LIFE ADAPTAMED: ACTIONS
This diagram provides a highly visual representation of the interaction between the different groups of actions and operational levels that comprise the LIFE Adaptamed project. The actions for the LIFE Adaptamed project are implemented at the local level: specifically, in Doñana, Cabo de Gata and the Sierra Nevada. However, their repercussions are felt at various levels. At the regional level, the project contributes by providing useful knowledge that can aid the process of adaptation to climate change and help to build new conservation paradigms based on the protection of ecosystem services. Also at the regional level, LIFE Adaptamed makes a significant contribution to the creation of the Andalusian Network of Global Change Observatories. The actions of communicating and divulging the project’s results facilitate the forging of links to networks and institutions at the international level, thereby helping the knowledge acquired to spread beyond our borders through institutions such as the IUCN, the European Commission and the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food and the Environment, in addition to initiatives such as the LTER and SER Europe.
In each of the Adaptamed spaces, the diagram for the implementation of adaptive management is followed, i.e. defining the problem, obtaining data and models, evaluating the results, making decisions, taking action, and evaluating the management. The preparatory actions (A) facilitate the implementation of the main project actions (C). The monitoring protocols (the “D” actions) are implemented in each location, in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the actions for the LIFE Adaptamed project. In particular, action D7 enables evaluation via remote sensors (satellite images). The communication and dissemination actions (E) have an impact on the areas that form part of the LIFE Adaptamed project, while simultaneously helping to enrich many concepts that provide a framework for the preparatory actions (A). The links between the local, regional, national and international levels generate a flow of synergies and products which, in turn, make their way back to the areas where the project is being implemented.
WHAT ARE THESE ACTIONS?
A. PREPARATORY ACTIONS
These are preliminary actions that provide the outcomes required for the correct implementation of some of the project’s other actions.
C. MAIN ACTIONS
These actions involve management and implementation; we also refer to them as “adaptive management pilot actions”. With specific regard to LIFE Adaptamed, they are management actions related to the adaptation to climate change.
D. MONITORING ACTIONS
These actions are designed to measure (quantitatively, wherever possible) the impact of project actions C and E: not only the impact of the C actions with regard to increasing the adaptation capacity of the ecosystems targeted and the capacity to protect ecosystem services, but also the impact of the E actions on the target audience. Each of these actions is accompanied by one or more (quantifiable) indicators that make it possible to assess the impact of each action over the course of the project.
E. COMMUNICATION AND DISSEMINATION ACTIONS
These actions are designed to communicate the outcomes of the project and create tools that can help other managers to develop and test the same approaches and methodologies at the international level within similar contexts. They are also designed to inform the general public of the main advances and concepts related to the implementation of the project.
F. PROJECT MANAGEMENT ACTIONS AND MONITORING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ACTIONS
These actions are designed to make sure the project is managed adequately at the technical, scientific and financial level. They also include the processes of monitoring the indicators and drawing up a “Post-LIFE Plan” that will promote the future sustainability of the LIFE Adaptamed project.