The Blue Solutions Fair: Sustainable Ways to Address Climate Change for Resilient Coastal Communities & Healthy Marine Ecosystems in Southeast Asia

The effects of climate change are increasingly felt, and threaten livelihoods and biodiversity in coastal and marine ecosystems, globally. Sea-level rise and increased storm intensity severely affect coastal communities, while rising water temperatures and ocean acidifcation change coastal and oceanic ecosystems dramatically. Healthy, well-functioning ecosystems enhance natural resilience to the adverse impacts of climate change and reduce the vulnerability of people. The Paris Agreement realizes this connection and charts a new course in the global climate effort. Still, the sum of local actions are essential in taking the Paris Agreement forward and successfully addressing climate change.

This event provides practitioners with the opportunity to learn from what has worked in climate change adaptation and mitigation elsewhere, and use proven solutions and building blocks to guide new projects, inform current approaches, and be reflected in policies.

Practitioners working in Southeast Asia can contribute specific challenges linked to one or several of the following themes:

• Coastal protection and disaster risk reduction
• Ecosystem-based approaches to address climate change
• Private sector collaboration in addressing climate change
• Resilient livelihoods (aquaculture, fisheries, tourism, and other economic activities)
• Blue carbon for the benefit of communities and the global climate

Objectives

• Accelerate action for implementing and improving projects and initiatives addressing climate change
• Allow participants to learn from what works and understand how lessons can be applied in other contexts to avoid reinventing the wheel
• Connect practitioners, policy makers and potential funders interested in supporting climate change initiatives on different levels
• Facilitate an international knowledge exchange and provide a networking opportunity

Format

The 3.5 – day event provides participants with the opportunity develop ideas on how lessons of what works can improve their current implementation, inspire new initiatives and/or inform policies. This will be achieved through a mixture of presentations, in-depth exchange sessions, networking opportunities and facilitated group work.

Inspiration seekers contribute with their specific question and can get inspiration from presentations of solution providers sharing their experiences, lessons learned and key success factors. Jointly, in a group of inspiration seekers, solution providers, experts and potential funders, new ideas on how to address this specific challenge are phrased and developed. These ideas will be presented and a jury will award the three proposals with the highest ranking an award, allowing them to further work on their proposal. 

Participants

The Blue Solutions Fair provides actors from different backgrounds with the opportunity to participate in this unique exchange:

• Inspiration seekers: you are working on addressing climate change in Southeast Asia? You are looking for insights and lessons from others to improve your current implementation, to shape the design of new projects, or to inform policies? Then apply with your specific question to be addressed during the event – find the application form below!
• Providers of solutions from all over the world, which are featured on the PANORAMA – Solutions for a Healthy Planet web platform, will be invited by the Blue Solutions team to reflect specific challenges submitted.
• Funders and supporters: you are funding innovative projects related to addressing climate change in the marine and coastal realm? You are looking for projects to fund, which are based on success and avoid a reinvention of the wheel? You can provide training and/or advice on how to design projects addressing climate change? Get in touch with the Blue Solutions team to participate in the event!
• Resource persons with expertise in the field of climate change adaptation, climate change mitigation and/or project development will be invited by the Blue Solutions team to support the development of new ideas based on lessons of what works.

The total number of participants is limited to 50.

The Blue Solutions Fair is organized by the Blue Solutions Initiative – a multi-organisational initiative implemented jointly by GIZ, GRID-Arendal, IUCN and UN Environment, and financed by the German Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) through the International Climate Initiative (ICI).