Nature-based Solutions

To this end, FutureWater, in collaboration with unique land use GmbH and the Central Himalayan Rural Action Group, is conducting a training program on Springshed Management in four states, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh India. The program aims to equip the local stakeholders with practical tools and best practices for managing springshed and springs in the region. The key beneficiaries of these trainings are the forest departments of these four states under the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Climate Change (MoEF&CC). Funded by GIZ India, these trainings will covers key topics, including:

Concepts of springs and springshed management protocols and best practices
Hydro-geological data collection during a field expedition
Springshed mapping
Connecting forest ecosystem services to water resources

For the first round of training the consortium will start training with the Uttarakhand Forest Department (UKFD) in Dehradun, India. This initiative aims to strengthen sustainable water management practices and safeguard these critical water sources for future generations.

To help transition from reactive to proactive drought management, and in the absence of a cross-sectoral coordinating mechanism around drought investment prioritization, the World Bank has put together a process for developing a Drought Risk and Resilience Assessment (DRRA). The DRRA methodology includes reference to Nature-based Solutions (NBS) as an option to make countries more resilient to droughts. However, how these types of interventions can increase efficiency of World Bank projects, how they can be identified, how impacts can be assessed, and which challenges need to be addressed to implement NBS is not yet addressed sufficiently. This knowledge gap will be addressed by (i) Development of factsheets of existing NBS interventions to reduce drought risks for water services for drink water supply, for agriculture, for energy or other economic sectors that depend on water, and (ii) Developing an inventory of existing tools to identify effective NBS for drought resilience and assess their potential impact.

The aim is to develop a business case for a Watershed Investment Program for Addis Ababa. It includes stakeholder and governance analysis, scientific modeling, return on investment (ROI) analysis, and an implementation plan. Hydrological models are employed to assess the potential of Nature-based Solutions to mitigate the negative trends in the watershed, and improve water supply reliability, water quality, sedimentation and agricultural productivity. The study should raise awareness for all key stakeholders and potential investors. The study is performed under the Nature for Water Facility launched by The Nature Conservancy.

Urban flood management in Laos is typically based on a limited, hard infrastructure approach. With the aim to shift this paradigm towards an integrated approach that enhances climate resilience, the project “Building resilience of urban populations with ecosystem-based solutions in Lao PDR” was approved by the Green Climate Fund Board in November 2019 with a GCF grant of US$10 million. United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) serves as the Accredited Entity for the project. Activities are executed by the State of Lao PDR through the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) as well as UNEP. The project is implemented across five years (2020-2025) covering four provincial capitals in the country: Vientiane, Paksan, Savannakhet, and Pakse.

One component of the project involves technical and institutional capacity building to plan, design, implement and maintain integrated urban Ecosystems-based Adaptation (EbA) interventions for the reduction of climate change induced flooding. As a part of Integrated Climate-resilient Flood Management Strategy (ICFMS) development, the project conducts hydrological, hydraulic and climate risk assessments to inform climate change adaptation solutions for risk reduction in Vientiane, Paksan, Savannakhet and Pakse.

A consortium of FutureWater, Mekong Modelling Associates (MMA) and Lao Consulting Group (LCG) was contracted by MONRE to implement the related activities. FutureWater leads and coordinates this assignment and contributes remote sensing analyses with state-of-the-art innovative tools, climate risk assessments, and training activities. To ensure sustainability and effective technology transfer, the modelling and mapping infrastructure and trained staff will be hosted within MONRE and a knowledge hub that is established within the National University of Laos.

Om de doelstellingen te bereiken, heeft het project een technische component en een component voor betrokkenheid van belanghebbenden. Aan de technische kant zullen hydrologische modellen worden bijgewerkt en gevalideerd. Klimaatveranderingsscenario’s zullen worden gebruikt als input voor het testen van adaptatiestrategieën binnen het Limpopo-bekken. De adaptatiestrategieën omvatten traditionele grijze infrastructuur en daarnaast op de natuur gebaseerde oplossingen. De batenanalyse van de adaptatiemaatregelen zal zowel macro- als micro-sociaal-economische voordelen omvatten.

De resultaten van deze studie zullen vervolgens worden gebruikt om de ontwikkeling van een eerste generatie Grensoverschrijdende Diagnostische Analyse (TDA) voor het Limpopo-rivierbekken (LRB) te ondersteunen. Hierdoor zullen de afzonderlijke landen in het stroomgebied het eens worden over een reeks grensoverschrijdende ontwikkelingsprioriteiten voor het bekken. Deze prioriteiten zullen toekomstige grensoverschrijdende en nationale investeringen sturen via een Strategisch Actieplan (SAP) en Nationale Actieplannen (NAP’s).

The objective is to support the delineation and launching of a a Watershed Investment Program to improve multi-stakeholder collaboration and sustainable funding mechanisms to protect and restore riparian buffer zones and to implement runoff attenuation features to reduce eroded sediments entering the river.

To support the science streams, FutureWater is applying open source tools such as INVEST and RIOS Tool, together with Remote Sensing analysis to elaborate on a NbS opportunity mapping analysis. Besides, we aim to provide quantitative results on NbS benefits to reduce sediment loads entering the river system.

Nigeria as a country faces extensive Water Security Challenges (WSCs), from water availability and provisioning to water quality issues. These will become exacerbated by multiple future pressures, including huge increases in population and a changing climate. Oshun and Ogun catchments are located in the South West of Nigeria, in the same area as Lagos. These catchments face multiple challenges including unregulated groundwater extraction and poor sanitation infrastructure which compromise societal access to water.

NbS have the potential to contibute to addressing WSCs by increasing the overall resilience of the hydrological system, helping to increase infiltration to groundwater and buffer water quality issues. Alongside this, NbS can provide a wealth of co-benefits including carbon sequestration and increased biodiversity, complementing more traditional so-called ‘grey’ infrastructure such as pipelines and treatment plants.

Through extensive stakeholder consultation paired with GIS analysis and hydrological modelling, this project will help outline NbS which are best placed to address key WSCs, alongside identifying beneficiaries in the catchments of interest and existing parnerships in the catchment which are capable of delivering projects on-the-ground.

This work lays the foundations for the creation of so-called Watershed Investment Programmes (WIPs) in Osun and Ogun catchments, alongside the identification of further catchments in Nigeria which are disposed towards similar initiatives. WIPs aim to sustain and enhance the provisioning of key water-related ecosystem services by funding the conservation and restoration of lands that protect water quantity and quality. This is achieved through connecting downstream water users (e.g. water utilities, local governments, businesses, and the public) to upstream land managers (e.g. farmers and rural landowners). They unite these parties and others around the goal of enhancing water quality and quantity for societal benefits.

To facilitate the needs of ZIPAK, this training aims to build data-driven capacities relevant to sustainable nature conservation practices and ecosystem-based natural resources management in Iran:

Leveraging the Climate Change Knowledge Portal (CCKP) for performing climate risk and vulnerability assessments
Leveraging the online dashboard Earth Map for environmental hazard mapping and socio-economic risk assessments
Applying the InVest model (Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs) for assessing ecosystem service provision

The training focuses on knowledge and skills development and how how to meaningfully integrate these capabilities into ZIPAK’s objectives on sustainable management of the environment and natural resources.

De mediterrane regio staat voor groeiende uitdagingen om de voedsel- en watervoorziening te waarborgen, aangezien landen te maken krijgen met een toenemende vraag en een afnemende beschikbaarheid van natuurlijke hulpbronnen. De nexus-benadering is gericht op het beheren en benutten van synergieën tussen sectoren door middel van efficiënt en geïntegreerd beheer van de Water-, Energie-, Voedsel- en Ecosystemen-nexus (WEFE).

De doelstellingen van BONEX zijn het bieden van praktische en aangepaste hulpmiddelen, het onderzoeken van concrete en contextspecifieke technologische innovaties, het verbeteren van beleid en governance en het vergemakkelijken van de praktische implementatie van de WEFE-nexus, waarbij sociale, economische en ecologische afwegingen in balans worden gebracht.

Het project heeft als doel een nieuw, transdisciplinair diagnostisch WEFE-bridging framework te ontwikkelen, dat methoden op een contextspecifieke manier combineert en verder gaat dan disciplinaire silo’s. De diagnostische hulpmiddelen ter ondersteuning van dit framework zullen worden ontwikkeld en getest in zeven geselecteerde demonstratieprojecten in de regio, waarin innovatieve technologieën worden gepilot (zoals agrivoltaïsche systemen en systemen voor hergebruik van afvalwater).

Als resultaat zal BONEX beleidsmakers en praktijkmensen voorzien van een interactief besluitvormingsinstrument om afwegingen, synergieën en nexus-oplossingsbenaderingen op een transdisciplinaire manier te evalueren. Bovendien zal het waardevolle ervaringen opleveren met het op maat maken van innovatieve WEFE-nexus technologieën, wat nieuwe zakelijke kansen biedt. De WEFE-nexusbenadering is noodzakelijk om duurzame agrovoedselsystemen te implementeren en ecosystemen te behouden.

Binnen BONEX zal FutureWater actief bijdragen aan het pakket van diagnostische hulpmiddelen. Een eenvoudige waterboekhoudtool (REWAS) zal worden gebruikt om te evalueren of met innovatieve technologieën ‘echte waterbesparingen’ worden gerealiseerd. De waterboekhoudtool evalueert waterstromen op veldniveau en op schaal van irrigatiedistricten en bepaalt of er daadwerkelijk ‘echte besparingen’ worden behaald. De tool houdt ook rekening met voedselproductie (opbrengst van gewassen) en zal componenten introduceren voor het evalueren van energie- en waterkwaliteitsaspecten om de WEFE-nexusaspecten aan te vullen. De zeven demonstratieprojecten zullen worden gebruikt om deze waterboekhoudtool te demonstreren en iteratief te ontwikkelen. Een hydrologische analyse zal worden uitgevoerd op geselecteerde locaties om ook de impact op stroomgebiedschaal te evalueren. Uiteindelijk zullen de resultaten van deze analyses worden vertaald naar beleidsimplicaties en bijdragen aan de realisatie van de duurzame ontwikkelingsdoelen (SDG’s).

Dit project maakt deel uit van het PRIMA-programma, ondersteund door de Europese Unie.

The beneficiaries of this training, provided by FutureWater together with Solidaridad, belong to the Zambia Agricultural Research Institute (ZARI).

ZARI is a department within the Ministry of Agriculture of Zambia with the overall objective to provide a high quality, appropriate and cost-effective service to farmers, generating and adapting crop, soil and plant protection technologies. This department comprises a number of sections, one of which, for the purpose of this training request is the Soil and Water Management (SWM) division. ZARI and the SWM carry out demand-driven research, trying to find solutions to the problems faced by Zambian small-scale farmers, especially considering the near- and long-term impacts of climate change.

The training programme consists of a hybrid approach of e-learning and in-person training sessions and is structured around the following modules:

Remote sensing-based analysis using Google Earth Engine to assess trends in land use, management, degradation and hotspots for intervention.
Data collection and database management.
GIS and remote sensing to assess suitability for SWC.
Effectiveness and prioritization of SWC using open-source tools.
Independent working on case study.

At the end of the training, it is expected that participants have achieved several objectives such as acquisition of technical skills for extracting relevant data from open access remote sensing products and improved knowledge of data collection and database management.