Information providers—mainly researchers and academics---must be ready to learn from local communities and work with them to come up with adaptation solutions and actions that are both truly useful and have a strong chance of being adopted and owned by people on the ground. The key outcome and priority of the CBA is to reduce vulnerability and increasing adaptive capacity of communities to manage the additional risks of climate change and its variability.

GEF SGP will position and transform its strategies for mitigating climate change impacts at local levels to fully embrace all types of responses, including adapting to climate Change impacts at the most vulnerable localities and with the less resourced actors—communities themselves. In view of the above needs, SGP CBA objectives revolves around: i) focusing and supporting poor and vulnerable communities adapt to Climate Change; ii) providing a delivery support system that international aid can use to reach the vulnerable communities; iii) focusing on management of production processes and optimization of ecosystem services; and iv) combining expertise and knowledge from focal area work to address in an integrated manner, issues to do with water, biodiversity, land management and forestry, to meet community resiliency objectives.

Types of projects supported by SGP

To focus community adaptation efforts, it is useful to have an overall picture of the key development sectors that are impacted by climate change induced pressures in a locality. In addition, efforts should also focus on more vulnerable sections of society including, for instance, the poor, youth, indigenous communities, women and children, and HIV/AID's impacted populations. While it is recognized that SGP is already working in these sectors, pooling resources will guarantee a more coordinated and effective response to Climate change impacts on vulnerable communities and ecosystems.

The types of projects promoted include: i) Agricultural and food security- Strengthening resilience which can range from adopting practices to protect existing livelihood systems, diversifying sources of income, to changing livelihood strategies, ii) Water resources management- In many locations, water management cannot satisfactorily cope even with current climate variability, resulting in flood and drought damages. As a first step, typical projects should aim at improved incorporation of information about current climate variability into water-related management activities so that communities can adapt to longer-term climate change impacts, iii) Coastal management-Projects in this category would come from the general area of : salt water intrusion management, protection of coastal defenses to storm surges, reduction of sedimentation and sediment loads, rehabilitation of coastal vegetative resources, infrastructural support, provision of household water supply, management of coastal river delta basins, ecotourism activities aimed at reducing pressures on natural resources in the hinterlands, fisheries and marine conservation, important bird areas management, iv) Disaster management and risks reduction- Disaster Risk Reduction &Recovery projects would coalesce around, early warning and preparedness. Typical disasters that affect communities for which CBA projects should aim at includes landslides, floods, invasion of pests, drought, and insecurity and disease outbreaks and, v) Public health and sanitation-Management of pest using biologically friendly and environmentally degradable solutions, proposing the utilization of flood waters, proper hygiene and sanitation provision for crowded dwelling places like in urban centers comprise common project types in this area.

Main achievements of the portfolio since 1992

Overall, the CBA portfolio started in 2008 with the initial support from the GEF with a nominal, and in a pilot basis, funding from the strategic priority on adaptation window. Shortly after this funding, the SGP was funded by Australian aid for similar initiative that concentrated in the Mekong delta, Asia and the Pacific region (MAP CBA) and recently by 2011, a new initiative focusing on Small Islands Developing States (SIDS CBA) was unveiled and it covers an additional 38 countries. Through the GEF SPA CBA pilot project which covered only 10 countries and the MAP CBA which covered an additional 20 countries, many products have been developed since then. These products include videos, photo stories, manuals, technical guidance materials, gender guidebooks, newsletters, various thematic contributions in major conferences, meetings, COPS and etc. Currently, up to 25 projects from MAP CBA and 65 projects from SPA CBA are either under implementation or have been finalized to date while a number of Country Programme Strategies are being finalized in the SIDS CBA countries. Lessons and cases studies are being developed out of the experiences from these projects.