Investing in Natural Capital

for an inclusive green & blue economy to implement the SDGs and Paris Climate Agreement

Poverty Environment Partnership (PEP22)

New York, Tarrytown Estate, 19-22nd June 2017

Parallel session: “What to invest in and how to finance natural capital investment?”: Urban ecosystems

Tuesday20th June 9:00-10:30 / What to invest in: Mainstreaming and Institutions to integrate natural capital into economics. “Urban ecosystems ”

Errol Douwes, Restoration Ecology- Durban (facilitator)
Prof Bill Solecki, Hunter College, City University of New York

Nelisiwe Zama, Town Planner, Durban

Concept note:At a global scale, urban centres (including cities) can be considered to have very large differences in adaptive capacity1 towards major risks such as inter alia the failure of climate change mitigation and adaptation measures, water and food security crises, high rates of unemployment and ongoing environmental degradation2. These risks may be perceived as largely negative, but can drive the development and adoption of measures, by citizens, civil society and the private sector, with catalytic positive outcomes. Community ecosystem-based adaptation (CEBA) is one such innovative approach, that could deliver highly transformative3adaptations. This is as a result of CEBA’s ability to reinforce positive relationships that exist between ecosystems and human communities4 through mutually beneficial and positively reinforcing relationships, as well as through reducing vulnerabilities5. Transformative adaptations can be of either a technological, or behavioural nature, affecting how individuals and society make decisions and allocate resources6 to cope with risk. Importantly, transformative adaptations typically require non-linear change to systems1, and may catalyse important changes to institutional arrangements, priorities, and norms6. This is in contrast to incremental adaptation, which seeks to maintain existing systems1.

The objective of the session is to discuss mainstreaming and integration of natural capital (urban ecosystems) into socio-economic development.

There are three framing questions:

What are the key challenges to scaling up local ecosystem-based solutions in urban areas?
Which risk areas can catalyse and/or optimise ecosystem-based adaptations with transformative socio-economicoutcomes (within the context of urban-based blue and green economy initiatives)?
How might PEP members work together to upscale local ecosystem-based solutions in an urban context?

This is a panel discussion session, with no PowerPoint presentations.

Each speaker will have 7 minutes to respond. The facilitator will then summarise the main points and open the floor to a wider discussion from the participants

Session outcomes:Understanding how key challenges and risk areas can work to our advantage, in ensuring more effective investments and collaborative approaches to up-scaling local ecosystems-based adaptation in urban areas.

References

1.Revi, A. et al. Towards transformative adaptation in cities: the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment. Environ. Urban.26, 11–28 (2014).

2.World Economic Forum. The Global Risks Report 2017 12th Edition. Insight Rep. 103 (2017). doi:10.1017/CBO9781107415324.004

3.Pelling, M., O’Brien, K. & Matyas, D. Adaptation and transformation. Clim. Change133, 113–127 (2015).

4.Roberts, D. & O’Donoghue, S. Urban environmental challenges and climate change action in Durban, South Africa. Environ. Urban.25, 299–319 (2013).

5.Seeliger, L. & Turok, I. Towards Sustainable Cities: Extending Resilience with Insights from Vulnerability and Transition Theory. Sustainability5, 2108–2128 (2013).

6.Kates, R. W., Travis, W. R. & Wilbanks, T. J. Transformational adaptation when incremental adaptations to climate change are insufficient. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.109, 7156–7161 (2012).

Remember: keep it simple, keep it flowing, and keep on time!