Climate Change Adaptation in Diana Region

Geographical location:

Africa/Madagascar > West Indian Ocean > Madagascar

Summary

The Diana region is an important marine and coastal priority area in the Western Indian Ocean. This project offers an opportunity to develop, refine and apply adaptation procedures to mitigate the impacts of climate change.

The on-the-ground approach can be used as a model for other high conservation-value areas in Madagascar. Such models can be scaled up to form the basis of comprehensive adaptation policies and strategies to strengthen regional development plans and form part of a national adaptation programme.

Background

Climate change poses a serious threat to biodiversity and the livelihoods of much of the Malagasy population that depends directly on stable ecosystems for life support. In addition to the expected effects of climate change, Diana’s biodiversity is already exposed to growing anthropogenic stresses, including pollution, siltation, deforestation, excessive exploitation and harvest.

Madagascar ratified the United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1998 and, until 2008, most of the debate and climate change work conducted in the country focused on mitigation and the potential to access funding through forest carbon schemes. In 2006, the Government of Madagascar developed a National Action Plan, in compliance with the UNFCCC. Unfortunately, implementation has been very limited because its development did not involve key actors such as NGOs, and it did not reflect the realities and needs of the country’s varied regions.

The 2008 national climate change adaptation workshop was an eye-opener for Malagasy authorities and conservation actors on the critical importance of building resilience into the natural and social systems that make up the country. Increasing the resilience of the natural systems in the Diana Region is therefore both pivotal for the long-term conservation of the unique biodiversity of Madagascar and the Western Indian Ocean as well as for securing the natural resource base on which local livelihoods and the national economy depend for their future development.

The project goal is that the Diana Region provides successfully implemented climate change adaptation models that can be scaled up for high-value conservation areas throughout Madagascar, one of WWF’s 35 priority places. A project of this geographical scale, which embraces multiple habitats and addresses complex cross-habitat anthropological stresses, requires a multi-stakeholder approach. Besides WWF’s traditional partners (CI, WCS, Madagascar National Parks, MBG, Fanamby, and SAGE), the project will support community bodies in leading most site-based interventions.

Objectives

The main objectives of this project are:
1. The capacity of the Diana regional actors is developed to enable them to design and implement adaptation policies to enhance the resilience of coastal and marine conservation priority areas.

2. Adaptation approaches are developed and implemented in 2 priority areas for conservation and 1 natural resources management project.

3. Climate change adaptation is integrated into the Diana Regional Development Plan and lessons from Diana are shared at a national level.

Solution

Climate change adaptation is systematically integrated into national, regional and local development strategies and policies and implemented.