Could you provide a brief overview of the Tropical Agriculture Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE) and the context in which it was established?

CATIE operates akin to a regional land-grant type of university for MSc and PhD students, where research, education and development go hand-in-hand. It originally formed part of the Inter-American Institute for Agricultural Cooperation (IICA) – the technical arm of the Organization of American States – and its aim was to strengthen Latin American and Caribbean countries in their agricultural capacities. In 1973, it became an independent research and education centre.

CATIE’s research scope has extended due to increasing interactions between ecosystems and natural resource-based production activities. Thus, it has evolved from centring on farms and forest management units to working with families in the context of their landscapes.

Why was the Climate Change and Watersheds Programme developed, and what manner of technical advice and training does it provide?

Initially, international policies were shaped around the mitigation of climate change and, following the signing of the Kyoto protocol, the researchers at CATIE saw a great opportunity to investigate the role of plantations and trees in the carbon cycle. However, as time passed it became clear that in Central America adaptation is a priority and so the Programme started to focus on this area. The Programme has now moved beyond those individual topics and is looking at the potential for synergies between adaptation and mitigation.

Our team provides training and technical assistance in managing, measuring, monitoring, reporting and verifi cation of carbon in forests and various other landscapes including mangroves (blue carbon). We also focus on future land use and land cover scenarios, climate risk and vulnerability analysis in rural areas, and the assessment and participatory development of adaptation strategies. The Programme also addresses the integration of climate change considerations in rural, agricultural and forest landscapes and/or watersheds planning and monitoring.

A multidisciplinary approach has been adopted to achieve your objectives. Can you outline some of the consortium’s most signifi cant collaborations?

We collaborate with other CATIE research programmes – such as our environmental economics, forestry and livestock management programmes – and beyond. Our

Seeking synergies between mitigation and adaptationBastiaan Louman, and Drs Pablo Imbach, Miguel Cifuentes and Juan Robalino are members of an organisation that promotes climate change-related research, education and development in Latin America. Here, they outline their objectives and discuss how their various activities are impacting families and communities in the region

Environmental models are calibrated using fi eld data, including soil carbon.

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Sustainable solutionsThe Tropical Agriculture Research and Higher Education Center – CATIE – engages in a combination of research, education and technical cooperation. It is working to alleviate poverty in rural Latin America through the integrated management of agriculture and natural resources

THE GROWTH OF large-scale agriculture in many developing countries offers exciting economic opportunities for local families and communities. However, it is also a major driver of deforestation – a problem that is particularly prominent in the Amazon. For many environmentalists and societies across the world, this is a cause for concern as the loss of forests – especially tropical ones – drives carbon emissions, degradation of ecosystem services, and the extinction of multiple plant and animal species. Consequently, there is often a tension between the conservation of forest areas and the promotion of the livelihoods of individuals and communities in those areas. Indeed, various studies conducted by the World Bank have highlighted this issue, noting that the industries that fuel deforestation often have important roles in promoting the economic development of local communities. Against this backdrop, there is a need for detailed research into the conservation-development impasse, paving the way for the implementation of robust and responsive solutions.

The Costa Rica-based Tropical Agriculture Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE) is one prominent organisation focusing on the development of rural communities in Latin America and the Caribbean. With over four decades of experience in research and education in the fields of agriculture, agroforestry and forestry, CATIE’s prerogative is to enhance the competitive and sustainable production of ecosystem goods and services, through promoting the integrated management of agricultural and natural resources.

Importantly, the researchers at CATIE seek to advance human development through pioneering innovative research projects and educating graduate students. They also work in close cooperation with local families and communities at a grassroots level, as well as with national, regional and international partners. These collaborations help the team to forge a comprehensive understanding of the economic and environmental needs of local people, in turn enabling them to influence decision-making processes and policies that are conducive to sustainable development. Ultimately, this integrated approach bolsters increased productivity, improved livelihoods and sustainability of production systems.

MAPPING THE FRAMEWORK

CATIE’s work was initially centred on forest management, agroforestry, livestock and watersheds management but about 10 years

research has contributed to the increased use of the ecosystem-based adaptation approach in local and national adaptation policies, while our work on the carbon cycle and forests has helped to inform the international guidelines for forest management under carbon cycle conditions, and has provided important background information for the implementation of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation+ (REDD+) in Latin America.

Moreover, the work on the effects of climate change on run-off contributed to the formulation of the 2010 and 2012 studies of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) on the economics of climate change in Central America. Additionally, with the Autonomous Corporation of Alto Magdalena, we developed the first territorial climate change action plan in Colombia.

In most of our work, we collaborate with other research centres and various universities throughout the US, Latin America and Europe. As a regional centre specialising in studies on watersheds, agriculture and forests we are also a member of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) office for the transfer of technology.

What events will CATIE be contributing to this year, and why is participation in such conferences important?

We frequently and actively participate in the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties, through organising and taking part in official side events. We will host a session on the implementation of a climate-smart territorial approach at the Global Landscape Forum during the Conference of Parties (COP) 20 in Lima. Furthermore, the regional Mesoamerican Agro-Environmental and USAID’s Regional Climate Change Programmes are platforms for implementing participative research and developing key interventions based on the results of that research.

Through these initiatives, we are helping to shape environmental and agricultural policies in Central American countries. In addition, we have provided direct support for shaping policies on specific topics, such as the national blue carbon policy in Costa Rica and REDD+ strategies in several other countries

THE CLIMATE CHANGE AND WATERSHEDS PROGRAMME’S MISSION

The Programme contributes to increasing the resilience of Latin American and Caribbean rural populations to climate change while allowing for greater, low carbon development, through the generation and dissemination of knowledge, tools and methodologies for measuring climate change impacts, and designing and monitoring local adaptation and low carbon development strategies.

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ago established the Climate Change and Watersheds Programme to further investigate the relationship between climate and natural resources. Coordinated by Bastiaan Louman, the Programme plays a leading role in a range of R&D projects at CATIE, as well as offering technical advice and training on climate-related issues to a variety of different stakeholders in Latin America. The aim of the Programme is to create, develop and validate a range of data, tools and methods that can be used to respond to both current and predicted threats and opportunities associated with climate change in the region. Excitingly, it has become a focal point for innovation on pressing climate change issues and activities in Latin America.

The research focus in the Programme combines members’ expertise in natural resource management – especially regarding forest and watersheds management – with projects that explore the impact of climate change on these natural resources. Using this as a foundation, Louman and his colleagues have since developed a framework that deals with the interactions between climate, ecosystem services and society at large: “Our conceptual framework reflects the relations that exist between the way we use the natural resources – for instance, agriculture, animal husbandry, forestry, water for human consumption, electricity and irrigation – the capacity of those resources to provide us with goods and services and, finally, climate variability and change,” Louman explains. “Its purpose is to improve our effectiveness in generating and providing knowledge for decision making in mitigation and adaptation strategies.”

Louman and his team use both a resiliency analysis approach (researching how populations reacted to past environmental changes and

how local, national or international actors may have influenced them) and a livelihoods approach to adaptive capacity (establishing the access of populations to different types of resources). Once this information has been gathered, the researchers use it to analyse how climate change and variability impact on livelihood strategies and how this may affect different ecosystems: “We also validate tools to incorporate the conclusions of the previous analysis into future planning,” Louman adds. “Finally, we are developing monitoring tools that help us to ascertain whether integrating climate change and variability considerations into local and national policies has been successful.”

As part of the Programme, the environmental modelling laboratory, led by Drs Pablo Imbach, Miguel Cifuentes and Juan Robalino, uses this framework to conduct detailed analyses of the landscapes under consideration. This involves examining what the land is currently used for, as well as its capacity, ecosystem structure and composition and possible changes under a range of potential future scenarios. Additionally, the different population groups within each landscape in question are also studied in terms of their diversity and their relationships with ecosystems, and the services they provide.

IMPACTING DECISION- MAKING PROCESSES

Traditionally, mitigation of and adaptation to climate change have been viewed as separate responses; indeed, it is only recently that scientists have come to realise that both of these responses are complementary and must simultaneously be taken into account. In CATIE’s environmental

PIONEERING PAST PROJECTS

Vulnerability studies: This project started out with an in-depth analysis of the possible impact of climate change on vegetation and run-off in Central America showing the possible severe effects of climate change on both and the high level of uncertainty of projections in specific parts of the region. More research was necessary to understand the consequences of the projected effects on society and ecosystems. One of the follow-up studies identified priority areas for hydrological ecosystem-services conservation for hydroelectricity generation at national scales.

Global revisions of existing knowledge on climate change, forests, trees and ecosystem services: A greater understanding is needed on how farmers are affected by these potential effects and now, CATIE, together with strategic partners, is validating and fine tuning vulnerability impact assessments for municipalities, agricultural landscapes, ecosystem services, protected areas and coastal regions.

Combining impact and vulnerability analysis with the potential for climate regulating ecosystem services: Seeking to achieve this on a landscape scale, the researchers were able to link up to UN-REDD to check and validate the regionally available allometric equations that help determine the carbon content of different tree species.

CATIE: Innovation in numbers

• Over 100 research and sustainable development programmes are being conducted in more than 17 countries

• Some 75 per cent of CATIE’s projects are aimed at low-income families and grassroots-level organisations, incorporating various women’s groups and native populations

• Some 100,000 people have directly benefited from CATIE’s projects over the past 10 years

• Nearly 2,000 individuals have graduated from various Master’s and doctorate programmes at CATIE

• The researchers and teachers at CATIE come from more than 25 different countries, while CATIE’s students originate from over 40 different countries

• More than 300 scientific and technical articles are published by CATIE’s researchers every year

• There are 1 million publications available to researchers and students through the Orton Library, which CATIE manages in collaboration with the Inter-American Institute for Co-operation on Agriculture (IICA)

CATIE’s Environmental Modelling Lab leads blue carbon research in Central America.

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CLIMATE CHANGE AND WATERSHEDS PROGRAMME: ENVIRONMENTAL MODELLING LABORATORY

OBJECTIVE

The development and validation of spatially explicit data, tools and methods to strengthen the response to climate change in Latin American rural landscapes.

PARTNERS

Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) • CIRAD • Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLAC) • Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) • United Nations Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (UN-REDD) • The University of Idaho • Climate Technology Centre and Network (UNFCCC) • United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) • United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) • Euroclima programme of the European Commission

FUNDING

The laboratory has received funding from a variety of sources, including:

The EU • German Federal Enterprise for International Cooperation (GIZ) • The World Bank • The Inter-American Development Bank • FAO • International Fund for Agricultural Development • UN-REDD • USAID • Government of Norway • Government of Costa Rica • The Ford Foundation

CONTACT

Bastiaan Louman

Programa Cambio Climático y CuencasCentro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza – CATIETurrialba, Cartago 30501, Costa Rica

T +506 2558 2321E blouman@catie.ac.cr

www.catie.ac.cr/es/en-que-trabajamos/cambio-climatico

BASTIAAN LOUMAN is Programme Leader of the Climate Change and Watersheds Programme. His work is focused on seeking greater understanding of what information is relevant for decision makers to decide on land use change.

PABLO IMBACH uses modelling tools at different geographical scales for land use change, hydrology, ecosystem dynamics, atmospheric monitoring, species modelling and climate change assessments.

MIGUEL CIFUENTES focuses on developing blue carbon science and promoting practical solutions to strengthen synergies between climate change mitigation and adaptation in Latin America

JUAN ROBALINO analyses conservation and social policies and their effectiveness improving environmental outcomes, reducing vulnerability and increasing wellbeing.

MAPPING THE PARADIGMS

As part of CATIE, the laboratory aims to contribute to the formation of climate-smart territories, adhering to the following principles:

• Sustainable livelihoods: Identify and highlight the existing capital in specifi c communities and territories and use it to help them develop secure and productive livelihoods

• Territorial approaches: Pinpoint and emphasise the interconnected relationships between various environmental and socioeconomic factors in both biophysical, cultural and political-administrative areas to promote socioeconomic stability in the region

• Value chains: Ensure all stakeholders are involved in the value chain, extending from the producer to the consumer, in order to enhance the principles of equality and social responsibility

modelling laboratory, the researchers are therefore investigating how combining mitigation and adaptation strategies could advance both economic competitiveness and environmental sustainability, thereby reducing potential trade-offs between them. Sponsored by USAID’s Regional Climate Change Programme, the team is currently attempting to conceptualise a framework that describes the scope, benefi ts and trade-offs needed in Central America and the Dominican Republic. The goal is for this to inform the creation and development of local, national and regional interventions that enhance the synergies between mitigation and adaptation, consequently impacting on government policies.

In addition, the team is also working on an important initiative that aims to develop a network of ‘blue carbon’ scientists and policy makers in an effort to implement blue carbon projects throughout Central America. This specifi c project is based on the knowledge that coastal marine systems are able to store up to fi ve times more carbon than terrestrial forests – and, importantly, their mitigation role is intrinsically connected to their adaptation potential. To date, initial evaluations have been completed in Costa Rica, Panama and El Salvador, and the team has begun to help the Government of Costa Rica build their National Blue Carbon Policy statement, which would be the very fi rst such statement in the world.

Indeed, one of the most exciting elements of the research conducted in the environmental modelling laboratory is its positive impact on decision making in a variety of different organisations, ranging from grassroots community groups to international policy-making bodies. Such organisations are able to use the data tools and methods developed in the lab to explore climate variability and change their decision-making processes and policies where necessary. In this way, Louman and his colleagues are making a vital contribution to increasing the resilience of rural areas in Latin American countries to climate change risks. They are currently analysing historical land use change and development of future land use change scenarios in Panama and Paraguay (within the UN-REDD framework and to help develop REDD+ country baselines) that have led to a current effort on modelling land use change and its related emissions for the northeastern region of Nicaragua in order to support REDD+ project developments. Linking this information to spatial information on species distribution and climate change data helps to project the future potential of ecosystems to sequester and store carbon.

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

To date, signifi cant research advances have been made in CATIE’s environmental modelling laboratory. The team has successfully modifi ed existing adaptive capacity assessment tools and is currently developing tools and

methods that can be integrated into local adaptation strategies in a range of different productive landscapes. The researchers are also combining climate change scenarios with models for the provision of ecosystem services. In particular, an ecosystem’s capacity to provide suffi cient clean water at the times farmers and people most need it will be infl uenced by climate change, and the laboratory’s research is contributing to shaping national and local policies that aim at reducing future water shortages

While the laboratory has undergone rapid expansion, it needs to further enhance its fi nancial sustainability in order to meet long-term research goals, bolster educational programmes and continue impacting regional decision-making bodies. Looking ahead, the team is planning to expand their resource capacity to continue supporting the regional implementation of the UN’s REDD+ programme – an initiative that combats deforestation and forest degradation, as well as promoting the conservation and sustainable management of forests. The hope is that this will strengthen the integration of mitigation and adaptation initiatives, leading to robust and practical policies that promote wellbeing, competitiveness and sustainability.

INTELLIGENCE

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