Country and Regional nodes

ELAN Country and regional nodes will start to emerge during 2010 and 2011 in regions where people are poor and highly vulnerable, with strong ecosystem/livelihood linkages. Nodes in South/East Africa, the Mekong Region and the Himalaya Region in Asia, and Central/South America are currently being considered.

The presence of a “critical mass” of strong, active partners engaged in adaptation — including from the environmental and development communities — and the buy-in of national governments will be key factors for the development of ELAN country and regional nodes. Whenever possible, ELAN nodes will be originated by strengthening and adding value to existing formal or informal networks of institutions working on human adaptation at the country or regional level to help them focus more on integrated ecosystem and livelihood adaptation solutions.

ELAN node activities will include capacity building of both practitioners and decision makers, integration of sound ecosystem management into adaptation policies, plans and programs, and generation of knowledge on good ecosystem and livelihood practices for wider dissemination through the broader ELAN network. Although individual ELAN member organizations will be implementing projects, implementation of adaptation projects on the ground will not be a core activity of country and regional nodes, unless projects serve a specific purpose of filling a knowledge gap.