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A Conversation with Keith Alverson

August 19, 2014

Keith Alverson

Head of the Climate Change Adaptation and Terrestrial Ecosystems Branch. United Nations Environment Program

Interviewer: Abigail Abrash Walton

Antioch University New England SSF Archived Climate Solutions Webinar Series

• Urbanization and Growth on a Finite Planet
• International Environmental Security
• National Climate Assessment
• Water Management
• Adaptation to Protect Security in a Changing Climate
• Renewable Energy on Institutional Property

www.ssfonline.org

Professional Science Master’s (PSM) degree program combines graduate study with Peace Corps service. Engage with communities around the globe on issues of resilience and sustainability in an era of climate change.

• Ecological and climate sciences
• Policy formulation and implementation
• Resource management
• Stakeholder participation and cultural competency
• Leadership and organizational decision making

Earn a Master of Science Degree while serving as a Peace Corps volunteer, plus earn 12 credits, tuition-free, for your

• service. Contact: Jason Rhoades, jrhoades@antioch.edu.

Peace Corps Master’s International | Environmental Studies Sustainable Development and Climate Change Concentration

www.antiochne.edu

3 Sign Up for Free SSF Membership

To Access the Webinar Archives

www.securityandsustainabilityforum.org

Renewable Energy on Institutional Property Webinar Series Register at: www.ssfonline.org Energy Tab

Archived Webinars in the Series

• June 2nd – Renewable Energy Policy
• June 26th Webinar #1 – The US Federal Agency Market: Meeting Energy Reduction and

Renewable Energy Mandates

• July 10th Webinar #2 – Renewable Energy Technology Applicability
• July 24th Webinar #3 – The Effective Marriage of Renewable Energy and Energy

Efficiency in an ESCO Contract for Municipalities, and Educational and Hospital Campuses

• August 7th - Webinar #4 – The Intersection of the Microgrid, Renewable Energy, and

Storage Registration Open

• August 21st Webinar #5 – Public Private Partnerships (PPP)
• September 4th

Webinar #6 – The Leading Edge of New Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Technologies Coming to the Market

• September 18th Webinar #7 – Developing the RFP

Agenda

 Keith Alverson: “Ecosystem based Adaptation to Climate Change“

briefing

 Abigail Abrash Walton: Discussion Questions  Audience Questions.

Submit questions through the Go to Webinar question box Please take the exit survey

4

Meet the Panel

5 Abigail Abrash Walton: Co-director, Center for Climate Preparedness and Community Resilience at Antioch University New

• England. Abigail has served as a commentator on a variety of human

rights issues for media outlets including The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The New York Times, National Public Radio and "The News Hour with Jim Lehrer. aabrash@antioch.edu Keith Alverson: Head of the Climate Change Adaptation and Terrestrial Ecosystems Branch of the Division on Environmental Policy Implementation at the UNEP in Nairobi, Kenya. In this role he coordinates, inter alia, UNEP's Ecosystems Based Adaptation Climate Change program of work and the Global Climate Change Adaptation

• Network. Keith.Alverson@unep.org

Ecosystem based Adaptation

United Nations Environment Program

Keith Alverson Security and Sustainability Forum Online Interview, 19 August, 2014

Four Take Home Messages

1. Mitigation has failed to date. Adaptation is therefore of critical and urgent importance 2. Adaptation does not require multilateral agreements. Any region, country, state, city, town, company, or individual can adapt effectively today. 3. Climate variability has been large in the past and ecosystems have developed great resilience. We can use nature’s existing solutions in order to decrease

• ur own human vulnerability to climate change.

4. Ecosystem based approaches can be effective as part of a broader adaptation

• strategy. For example integrated with that engineered infrastructure and

elements focused in social and economic drivers of vulnerability.

Why Adapt? For the highly populated US East Corridor from Boston to NY mitigating warming to below 2C has already failed (and continues to worsen)

• K. Arkema et al. Nature Climate Change, 2013

Theory – Coastal Hazards and protection from habitats

• federal $170 million effort

to replenish dunes washed away during Hurricane

• Sandy. A 12 mile line of

15-foot-high dunes fronted by sloping beach.

• 7 million cubic yards of

sand, most of it dredged from the sea bottom and pumped onto the shore.

• 41 homes slated for

destruction and 700

• thers must grant

easements

• Plover nesting habitat

destroyed ?

• No one knows how long

the dunes will last! “places should be left flat and without vegetation — the way plovers like their nesting areas” vs “The piping plover can find another location to nest while we protect the people,”

Reality is local – expensive, conflicts, unknown effectiveness

Source: Reuters World Service Date: June 17, 2014

Someone is watching! [U.S. President] Obama … announced measures to protect coastal communities vulnerable to climate change, including an offer of $102 million in grants to restore flood plains and natural barriers along the Atlantic coast …

2 Minute Video on Coastal EbA: http://www.rona.unep.org/toomey/

Multiple Threats

Warming – Acidification – Agricultural Runoff – Fishing – Tourism

Multiple Benefits

Climate Resilience - Ecosystem Services - Biodivesity

Selected EbA Projects

Topic and Location Funder, Scale, Timeline, Partners

EbA in Mountain Regions: Uganda, Peru, Nepal Germany (BMUB). $15M. 2011-15 w/ UNDP and IUCN EbA in Coral Reefs and Coastal Ecosystems: Grenada & Seychelles European Commission. $3.5M. 2014-16 EbA in agriculture-dominated landscapes Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia UN Development Fund $0.7M. 2014-15 EbA in Urban areas in Asia: Kathmandu, Chennai, Khulna, Colombo, Manila, Davao, Makassar 2014 submitted to IKI $5M. w/ PEI (UNDP) and UN-Habitat Effectiveness of EbA 2014 submitted to IKI $3M w/ WCMC and ESEU

LDCF SCCF LDCF & SCCF LDCF & AF

KEY

* Click points to view more information

UNEP GEF adaptation portfolio distribution

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

UNEP GEF Adaptation Portfolio Growth

1st UN Environmental Assembly (2014) EbA Resolution

Operative paragraphs include:

The United Nations Assembly, Requests the Executive Director of UNEP to … enhance support to developing countries…for the development and implementation of community-based, national and regional ecosystem-based adaptation… Encourages all countries to include and improve ecosystem-based adaptation … in their climate change adaptation and food security policies … Invites all countries to take into consideration ecosystems in their development planning … including in their climate change adaptation policies and plans

THANK YOU

Discussion Questions

1.

What are some of the leading facilitators of effective adaptation today? Funding? Knowledge? Technology? Leadership? Stakeholder engagement?

2.

What leading examples of effective adaptation can you share with this audience? What is working? Does scale matter?

3.

UNEP’s climate adaptation portfolio has grown more than 1000%

• ver the past five fiscal years. What outcomes are you seeing from

this robust, early investment?

4.

The audience for today’s interview includes many U.S.-based climate leaders, operating at municipal, state, and federal levels as well as within the private sector. How does your team’s work at UNEP connect with the adaptation challenges we face in the U.S.?

19

Audience Questions

Keith Alverson: Head of the Climate Change Adaptation and Terrestrial Ecosystems Branch of the Division on Environmental Policy Implementation at the UNEP. Keith.Alverson@unep.org 20 Abigail Abrash Walton: Co-director, Center for Climate Preparedness and Community Resilience at Antioch University New

• England. aabrash@antioch.edu

21 Sign Up for Free SSF Membership

To Access the Webinar Archives

www.securityandsustainabilityforum.org

Renewable Energy on Institutional Property Webinar Series Register at: www.ssfonline.org Energy Tab

Archived Webinars in the Series

• June 2nd – Renewable Energy Policy
• June 26th Webinar #1 – The US Federal Agency Market: Meeting Energy Reduction and

Renewable Energy Mandates

• July 10th Webinar #2 – Renewable Energy Technology Applicability
• July 24th Webinar #3 – The Effective Marriage of Renewable Energy and Energy

Efficiency in an ESCO Contract for Municipalities, and Educational and Hospital Campuses

• August 7th - Webinar #4 – The Intersection of the Microgrid, Renewable Energy, and

Storage Registration Open

• August 21st Webinar #5 – Public Private Partnerships (PPP)
• September 4th

Webinar #6 – The Leading Edge of New Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Technologies Coming to the Market

• September 18th Webinar #7 – Developing the RFP

Professional Science Master’s (PSM) degree program combines graduate study with Peace Corps service. Engage with communities around the globe on issues of resilience and sustainability in an era of climate change.

• Ecological and climate sciences
• Policy formulation and implementation
• Resource management
• Stakeholder participation and cultural competency
• Leadership and organizational decision making

Earn a Master of Science Degree while serving as a Peace Corps volunteer, plus earn 12 credits, tuition-free, for your

• service. Contact: Jason Rhoades, jrhoades@antioch.edu.

Peace Corps Master’s International | Environmental Studies Sustainable Development and Climate Change Concentration

www.antiochne.edu