Building Resilience toClimate Change in theNamakwa District

Ecosystem based Adaptation in the Namakwa
District
Ecosystem-based adaptation is the use of biodiversity and ecosystemservices as part of an overall strategy for climate change adaptation. It
includes the sustainable management, conservation and restoration ofecosystems that provide the services that help people adapt to the adverse
effects of climate change (CBD, 2009).

Ecosystem
based
Adaptation

Assessing vulnerability in the Namakwa District
Municipality
Ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) helps to build resilience to climatechange into natural systems and human communities, reducing vulnerability
in both while providing multiple benefits. These benefits include thesustainable development of alternative nature-based livelihoods,
sustainable natural resource management, and the provision of key
ecosystem services such as freshwater, grazing, and soil erosion control.
The Namakwa District can expect higher annual average temperatures andlower rainfall under conditions of climate change by 2050, exacerbating
current conditions of aridity punctuated by periodic droughts and flooding(Bourne et al, 2012).

An EbA approach focuses on activities and management
approaches that use the conservation, rehabilitation, andprotection of biodiversity and ecosystem services as low-cost andlow-tech solutions to climate change••Some examples of successful EbA projects in Southern Africa canbe found in Midgley et al’s (2012) Biodiversity, Climate Change andSustainable Development Report.

Ecosystem Services in the Namakwa
District

Diversification of livelihoods: use indigenous knowledge,
together with adaptation strategies, to ensure food security,
human health, and alternatives for sustainable job creationand economic opportunity.
Establishing climate change corridors and an effectively
managed protected area network: ensure sufficient networks
of untransformed, rehabilitated, or better managed naturalareas, to deliver the ecosystem services on which we depend
and that increase resilience to climate change. This will also
create corridors along which species can move. Protectedareas can be formally set aside as reserves or sustainably
managed under various forms of stewardship.

EbA focuses on reducing vulnerability through improving
ecosystem service delivery. Ecosystem services are the suite ofbenefits that we derive from our natural environment. There are
four main types of ecosystem service (MEA, 2005):•
Provisioning services, including food, fuel, water, minerals, andmedicines•
Regulating services, including carbon sequestration, waterand air purification, pollination, climate regulation, and disease
control•Supporting services, including nutrient cycling and seeddispersal•
Cultural services, including recreation, scientific discovery, andspiritual inspiration

human well-being
60 direct jobs
2 community projects

ecosystem services
14,950ha healthy grazing land+/- 27,000kl sustained water supply

healthy ecosystems
21,000ha conserved+/- 1200 plant species conserved

EbA activities in the Namakwa District
Recommended EbA activities for the Namakwa District include:•Sustainable water management: river catchment areas, flood
plains, wetlands, and their associated vegetation should berehabilitated and managed to provide freshwater, water
storage, flood regulation, groundwater recharge, erosion
control, and fodder provisioning services.
•Disaster risk reduction: the rehabilitation of coastal habitats,such as dunes and estuaries, and wetland habitats often
provide a particularly effective measure against storm-surges,saline intrusion and erosion.
•Sustainable management of grazing lands: improve the abilityof local farmers to make a living and to respond effectively toclimate related challenges such as drought and flooding.

healthy ecosystems
benefit humanwell being in theThree Peaks

References
Bourne, A, C Donatti, S Holness, and G Midgley. 2012. Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment for the Namakwa District Municipality. Final Technical Report, August 2012
Midgley, G.F., S Marais, A Barnett; & K Wagsaether. 2011. Biodiversity, climate change andsustainable development: harnessing synergies and celebrating successes. Final technicalreport, April 2012
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. 2005
Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) (2009). Connecting Biodiversity
and Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation. Report of the Second Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Biodiversity and Climate Change. Montreal, Technical Series No. 41, 126 pp.

For more information: Amanda Bourne | Climate Adaptation Coordinator | Conservation South Africa
Email: a.bourne@conservation.org | Tel: +27 27 718 1566 | Fax: +27 27 718 1565
Photo’s by ©CI/Haroldo Castro; ©Tessa Mildenhall; Map by SANBI