase is accelerating. These rising temperatures will have significant impacts at a global scale and at local and regional levels. While it remains important to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reverse climate change in the long run, many of the impacts of climate change are already in evidence. As a result, governments, communities, and civil society are increasingly concerned with anticipating the future effects of climate change while searching for strategies to mitigate, and adapt to, its current and future effects. Global warming and changes in climate have already had observed impacts on natural ecosystems and species. Natural systems such as wetlands, mangroves, coral reefs, cloud forests, arctic and high latitude ecosystems are especially vulnerable to climate-induced disturbances. Current efforts to address climate change focus mainly on reducing emissions of greenhouse gases, mainly through cleaner energy strategies, and on attempting to reduce vulnerability of communities at risk by improving infrastructure to meet new energy and water needs. This report attempts to set out a compelling argument for including ecosystem-based approaches to mitigation and adaptation as a third and essential pillar in national strategies to address climate change. The report is targeted at both Bank task teams and country clients. Such ecosystem-based strategies can offer cost-effective, proven and sustainable solutions contributing to, and complementing, other national and regional adaptation strategies.Publication Making a Visible Difference in Our Wrld(Washington, DC, 2003-08)Like the 2003 Fifth World Parks Congress in Durban, South Africa, this publication is structured around themes and issues on the cutting edge of research, policy, and practice in the field of protected areas. It highlights contributions by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and presents its perspectives for the future. This publication comprises of the following topics : Tribute to Africa; A Historic Role for Protected Areas; Protected Areas and The GEF; Links to Land and Sea; Protected Areas In the Mainstream; New Ways of Working Together; Developing the Capacity to Manage; Maintaining Protecting Areas Now and In the Future; Building A Secure Financial Future; Constructing Comprehensive Protected Area Systems; Looking Forward: Let Earth Last.
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Publication The Indirect Cost of Natural Disasters and an Economic Definition of Macroeconomic Resilience(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-07)The welfare impact of a disaster does not depend only on the physical characteristics of the event or its direct impacts in terms of lost lives and assets. Depending on the ability of the economy to cope, recover, and reconstruct, the reconstruction will be more or less difficult, and the welfare effects smaller or larger. This ability, which can be referred to as the macroeconomic resilience of the economy to natural disasters, is an important parameter to estimate the overall vulnerability of a population. Here, resilience is decomposed into two components: instantaneous resilience, which is the ability to limit the magnitude of the immediate loss of income for a given amount of capital losses, and dynamic resilience, which is the ability to reconstruct and recover quickly. 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It then assesses the macroeconomic implications by linking sectoral dynamics to two macroeconomic frameworks: a multisector general equilibrium framework and an aggregate macrostructural model. This approach combines the advantages of multiple tools and captures the various dimensions of the transition, including the need to tackle simultaneously multiple market failures beyond the carbon externality. The paper illustrates this methodology with Türkiye’s objective to reach net zero emissions by 2053. The multisector general equilibrium framework suggests that the transition could contribute positively to Türkiye’s economic growth despite the large investment needs, especially when indirect mitigation benefits are taken into account and if labor market frictions can be reduced. Improved energy efficiency in the transportation and building sectors drives the growth benefits in the short and medium terms. The growth benefits depend on how transition investments are financed: if they crowd out other productive investments, the benefits are significantly reduced and can even become slightly negative in the long term. The macrostructural model focuses on implications for public debt and the current account, using two extreme scenarios in which additional investments are triggered by higher productivity or a set of budget-neutral incentives (taxes and subsidies). The model concludes that the transition would have moderate impacts on the current account and public debt. 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In cities, water extremes especially when combined with unreliable infrastructure can stall firm production, sales, and revenue. At the center of this are families, who feel the impacts of this uncertainty on their incomes, jobs, and long-term health and welfare. Although a rainfall shock may be fleeting, its consequences can become permanent and shape the destiny of those who experience it. Pursuing business as usual will lead many countries down a “parched path” where droughts shape destinies. Avoiding this misery in slow motion will call for fundamental changes to water policy around the globe. Building resilience to rainfall variability will require using different policy instruments to address the multifaceted nature of water. A key message of this report is that water has multiple economic attributes, each of which entail distinct policy responses. If water is not managed more prudently—from source, to tap, and back to source—the crises observed today will become the catastrophes of tomorrow.Publication Convenient Solutions to an Inconvenient Truth : Ecosystem-based Approaches to Climate Change(World Bank, 2010)Global warming and changes in climate have already had observed impacts on natural ecosystems and species. Natural systems such as wetlands, mangroves, coral reefs, cloud forests, and Arctic and high-latitude ecosystems are especially vulnerable to climate-induced disturbances. However, enhanced protection and management of biological resources and habitats can mitigate the impacts and contribute to solutions as nations and communities strive to adapt to climate change. Biodiversity is the foundation and mainstay of agriculture, forests, and fisheries. Biological resources provide the raw materials for livelihoods, agriculture, medicines, trade, tourism, and industry. Forests, grasslands, freshwater, and marine and other natural ecosystems provide a range of services often not recognized in national economic accounts but vital to human welfare: regulation of water flows and water quality, flood control, pollination, decontamination, carbon sequestration, soil conservation, and nutrient and hydrological cycling. Current efforts to address climate change focus mainly on reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by adopting cleaner energy strategies and on reducing the vulnerability of communities at risk by improving infrastructure to meet new energy and water needs. This book offers a compelling argument for including ecosystem-based approaches to mitigation and adaptation as an essential pillar in national strategies to address climate change. Such ecosystem-based strategies can offer cost-effective, proven, and sustainable solutions that contribute to, and complement, other national and regional adaptation strategies.