ELSA M5 L1

Module 5: 'Maps of Hope' across the world

Lesson 1: 'Maps of Hope' for adapting to a changing climate

START

Directory

Welcome to M5

Mapping hope for reduced climate change threats in Costa Rica

Glossary

Adapting a ‘Map of Hope’ to diverse contexts

Directory

Mapping hope for conservation planning in Kazakhstan

Additional applications in Costa Rica

References

Mapping hope for risk reduction in Uganda

00

Welcome to Module 5 Lesson 1

Welcome to Module 5! In the previous modules, you learned about the process of creating a ‘Map of Hope’ and communicating the results. This module shows how countries are mainstreaming ELSA analysis results to meet the spatial planning needs specific to their unique contexts. You will learn how a ‘Map of Hope’ can be tailored to adapt policy to a rapidly changing climate, and how countries have used their ‘Maps of Hope’ to adapt to a changing climate, heal ecosystems, and promote sustainable livelihoods.

Welcome to M5

01

Glossary

Module 5 Lesson 1 contains the following definitions:

Disclaimer

Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework

Essential Life Support Areas (ELSAs)

‘Maps of Hope'

Glossary

02

Essential Life Support Areas (ELSAs)

These are places where nature-based actions can sustain critical benefits important to a country, including food and water security, sustainable livelihoods, disaster risk reduction, and carbon sequestration. By protecting, managing, and restoring ELSAs, countries can deliver across multiple policy goals at once for people and for the planet.i

REFERENCE

'Maps of Hope'

Also called ELSA maps, ‘Maps of Hope’ show areas that should be prioritized in order to most efficiently deliver across countries’ top policy targets on biodiversity, climate change adaptation, and human well-being. Co-created through an comprehensive stakeholder consultation process that brings together experts across sectors, ELSA maps reflect the national policy context and nature-related goals. Countries are using these maps to harmonize nature and development policies and prioritize areas for protection, management, and restoration.i

REFERENCE

Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework

A global framework to guide actions worldwide through 2030 for preserving and protecting nature and its essential services to people. The Framework comprises of 23 targets and 4 goals for 2030, en route to ‘living in harmony with nature’ by 2050.i

REFERENCE

Adapting a ‘Map of Hope’ to diverse contexts

The ELSA methodology provides a versatile approach to spatial planning. Its flexibility empowers decision makers to create customized maps that deliver insights where they are needed the most. Over the pilot phase of the Mapping Nature for People and Planet project, countries have applied the ELSA methodology in new and innovative ways. Originally conceived as a tool for national planning, countries have proven that the ELSA approach can also be used for targeted decision-making around specific regions or needs, such as adaptation to climate change, building a green economy, regional water security, and disaster risk reduction. This lesson offers case studies to help countries consider how they too can apply this methodology.

Adapting a ‘Map of Hope’ to diverse contexts

03

Mapping hope for reduced climate change threats in Costa Rica

Flanked by two oceans, Costa Rica is gravely aware of its vulnerability to climate change. Healthy ecosystems are central to the country’s resilience against the many threats of climate change, including natural disasters, food shortages, and water scarcity. For example, the nation’s forests and urban treed landscapes are helping to prevent urban heat islands. Coral reefs and mangroves are buffering against sea-level rise and flooding in coastal areas. In addition, the country's intact forests and pristine coastlines draw tourism, which directly and indirectly accounts for over eight percent of the country’s economy.i The degradation of these valuable ecosystems could spell catastrophe for the country. Costa Rica has leveraged the flexibility of the ELSA approach to help develop its National Climate Adaptation Plan. Created by UNDP Costa Rica and the Ministry of Environment through a collaborative process with key climate adaptation stakeholders, the ELSA Adaptation map indicates where the country can use ecosystem protection, management, and restoration, in addition to urban greening, to achieve its ecosystem-based climate adaptation policy priorities.

Costa Rica's ELSA Map

Mapping hope for reduced climate change threats in Costa Rica

04

REFERENCE

Additional applications: Mapping hope for reduced climate change threats in Costa Rica

Additional applications in Costa Rica

UNDP Costa Rica and the Ministry of Environment of Costa Rica have also led the creation of an additional national ‘Map of Hope’ with a more general focus on human well-being, nature, and climate change. National authorities like the National System of Conservation Areas and the Ministry of Agriculture will be using the resulting map to inform how and where to implement national strategies that support nature-positive development, such as the 2021 State of the Environment Report, Agro-Environment Agenda, Urban-Environment Agenda, National Wetlands Programme, Payment for Environmental Services Programme, and National Landscape Restoration Strategy.

05

Mapping hope for conservation planning in Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan's ELSA map

Desertification and environmental degradation are compromising Kazakhstan’s ecosystems and biodiversity, which is threatening the livelihoods, health, and well-being of the country’s 18.7 million people. Kazakhstan’s ‘Map of Hope’ reveals opportunities to protect, manage, and restore the country’s ecosystems, landscapes, and natural resources with maximum benefit and at minimum cost.Kazakhstan has identified many pathways to enhance decision-making through its ELSA map:

• Monitoring the implementation of the country’s NBSAP until 2030 to help ensure that the country is on track to achieve its targets.
• Providing data to achieve NBSAP goals around species conservation, protected area management, and agrobiodiversity.
• Supporting a GEF-funded project to strengthen the conservation and sustainable use of valuable arid, riparian, forest, and grassland areas.
• Identifying zones for new protected areas and sustainable land management.
• Guiding funding opportunities for ecotourism projects in the country and developing ecotourism management plans based on an ecosystem approach to determine norms in ecotourism practices.

Mapping hope for conservation planning in Kazakhstan

06

Mapping hope for risk reduction in Uganda

Uganda faces a high degree of land degradation, including the loss of valuable wetlands and forests, the conversion of grasslands, and the degradation of agricultural soils. As a result, many areas in Uganda suffer from natural disasters, including flooding, droughts, and landslides. To reduce these risks, national policymakers are calling for a paradigm shift to place nature-based solutions at the center of the country’s development framework. Uganda’s National Environment Management Authority is using its ‘Map of Hope’ to fast-track the implementation and review of the country’s Third National Development Plan, showing how safeguarding and restoring nature can have ripple effects for human safety and well-being. The plan will support afforestation and wetland restoration, among other activities that strengthen nature’s capacity to mitigate the risk of disasters. The country’s ELSA map is also seen as a critical tool to support the economic evaluation of nature, national capital accounting, biodiversity offsets, and other techniques to conserve biodiversity. In addition, Uganda is considering how its secure workspace on UNBL can be used to assess the capacity of soils for carbon capture to mitigate climate change. Uganda sees ELSA as a tool to cohesively support the development and implementation of the UN Biodiversity Convention’s Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which is intended to orient humanity to a new era of living in harmony with nature. The framework will contribute to the cultivation and preservation of ecosystem, species, and genetic diversity while simultaneously meeting human needs.

Uganda's ELSA map

Mapping hope for risk reduction in Uganda

07

References

CBD. 2023.

Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework

OECD. 2020.

Tourism Trends and Policies.

References

UNDP Global Programme on Nature for Development. 2022.

Mapping Nature for People and Planet. United Nations Development Programme.

08