Strengthening Climate Resilience on the Comoros Coastal Zone Through Ecosystem-based Adaptation

The Comoros are highly exposed to climate hazards, and climate projections indicate that in the future the country will suffer from more extreme heat; will encounter a high probability of cyclone intensification and erratic regional cyclone routes, with the expected frequency of damaging tropical cyclone winds having more than a 20% chance of potentially-damaging wind speeds in the next 10 years; and projected sea level rise under the scenarios RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 indicates an increase of sea-level of respectively +27cm and +28cm. This is expected to exacerbate storm surges, coastal flooding, and erosion. The coastal communities of Comoros hence face high vulnerability to climate hazards, where both economic activities and coastal protection are highly dependent on having healthy coastal ecosystems which provide valuable protective, regulating and productive services. However, restoring and maintaining ecosystem health requires the reduction or removal of pressures that exacerbate ecosystem fragility and undermine their ability to recover from climate shocks. The project objective is to “Reduce the vulnerability of Comorian coastal zone communities to climate change by restoring, protecting, and sustainably managing coastal ecosystems that provide protective, regulating, and productive ecosystem services”. To help lower the barriers to adaptation and achieve the main objective, the project proposes six (6) complementary pathways: 1) Capacitating actors to plan and coordinate implementation of gender sensitive Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) actions in coastal zones; 2) Capacitating actors to monitor and report results from EbA actions, contributing to generation of new knowledge, and enabling evidence-based adaptation decision-making and financing; 3) Transferring the management of coastal resources to local communities and building capacity for enforcement, to build ownership and contribute to behavioral change towards sustained protection of key ecosystems; 4) Supporting a participatory approach to ecosystem restoration which contributes to behavioral change towards sustained protection of ecosystems and adaptation benefits, secure livelihoods and protect lives; 5) Capacitating a network of business coaches and incubators, and raising awareness within micro-financing sector of the needs of local fisher communities; and 6) Awareness raising with stakeholders to foster behavioral change towards adoption of good practices for increased resilience of local communities, including vulnerable groups, to climate hazards. The project intends to bring a range of adaptation benefits, including first and foremost increasing the resilience of people and ecosystems to the adverse impacts of climate change; as well as a range of co-benefits for biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation through its restoration activities and focus on the local co-management of coastal and marine resources.