The Triple Dividend of Resilience

Unbreakable : Building the Resilience of the Poor in the Face of Natural Disasters

Conservation and empowerment

Young stewards with a passion: How a youth-based program created new stewards and changed attitudes

Guidelines on Mangrove Ecosystem Restoration for the Western Indian Ocean Region

The Value of Estuarine and Coastal Ecosystem Services

UNISDR’s 2019 Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction

Mangroves’ multiple benefits: How Vietnam Red Cross grew an idea into a 9,000 hectare mangrove forest

Mapping the global value and distribution of coral reef tourism

Changes in the global value of ecosystem services

What are nature-based solutions?

Nature-based solutions (NbS) are actions to protect, sustainably manage, and restore natural or modified ecosystems that address societal challenges effectively and adaptively, simultaneously providing human well-being and biodiversity benefits. Common societal challenges are climate change, food security, disaster risks, water security, social and economic development as well as human health (IUCN, 2016). Inspired and supported by nature, NbS are cost-effective, simultaneously provide environmental, social, and economic benefits and help build resilience. Such solutions bring more, and more diverse, nature and natural features and processes into cities, landscapes, and seascapes, through locally adapted, resource-efficient, and systemic interventions. (European Commission, 2019)THE EVIDENCE: THE CASE FOR NATURE-BASED SOLUTIONSNature-based solutions offer multiple benefits: they reduce damages in communities in the event of severe weather while offering economic, social, and environmental benefits in an ongoing manner. Many studies of NbS focus on protective benefits and cost-effectiveness (i.e. dividing the expected benefits by the associated costs). Although they show high benefit-cost ratios (BCR), the case for NbS is even stronger when other benefits are also included.Let us first explore the benefit types one by one. We will then summarize the value of NbS and also highlight the ‘cost of doing nothing’.

Defining Nature-Based Solutions

To understand how nature protects, let us look at the mechanisms at play, learn how to value benefits, review evidence, and look at the cost comparisons between structural and nature-based solutions.Mechanisms of protection – At its simplest, mangroves, reefs and other coastal ecosystems act as ‘speed brakes’: they stand in the way of an incoming force. A meta-analysis of coral reefs in the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic Oceans revealed that on average, reefs dissipate 97% of wave energy that would otherwise impact shorelines. The authors estimate that at least 100 million people benefit from reef protection – primarily in Indonesia, India and the Philippines.Closer to the shoreline, mangroves do their part to reduce hazard exposure by reducing wave heights and retaining sediments, thereby decreasing the impacts of flooding and erosion (Losada et al 2018: 5).In other ecological settings, marshlands and seagrass meadows have similar effects towards retaining sediments, and have some effect on wave attenuation (Björk et al. 2008:17).On the shoreline itself, dunes can act as natural dikes that reduce exposure to flooding. Coastal forests and shelter belts act as wind breaks. Windspeed (and thus the load on roofs of houses during storms) is reduced over an extensive area landward – up to 30 times the height of trees (Wight/Stuhr 2002).How to value protective benefitsThe protective benefits of coastal ecosystems are calculated by comparing different scenarios and the respective damages and losses in adjacent communities. For instance, one can compare hazard losses in communities that are protected by a coastal ecosystem with those in unprotected communities and take the difference as the protective benefit. Such techniques are explored when discussing cost effectiveness in <a href="https://dev.natureprotects.org/posts/identify-solutions" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(9, 78, 192);">stage 4</a>.Results from around the worldAnalyzing protective benefits, let us first look at those of specific ecosystems (i.e. irrespective as to whether there was a nature-based intervention). This then informs the analysis of cost effectiveness and how green solutions (NbS) compare to gray (structural) and hybrid efforts.Amongst the various ecosystems, the protective benefit is best documented for mangroves. A 2018 global study concludes:<ul><li>that mangroves reduce flooding to at least 18 million people,</li><li>that without mangroves, 39% more people would be flooded&nbsp;annually, and that flood damages would increase by 16% and USD 82 billion annually (Losada et al. 2018:31-33).</li></ul>Another study estimates that 100 million people receive protective benefits from existing coral reefs (Ferrario et al. 2014:6), though it did not quantify the benefits.While comprehensive global valuations of overall protective benefits from the various coastal ecosystems remain elusive, there is an abundance of case studies that demonstrate strong protective benefits of ecosystems and nature-based solutions.For instance, the protective benefits from mangrove reforestation in Vietnamese communities exceeded associated costs by factors between 1.6 and 58.5 (IFRC 2011:21).Conservatively assuming a ten year-return period for major typhoons, the overall avoided losses of USD 37.8 million identified in five (of the project’s 166) communities alone exceeded the total program cost 4.2 times (ibid).Cost effectiveness: Green, gray and hybridBecause local conditions vary so much, it would be misleading to say that one type of protective measure is more cost-effective than another (Pontee et al. 2016:8). Green solutions (NbS) are constrained by the suitability of the habitat to the environment at a site. For instance, you cannot plant mangroves if soil and tidal conditions are simply not right. In certain conditions, structural or hybrid measures may be the most cost-effective.That said, structural solutions tend to require a higher initial investment. A study focusing on the Caribbean concluded that coral reef and mangrove restoration projects in that region are&nbsp;10 to 100 times cheaper than artificial coastal&nbsp;defenses (Narrayan et al. 2019: 1).As we will see in <a href="https://dev.natureprotects.org/posts/assess-context" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(9, 78, 192);">stage 3</a> and <a href="https://dev.natureprotects.org/posts/identify-solutions" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(9, 78, 192);">stage 4</a>, assessing specific conditions is critical to finding the most cost-effective and sustainable solution in any given context. As a cost comparison between reefs and&nbsp;breakwaters (Ferrario 2014:5) shows, there is a huge range of costs for both green and gray solutions.Thinking of overall cost effectiveness, there’s also a big ‘but’: So far, we have only looked at the protective benefits of NbS. Naturally, these benefits (avoided losses) only materialize in a hazard event.But compared to ‘gray’ options for coastal protection, ‘green’ solutions offer much stronger ongoing benefits. These can be grouped as economic, social and environmental in nature.&nbsp;

How nature protects people: protective benefits

Since protective benefits are primarily of an economic nature, we refer to other ongoing gains from NbS as ‘co-benefits’.These include:<ul><li>Fisheries and aquacultures: Intact and healthy ecosystems are habitats for a wide range of fish species as well as crabs and molluscs. The gains in terms of aquatic abundance provide strong benefits to these industries. In the Caribbean alone, this overall value has been estimated at USD 110 million for coral reefs and 66 million for mangroves (Heck et al. 2019: 7).</li><li>Tourism: Intact coral reefs attract not just more fish, but also more tourists. The gains from coral reef tourism in the Caribbean are estimated at USD 5.7 billion annually (ibid). Coral reefs attract foreign and domestic visitors and generate revenues, including foreign exchange earnings, in over 100 countries and territories. Globally, the benefits are estimated to be worth USD 35.8 billion per year, with the highest shares in Eqypt, Indonesia, Mexico and Thailand (<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X17300635" target="_blank">Spalding et al. 2017:109</a>).</li><li>Unlocking development potential: As a spin-off from their protective function, NbS create safer housing and development zones that raise property values and increase development opportunities. With NbS, property along the&nbsp;coast may be flooded less frequently, allowing those who live there to have more secure housing and businesses in this zone.</li></ul>Meanwhile, agricultural productivity and yields may increase as a result of both combined protective function and improved environmental conditions (e.g. lower risk/prevalence of saline intrusion). These ‘second dividend’ gains (see box and <a href="https://www.gfdrr.org/sites/default/files/publication/The_Triple_Dividend_of_Resilience.pdf" target="_blank">Thanner et al 2015: 21-24</a>) have yet to be further quantified but can be reasonably expected to be very substantial.&nbsp;THE TRIPLE DIVIDEND OF RESILIENCE Many cost-benefit analyses focus on the protective benefits – avoided losses and lives saved.' A 2015 paper argues that this practice underestimates the benefits. Aside from the protective benefits (the first dividend) that only materialize when hazards hit, the paper makes the case that investments have two further dividends that materialize in an ongoing manner (<a href="https://www.gfdrr.org/sites/default/files/publication/The_Triple_Dividend_of_Resilience.pdf" target="_blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Thanner et al 2015</a>).The second dividend is about unlocking economic potential: whereas few would invest in a hazard-prone area, economic potential is unlocked if the same area is better protected. For instance, one may not build a hotel if there is substantial flood risk, but may do so if the risk is significantly reduced.The third dividend concerns numerous other benefits – organizational, social, environmental and economic. These tend to be very high in the case of NbS – for instance, intact reefs may mean more fish stock and greater potential for tourism.&nbsp;

Economic co-benefits

There are numerous other benefits of NbS for human well-being, including positive outcomes for health, nutrition, and food security. A recent study estimates that 10% of the world’s population depends on the ocean as a source of protein and employment – and identifies an impending crisis of marine food insecurity as a result of climate change, ocean pollution, and environmental degradation (Taylor et al. 2019).Although the quantification of the role of coastal ecosystems on food security itself remains elusive, aside from the direct use value of the increased fish stock (Barbier et al. 2011), it is evident that NbS have substantial benefits to the food security of coastal communities. This benefit can be particularly strong in communities with high marine food security dependence (Taylor et al. 2019:1408).In fact, the food security benefits of NbS have a social dimension: with improved fish and aquatic stock, the poorest and most marginalized community members have greater access to an alternative food source, while the collection of non-timber forest products (NTFP) can provide an additional source of income. Importantly, access to food from coastal ecosystems can raise the capacity to cope with stressors, in particular when other food sources fail to suffice. Mangroves can provide benefits to lives and livelihoods, and thus reduce socio-economic vulnerability. Poor people suffer disproportionately from natural hazards because a) they are exposed to floods and storms more often, b) they lose more as a share of their wealth when hit and c) they receive less support for recovery. For an excellent summary of the disproportional effect of disasters on poor populations, see <a href="https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/25335" target="_blank">Hallegate et al. 2017: 25-62</a>. As Losada et al. (2018:35) note, mangroves contribute most to countries with high hazard exposure and high socio-economic vulnerability.

Food access: benefits on food security

﻿Much more than structural solutions, NbS require collective engagement and action of the wider community. Numerous case studies have shown the sense of pride and satisfaction when an ecosystem has been restored as a result of strong community stewardship.Structural measures such as dams and breakwaters require heavy equipment and are owned by the government. By contrast, NbS require many hands, and many communities see the resulting solutions as theirs.Several case studies in this guide demonstrate the strong social benefits of NbS. See case studies Mangroves’ multiple benefits (Vietnam), Conservation and empowerment (Papua New Guinea), and Young stewards with a passion (Belize).&nbsp;

Nurturing community spirit: social benefits

Nature-based solutions furthermore offer a wide range of environmental benefits, both locally and globally.&nbsp;Locally, reefs, mangroves, seagrass, marshlands, and swamps add nutrients, filter water, prevent soil erosion, and sustain or rehabilitate local biodiversity of the wider flora and fauna.&nbsp;In the Caribbean, the value of local biodiversity protection from coral reefs has been estimated at USD 251 million per year (Heck et al. 2019:5).Globally, these ecosystems play a crucial role in carbon sequestration as well as biodiversity. On average, mangroves absorb as much CO2 per hectare as tropical rainforests. Mangroves cover 13.7-15.2 million hectares globally (equal to the size of Bangladesh) and are estimated to sequester 31.2 - 34.4 million tonnes of carbon annually. They are amongst the most carbon-rich ecosystems on the planet (<a href="http://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/33253/GMER.pdf?sequence=1&amp;isAllowed=y" target="_blank">UNEP 2020:5</a>).&nbsp;In the Caribbean, the value of carbon sequestration from mangrove&nbsp;ecosystems is worth USD 6.7 billion per year.10&nbsp;In Vietnam, the 9,000 ha of mangroves planted through a Red Cross project sequesters USD 13.4 million worth of carbon per year (annualized average 2011 - 2025).11&nbsp;The plants that villagers from 166 communities once put into the mud now absorb the CO2e emissions of 425,000 Vietnamese each year (at 2005 emission levels, without land use change).&nbsp;

Green lungs: environmental benefits

Measuring the benefits of ecosystems is not easy – and unsurprisingly, no comprehensive valuation of coastal ecosystems exists that would show the combined value of all coastal ecosystems for all benefit types listed here. Most valuation studies either focus on geographical areas, particular ecosystems, or specific types of benefits or some combination thereof. <a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1890/10-1510.1" target="_blank">Barbier et al. 2011</a> is an exception, but it excludes protective benefits.&nbsp;Globally, the annual total value of ecosystem services provided by coastal areas and wetlands was assessed at USD 54.1 trillion in 2011 (<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378014000685?via%3Dihub" target="_blank">Costanza et al. 2014:156</a>) – equivalent to 72% of the world’s combined GDP in the same year. Mangroves account for almost&nbsp;half of that (USD 24.8 trillion), followed by coral reefs (USD 9.9 trillion) and seagrass (USD 6.8 trillion) (ibid). However, these calculations do not include any protective benefits.Despite these limitations, we can safely conclude that coastal ecosystems offer enormous value to humanity through environmental, economic, social, and protective benefits. Yet, coastal ecosystems continue to be at threat. Between 1997 and 2011, some 34 million hectares of coral reefs and 37 million hectares of mangroves have been lost (ibid).Protection of existing mangroves, reefs, and other coastal habitats is the most cost-effective option for maintaining and strengthening these benefits. The cost of restoring coastal ecosystems that have been lost or degraded is always greater than preventing this loss in the first place. As a user of this guide, you should always strive for protective arrangements being part of your overall solution. If ecosystems are intact, focus on protection. If they are degraded, combine efforts of restoration and protection. This guide cannot tell you what the best solution is for your context. Instead, it guides you through the process of finding it and then implementing it to the best possible outcome in terms of combined benefits.&nbsp;

The bottom line: combined benefits

There is one more thing to raise before we launch our journey through the eight stages. Imagine you live in or work with communities along the coast that have high hazard exposure, partly as a result of severely degraded and defunct ecosystems.Maybe your reef has suffered bleaching, maybe shrimp farms now line the coast where mangroves once were. One could of course decide to do nothing. Maybe NbS seem too hard. Maybe you prefer DRR solutions you have more experience in. Life vests and megaphones, training response teams, and setting up evacuation systems and routes: maybe they seem to be more feasible. They are all valid and good options. But on their own, few of these measures will truly&nbsp;transform conditions, reduce exposure, reduce vulnerability, and enhance resilience in the long run. Integrating NbS into more conventional DRR enables coastal communities to improve long-term protection of lives and livelihoods while addressing related climate and development challenges.The impacts of climate change are felt already by communities around the world, including those along the coast. While you may not notice a 20-centimeter increase in sea level directly, you notice the impacts: increased erosion, salty groundwater from wells, reduced crop yields, more intense or frequent storms, more drought. Fortunately, over recent decades, life vests and megaphones have helped reduce the number of storm-related fatalities (see figure 3). The <a href="https://gar.undrr.org/sites/default/files/reports/2019-05/full_gar_report.pdf" target="_blank">UNISDR’s 2019 Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction</a> warns that 92% of fatalities since 1990 have occurred in low- to middle-income countries (all hazard types) and that economic losses continue being under-reported (ibid: vii).&nbsp;But with economic damages continuing to rise, the focus must be expanded to protecting livelihoods as well. This requires an expansion of the conventional DRR toolkit.The 2019 report ‘The Cost of Doing Nothing’ warned that by 2050, 200 million people may be in need of post-hazard humanitarian assistance each year, with expected losses steeply rising (<a href="https://media.ifrc.org/ifrc/the-cost-of-doing-nothing/" target="_blank">IFRC 2019:23</a>). The first priority, the report concludes, is to reduce long-term vulnerability and exposure – exactly what NbS are able to do.So, let’s embark on our journey towards enhanced resilience. It is the best way forward.

Doing nothing: counterfactuals

<ul><li>Coastal ecosystems offer numerous benefits, including protection from severe weather. But they are under threat.</li><li>Understand them. No two contexts are the same – make sure you know dynamics and conditions.</li><li>Protect them so they can protect you.</li><li>Leave them, if they are intact. On its own, preservation is the cheapest and most cost-effective option.</li><li>Restore them, if they are degraded – then monitor, manage and maintain outcomes.</li><li>Rebuild them, if they are defunct. This is the most challenging option.</li><li>Integrate them into wider solutions – such as mixed models (also called hybrid or green-gray).&nbsp;</li></ul>

PROCESS NAVIGATOR

Where land and water meet, there is unparalleled potential. Drawn by access to marine resources and trade routes, people have settled along the world’s coastlines throughout history. In today's globalized world, 37% of humans live along the coast (<a href="https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Ocean-fact-sheet-package.pdf" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(102, 163, 224);">United Nations Ocean Conference fact sheet 2017</a>). The combined values from shipping, tourism, and commercial and subsistence fishing mean that living by the sea offers a great opportunity.Coastlines are also frontlines: it is here where many hazards cause the greatest havoc. In 2004, the Indian Ocean tsunami killed at least 228,000 people and caused estimated losses of USD 15 billion. On a much more regular basis, cyclones and hurricanes kill and destroy as they reach land with maximum speed.As an analysis of disaster data related to cyclones, hurricanes, and typhoons shows (based on the EMDAT database), the number of average annual fatalities has decreased from 20,600 (1990-99) to 2,800 (2010-19), while economic losses have starkly increased over the same period (from USD 16.4 to 69.6 billion). Although two storms (Bangladesh 1991, Myanmar 2008) caused more than 130,000 deaths each, advances in early warning and preparedness have lowered the fatalities: less than 5% of global annual disaster deaths of 60,000 (2010-19) were related to storms. In many places, the combination of land subsidence, poor water management, degradation of ecosystems, and sea-level rise combine to increase vulnerability to extreme weather events and greater exposure to stressors.Healthy coastal ecosystems such as mangroves, reefs, dunes, and swamps help protect people and assets from damaging forces. Yet for numerous reasons, these valuable ecosystems remain unprotected and continue to be destroyed.The good news is that much can be done to regain nature’s protective benefits. Nature-based solutions (NbS) are actions that address societal challenges (such as climate change and disaster risk) by protecting, sustainably managing, and restoring natural or modified ecosystems (IUCN 2016).They can be categorized into four groups:<ul><li>Fully natural solutions that utilize naturally occurring systems, such as coral reefs, marshes, and mangroves;</li><li>Managed natural solutions that utilize interventions, such as artificial coral or shellfish reefs, renourished beaches and dunes, planted marshes and mangroves;</li><li>Hybrid solutions that combine structural engineering (“gray infrastructure”) and natural features (“green infrastructure"), such as marsh-levee systems or dune-dyke systems; and</li><li>Environment-friendly structural engineering that is beneficial to natural systems, such as vegetated engineering or bamboo sediment fences (Pontee et al 2016:30.).</li></ul>Aside from reducing climate-related disaster risk, NbS typically enhance food security, water security, social and economic development, and human health. In short, NbS increase resilience through nature.The case for nature is strong, and NbS can be integrated into wider disaster risk reduction (DRR). This guide shows you how to do that, taking you through the eight stages towards increased coastal resilience.<img src="https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/static.natureprotects.org/Figure%201.%20Eight%20stages%20of%20resilience.PNG">Let’s get started. We recommend learners to read through the rest of this introduction, and then the Blue Guide in its entirety, from Stage 1 through Stage 8. Use the menu to the left, and click Stage 1: Ideate and Scope.