Strengthening Coastal and Marine Climate Resilience through Upland and Coastal Ecosystem Based Adaptation and Community Engagement

This project aims to strengthen ecosystem services in upland-coastal environments for improving marine-coastal climate resilience while increasing sustainable livelihood opportunities in communities. By community-driven installation of VS to reduce the upland drivers of degradation, thereby conserving ecosystems and their services, and providing nature-based livelihood opportunities. This project scales and replicates proven VS solutions in four countries. Our Vetiver Education & Empowerment Project (VEEP) model comprises in-class workshops with field training; soil and water protection and rehabilitation demonstration; integration with existing beneficial land management techniques; co-production and dissemination of educational materials within and beyond the community; vetiver nursery establishment; handicraft training with exploration of other uses of the vetiver plant, led by key ‘champions’ within target communities; and the development of green business opportunities to offer value-added VS products and services. Capacity-building will cover M&E, evidence-based EbA and promote behavior change, as well as policy support for future scaling.