Disaster Risk Reduction and Coastal Adaptation in Naturescapes

Evolution of the research questions and the dynamics and landform interaction

Despite there being more regional scientific production, the Americas are still behind Asia. We still need local driven research based on a sound understanding of local hydrodynamics and landforms across the world[1]. Land use change and transformation of natural dynamics by human activities are relevant both for restoring ecosystems functionalities but also to ensure the protection service, and other services such as water filtration, carbon storage and sediment trapping (MI COSTA[2]).

We have learnt now that we should not promote nature-based solutions based on untested assumptions, excluding communities or without proper monitoring and evaluation of ecosystems and function promoted.  We have also learnt that by focussing on just one service, such as blue carbon or coastal protection, we lose opportunities to preserve and sustainably use coastal ecosystems that benefit local communities (MAPCO).

We also know that the protective service provided by coastal ecosystems, including coral and oyster reefs, depends as much as on the ecosystem, the flows within the ecosystem, its condition and its thresholds as it does on the type of event, its timing, magnitude, the tides and the landform and coastal dynamics dominating, among other many other variables including the ecological succession of ecosystem across the shoreline profile (corals, seagrasses, mangroves); the latter demonstrated by research carried out in Belize by Greg Guannel et al. (2016). 

Current needs and good practices for risk management

It is important that national and international initiatives promoting ecosystem-based approaches to reduce disaster risk and/or increase coastal adaptation include local scientists and support their efforts engaging local communities. Enabling these bridges and learning from failures and successes could help us to reduce the risk of promoting ecosystems as cheaper alternatives together with complying with the expectations of local communities.

At local level it is also important to identify, evaluate and promote other ecosystem services as well as dis-services.  This includes continuous monitoring and maintenance of NBS. Given the many perspectives and futures imagined for our coastal cities, considering the benefits of alternative states is a useful tool to engage, dialogue and involve local stakeholders, as are conversations regarding the past and how we got here (extreme events, development processes, cities growth, coastal dynamics etc).

For whom is Transformative Thinking in biodiversity rich areas?

In order to keep up and adapt to a changing climate and its related uncertainties, it is important we understand why, where and when ecosystems are the best option (or not). This requires science, techniques and approaches to understand the local context and processes that had led to it. That is, actively observing, measuring, understanding ecosystems functionalities and its interactions with local landforms and dynamics including extreme events and slow-onset events.  We also need to understand why for some actors, ecosystems are not the first choice; is it ignorance? Is it greed? Is it solving for perceived urgent problems (lack of space)? Is a perception that the alternative state is better? Are they aware of something we are not?

We should also consider the meaning of transformative change locally. For example, what does it mean for amphibian settlements surrounded by mangroves (such as Nueva Venecia in Cienaga or many of the coastal towns along the Colombian Pacific?) that fully understand that their livelihoods depend on mangrove ecosystems[3](Salobre, 2019)? Is transformative change only for researchers or policy makers and the urbanites that recently discovered that climate influences us on a daily basis, or does it consider the Yurys and Passes tribes in the Amazon, or the Koguis communities in Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, or the organic olive oil producers in Seville with century old trees and fully organic production? What would transformative change be/look like for them? How can we achieve transformative change with ignorance? if we don’t fully understand the coastal processes and dynamics, and how coastal settings have shaped; nor, how societies have moved and/or adapted to such dynamics through history or how natural ecosystems have responded or not. Furthermore, when such knowledge exists, why is it not transforming the way we occupy coastal areas? We hope to address some of these questions through our work in the Naturescapes project.