Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) is intended to bring benefits to communities and ecosystems. A case study undertaken in Lake Victoria Basin, East Africa, found that EbA approaches have trade-offs (risks and costs) and synergies (co-benefits), which may not be equally distributed between different stakeholders.
EbA is a management approach to help protect and maintain healthy ecosystems and support social and ecological resilience against climate change.
Lake Victoria Basin has a 3 500 km shoreline bounded by Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya. Important ecosystems in the basin are wetlands, rangelands, forests, woodlands and farmlands. The ecosystems support agriculture, fisheries and tourism in the area. The study considered reforestation protection of springs, wetland restoration and climate-smart agriculture.
One example of many described in the paper is the improved biodiversity from increased vegetation due to forest restoration (a synergy) and conflicts between governments, local communities and conservation agencies due to exclusion from forests (a trade-off)
The authors note the importance of identifying EbA trade-offs and synergies in the design of environmental and development programmes.