ELAN rationale and objectives

ELAN’s purpose is to enhance resilience of poor and marginalized people to the impacts of climate change by promoting an integrated approach to ecosystem and rights-based into adaptation policy and practice.
ELAN fosters integrated adaptation that recognizes the dependencies of communities on their local environment. Our understanding about the role of ecosystems in people-centered adaptation is still incomplete, scattered, and often difficult to access by practitioners and policy makers. ELAN is founded on a need for shared experiences, further research and increased capacity to implement innovative and practical ecosystem and livelihood solutions to adaptation and risk reduction based on the latest information and the diffusion of knowledge among adaptation practitioners and policy-makers. ELAN is creating a global network of scientists, policy makers and practitioners dedicated to supporting the integration of ecosystem and rights-base approaches into adaptation policies, plans and programmes – especially in the world’s most vulnerable countries.
ELAN is enhancing Communities of Practice to promote integration of ecosystem and rights-based approaches to adaptation. It is linking social scientists and ecologists, conservation and development practitioners, and policymakers at all levels. It is improving access to the best available climate adaptation science, and generating and sharing knowledge on “how to” integrate sound ecosystem management into people-centered adaptation.
ELAN focuses on promoting the integration of ecosystem and rights-based approaches to adaptation by: enabling better and more rapid sharing of science, knowledge and good practices in adapting ecosystems and human communities to climate change by improving connections between scientists, policymakers, practitioners and local communities; building capacity to integrate ecosystems into adaptation projects, policies, plans and programmes; developing new scientific knowledge, tools and techniques to support vulnerability assessments and the identification of adaptation options; and informing national, regional, and international bodies to ensure that policies established in response to climate change provide a supportive framework for incorporating ecosystem and rights-based approaches.