Skip to content Skip to footer

Work Package 1

Global mapping and analysis

Work Package 1 is dedicated to the development of a comprehensive global mapping and analysis of NBCAs. The resulting open-access database will offer insights on global NBCA distribution, patterns, and performance.

The global mapping is dedicated to:

  1. reflect multi-actor collaboration
  2. align with global climate and biodiversity goals
  3. address local and regional climate and biodiversity risks to local ecosystems, human health, and livelihoods.

Based on open-science principles, this open-access repository aims to map NBCAs to identify gaps and imbalances, understand inclusivity factors, by discerning elements that foster or impede NBCAs from WP2. Its goal is to monitor and track performance patterns, by tracing growth trends, geographical disparities, participatory dynamics. The N-CID will be vital for monitoring NBCAs’ efficacy by gauging whether NBCA commitments fulfill their promises for implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement and Global Biodiversity Framework. Initial work setting the foundation of N-CID has been done.

A knowledge gap about multi-actor collaborative commitments’ contribution to climate adaptation and mitigation goals centers on their effectiveness. We use a progress assessment framework[9] that follows a logical sequence between inputs (e.g., budgets and targets), outputs (quantifiable production such as protected areas or training programs), outcomes (behavioural changes), and impacts (long-term environmental, economic, and social-ecological changes). A systematic literature review will be done to identify principles and indicators for inclusive, accountable, and high-integrity NBCAs. The groundwork for this (i.e., conceptual framework and data collection) has been completed.

The N-CID builds on earlier efforts to map cooperative climate initiatives. Since 2014, the Climate Cooperative Initiatives Database (C-CID), led by Sander Chan, has become the largest database of cooperative non-state climate actions. C-CID helps track the credibility performance of such actions for the UNFCCC Secretariat and for the European Economic and Social Committee, but it has limitations. It does not include NBCAs or consider the role of local stakeholders and Indigenous Peoples, who are chronically underrepresented in the UNFCCC. Its primary focus on inputs and outputs data enables the assessment of commitment fulfillment, but not the outcomes of outputs or long-term impacts. Recent methodologies on assessment of outcomes and impacts do not focus on NBCAs. BioCAM4 will overcome these limitations by identifying indicators to evaluate: (a) NBCAs’ handling of risks to ecosystems, livelihoods, and human health, and (b) NBCA performance, inclusivity, and equity. Participatory bottom-up research and in-depth studies of local action situations (described below) will help identify indicators for assessing outcomes, updating the assessment framework and contributing to gauging progress from inputs to outcomes, and advancing to impacts.