Scaling What Works for Biodiversity and Climate: Taking Community-led EbA from Local Action to Systemic Change

Community-led Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) generates practical solutions that strengthen ecosystem integrity, climate resilience, and improve livelihoods. Across many contexts, these approaches have demonstrated what effective, locally grounded action can look like. However, the scale of the interconnected climate and biodiversity crises means that successfully integrated, local approaches need to be delivered much more widely and systematically.

As COP17 takes stock of progress in implementing the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and considers how to accelerate action towards 2030, this session will explore what it takes to move community-led EbA from local action to landscape and systemic change. It will consider how scaling EbA can help advance Targets 8 and 11 on minimizing the impacts of climate on biodiversity, building resilience through ecosystem-based approaches, and restoring and enhancing nature’s contributions to people.

Drawing on experiences from the Global EbA Fund and the CBA SCALE+ projects, the session will examine pathways for scaling, including stronger enabling policies and institutions, finance, knowledge, partnerships, and local capacities. The session will take the form of a panel discussion, bringing together Global EbA Fund grantees with government and implementation partners from CBA SCALE+ countries. Through practical examples and dialogue, the session will identify how community-led EbA can be expanded while maintaining local ownership, equity, and ecological integrity, in order to deliver the climate, biodiversity, and development objectives we need at the scale required.