[2] EbA is nested within the broader concept of nature-based solutions and complements and shares common elements with a wide variety of other approaches to building the resilience of social-ecological systems.
[3] These approaches include community-based adaptation, ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction, climate-smart agriculture, and green infrastructure, and often place emphasis on using participatory and inclusive processes and community/stakeholder engagement.
The concept of EbA has been promoted through international fora, including the processes of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the CBD.
A number of countries make explicit references to EbA in their strategies for adaptation to climate change and their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement.
EbA is increasingly viewed as an effective means of addressing the linked challenges of climate change and poverty in developing countries, where many people are dependent on natural resources for their lives and livelihoods.
While ecosystem services have always been used by societies, the term Ecosystem-based Adaptation was coined in 2008 by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and its member institutions at the UN Climate Change Convention Conference in 2008.
For example, healthy mangrove ecosystems provide protection from the impacts of climate change, often for some of the world's most vulnerable people, by absorbing wave energy and storm surges, adapting to rising sea levels, and stabilizing shorelines from erosion.
For example, EbA measures include coastal habitat restoration in ecosystems such as; coral reefs, mangrove forests, and marshes to protect communities and infrastructure from storm surges; agroforestry to increase resilience of crops to droughts or excessive rainfall; integrated water resource management to cope with consecutive dry days and change in rainfall patterns; and sustainable forest management interventions to stabilise slopes, prevent landslides, and regulate water flow to prevent flash flooding (see Table 1 and Figure 2).
Restoration of mangrove ecosystems can help increase food and livelihood security by supporting fisheries, and reduce disaster risk by decreasing wave height and strength during hurricanes and storms.
Broad macroeconomic considerations such as economic development, poverty, and access to financial capital to implement climate adaptation options are contributing factors to constraints impeding greater uptake of EbA.
[13] Several international policy fora have acknowledged the multiple roles that ecosystems play in delivering services and addressing global challenges, including those related to climate change, natural disasters, sustainable development, and biodiversity conservation.
The Paris Agreement explicitly recognises nature's role in helping people and societies address climate change, calling on all Parties to acknowledge "the importance of ensuring the integrity of all ecosystems, including oceans, and the protection of biodiversity, recognised by some cultures as Mother Earth"; its Articles include several references to ecosystems, natural resources and forests.
Most recently, the Conference of the Parties has adopted voluntary guidelines for the design and effective implementation of ecosystem-based approaches to adaptation and disaster risk reduction.