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ADAPT: Nature-based Solutions for resilient societies in the Western Balkans is a project funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and implemented by IUCN. It aims to increase ecosystem and community resilience to climate change and environmental degradation in the Western Balkans. This regional umbrella initiative works with the six Western Balkan economies, regional and local partners.
The comparative policy analysis was carried out between November 2020 and March 2021 and produces two types of results salient to current discussions on the role of NbS in climate change adaptation (CCA) and disaster risk reduction (DRR):
1. insights for policymakers in the Western Balkans on the status of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) in existing policy and opportunities for advancing NbS in these policies;
2. a first application of the IUCN Global Standard for Nature-based Solutionsᵀᴹ to policy analysis.
The framework for the policy analysis is based on the IUCN Global Standard for Nature-based Solutionsᵀᴹ and its 8 criteria, which were broken down and interpreted in a policy context to derive 21 dimensions of policy analysis relevant to CCA and DRR in the Western Balkans. The policy analysis accounts for differences in terminology in identifying NbS-related approaches in relevant policy domains, in order to respond to the content of policy documents rather than their form (e.g. reference to forest landscape restoration that acknowledges CCA benefits instead of specifically looking for a mention of the term ‘Nature-based Solutions’). Besides consideration of policies specific to each of the Western Balkan economies, the analysis reflects on EU policies that are influential in the region due to pre-accession processes, i.e. the EU Adaptation Strategy, and Flood, Water Framework and Habitat Directives, as well as policies specific to the region, e.g. the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans. This includes further global agreements to which Western Balkan economies are signatories, i.e. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and Paris Agreement, Sendai Framework, Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), also focus the scope of the policy analysis on the related policy and sectoral processes.
It should be noted that the findings relate to an analysis of policies, and not measures “on the ground” (projects). Thus, even if a policy aligns well with the IUCN Global Standard, this does not ensure that it will lead to outcomes that are also in adherence with the Standard, as many factors can and do intervene between a policy and NbS implementation outcomes. Furthermore, the methodology developed could also be applied for policy analysis in other locations or regions by stakeholders interested in scaling up NbS for CCA and DRR, as well as for other societal challenges.