3.1. Solution Identification: Concepts

Why should we consider more than the ‘obvious’ solutions to ecological problems?

Unit Outline:

Solution Identification is one of the most important parts of the project lifecycle: After all, it determines what you're going to do, how an intervention will be shaped. But it's also one of the least discrete and well-defined stages, overlapping as it does with problem analysis and program design.

In Community Environmental Action Planning, a participatory approach solution identification can help diverse individuals and groups understand how other actors experience complex interactions within the climate-peace-security nexus. It can also help highlight possible interventions that may not be immediately apparent to instigating organisations or donors.

Solution identification involves two things: brainstorming (broad idea generation, building a 'library' of potential actions that could disrupt sociopolitical tensions and mitigate environmental concerns) and decisionmaking (determining which idea will be most effective and achievable). There will be some overlap between solution identification and program design (covered in Unit 4), as the ranking tools used to determine solution feasibility can support more detailed preparation.

Unit 3 begins by overviewing a few key principles for solution identification, and emphasising the importance of spending focused time on solutions only after completing community mobilisation and participatory problem analysis. In Module 3.2, some techniques for guiding expansive brainstorming around solutions and interventions are introduced. Modules 3.3 and 3.4 provide resources for using and facilitating solution identification strategies in your own context.

Module Objectives:

- understand the importance of completing nuanced problem analysis before turning to possible interventions
- consider the trade-offs between short-term fixes and longer-term solutions
- appreciate how interactions within the climate-peace-security nexus may point toward less obvious responses to a selected concern
- value the multifaceted potential of Nature-based Solutions

Avoiding Pre-Determined Approaches

It is all too easy, when launching an environmental resilience and peacebuilding project, to have ideas about what the intervention will look like. Indeed, most funding mechanisms require at least some indication of what the project's structure and outputs will be. Yet conducting full-scale community mobilisation and problem analysis without resources is nigh-on impossible, creating a dilemma for implementing organisations: How to simultaneously know what the results of a project will be in order to secure funding, but also commit to participatory approaches and restructuring in response to community responses? Taking participation seriously while meeting donor expectations is incredibly challenging.

It is also tempting, during the Problem Analysis phase of Community Environmental Action Planning, to immediately begin suggesting solutions. While it's always important to take note of and acknowledge community members' ideas, facilitators should ensure that as little focus as possible is giving to intervention strategies during problem analysis. This is because shaping a response before holistic problem analysis is complete will reduce the project's overall efficacy: potential opportunities, challenges, and inequities may be overlooked.

Facilitators should be sure not to assume that an intervention will work, or that an early idea is the best one. Spending sufficient time 'sitting with' the problem context helps a community get to know the situation in its entirety. This enables broader (and more creative!) thinking about solutions, and will help maximise possibilities for fuller community engagement, side benefits, and far-reaching impact.

In most Community Environmental Action Planning situations, there will be a general theme or umbrella area of concern, but the specifics of an intervention will not be pre-determined. Ensuring an adequate problem analysis is completed before moving onto solution identification will be crucial to success. For example: Nepal recently experienced a civil war and, not even a decade after the formal end to the conflict, a devastating earthquake. Those two realities might immediately suggest a range of livelihoods support and peacebuilding projects. But without sufficient problem analysis and contextual awareness, interventions might miss other key concerns and potential entrypoints.

Two thirds of the Nepali population work in the agricultural sector, indicating that a program addressing the impacts of climate change on farming would be particularly relevant. But it is important to know that, as of 2016, fewer than half of Nepali households had heard about climate change. Launching a relief program for farmers who have been harmed by climate change, without taking the time to understand whether and how that program will resonate with communities, will leave behind a significant segment of the population - and likely exacerbate inequalities. A project that has spent enough time on problem analysis would understand that environmental education needs to be part of an effective solution.

It will likely not be possible to launch Community Environmental Action Planning without some idea of parameters and constraints, but taking steps to build in as much flexibility and adaptability as possible (e.g., socialising donors to participatory approaches and 'do no harm' values), and avoiding your own preconceptions or rigid pre-planning, will help.

Climate-Fragility Risk Brief: Latin America and the CaribbeanState fragility, often related to the expansion of organised crime and human rights violations, has contributed towards elevated rates of violence across Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Additionally, high inequality is shaping how climate affects security in the region, raising new issues about climate justice and climate-related migration. In short, climate change acts as a risk multiplier in LAC, exacerbating existing conflict and fragility dynamics.

Need more resources?

The Climate Diplomacy platform was created to engage the wider public in the debate around climate diplomacy. It provides open access information about climate change, resilience, and stability, including a series of Climate-Fragility Risk Briefs, like the one informing the example about Nepal above. The Risk Briefs may be helpful, both in highlighting specific challenges for your own context, and as examples for the kinds of issues to ensure you've considered before jumping too far into solution identification.

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Short- and Long-Term Interventions

There are trade-offs in any project. Sometimes, these may be the result of contradictory goals by different community groups, requiring careful negotiation to reach a compromise. But there will also be any number of trade-offs due to operational constraints - be they financial resources, donor interest, staff capacity, or time.

Climate change is, by its nature, a long-term process. Meaningfully responding to the full complexity of climate change impacts cannot be a short-term project - but relatively few organisations will be able to take on a multi-decade program.

Community Environmental Action Planning offers some redress to this catch-22, as engaged participation can support project sustainability. With enough community buy-in, and sufficient capacity development as part of the project's early stages, it is possible to launch a long-term program (one that will continue after its initial, 'supervised' launch) in a relatively short amount of time.

However, community participation is not a silver bullet, and it is important to be realistic about capacity and trade-offs when deciding on an intervention. If the continuity of a long-term initiative cannot be guaranteed, a shorter-term project may be more appropriate. For example: A large-scale infrastructure project may be the most effective way to support community resource access long-term, but if there are no resources or technical capacities for infrastructure maintenance, the community may end up worse than they started after it breaks down. If the damage happens early on, the infrastructure may not have even had time to offset the resources used in its construction - such that the project ends up being carbon-positive and climate-negative. In this case, a smaller-scale and/or more culturally-focused project would have been more appropriate.

Understanding trade-offs, and explicitly involving them in decision-making, is an important part of successful and transparent interventions. Specific to CEAP, managing participant expectations, and being explicit about which elements from problem analysis can and cannot be addressed by various solutions, is important.

Looking for inspiration?

Mobilising resources and commitment for long-term projects can be challenging, but incredibly rewarding. Through the World Restoration Flagships, the United Nations highlights best practices and examples in large-scale and long-term ecosystem restoration. Browse the collection to learn about high-impact projects and get ideas for your own work.

World Restoration FlagshipsEcosystem restoration generates tangible benefits for food and water security, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and can prevent conflict and migration triggered by environmental degradation.

Using Interactions

The Climate, Peace, and Security Nexus creates a complex environment in which to work, but it also provides a diverse range of entrypoints for intervention. The growing field of environmental peacebuilding practice showcases how shared ecological relationships (whether common dependency on a natural resource or a mutually held environmental value) may enable peacemakers to tackle sociopolitical concerns through a seemingly 'unrelated' environmental angle. Conversely, the detrimental impacts of climate change and environmental stressors can be avoided (or, at least, equitably adapted to) through good governance and community management.

When designing interventions to address problems related to climate, peace, and security, the entirety of the nexus should be considered for possible solutions. The interactions between climate change, conflict, and communities mean that the most effective response to a concern may not be the most 'obvious' or directly connected. A goal of water provision for a community may be best achieved by microloans to women. Social cohesion between longstanding rival groups may be built through endangered species protection efforts. Climate adaptation efforts may require expanded diplomatic relations with a neighbouring country.

Most likely, the most promising solution will be one that engages both enviromental and sociopolitical interactions. Integrating climate change adaptations with peacebuilding activities and vice versa has been demonstrated in multiple contexts to be particularly effective: The combined approach provides a wider array of tools, and produces a wider array of benefits.

Want to learn more?

A 2018 pilot project in the Wadi El Ku catchment area of North Darfur State, Sudan, showcased the multi-scalar and multifaceted benefits that can result from programs that intentionally leverage the interactions of the climate-peace-security nexus. By linking environmental and social interventions, the project yielded positive results for livelihoods, natural resource management, climate change adaptation, social cohesion, governance, dialogue, and mediation. The EU-UNEP partnership on Climate Change and Security established a related pilot project in Bardiya and Kailali districts of West Karnali, Nepal, which also successfully tested integrated approaches.

Nature-based Solutions

In 2022, The UN Environment Assembly adopted a resolution formally recognising and supporting Nature-based Solutions, which they define as "actions to protect, sustainably manage and restore natural or modified ecosystems that address societal challenges effectively and adaptively, simultaneously providing human well-being and biodiversity benefits".

Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are about learning from and valuing the natural processes of our Planet, and taking steps to maximise the many advantages that healthy ecosystems can provide for humanity as well as non-human life.

As explained in the catalogue of Nature-based Solutions for Peace and Security:

The NbS approach has seen uptake from governments, communities and organizations around the world as a holistic approach to reducing the impact of climate change, disasters, and environmental degradation. NbS cover a range of different approaches including targeted solutions for ecosystem-based adaptation, integrated management approaches, ecological restoration, integration of green and blue infrastructure, and protected area management...

[Nature-based Solutions] for the prevention and restoration of environmental degradation as an underlying risk factor for disasters can help to minimize exposure and vulnerability to a range of hazards. Those which address environmental damage caused by conflict can mitigate against potential resource crises and health impacts in post-conflict environments.

However, while the NbS framework has been advocated by many, others have pointed to important flaws, shortcomings and risks associated with it. These include, but are not limited to, the risk of avoiding carbon reduction through carbon offsetting, land grabbing and insufficient consent from local communities, militarised conservation, and insufficient focus on justice. It is crucial to learn from both successful experiences and failures to ensure the correct, conflict-sensitive implementation of NbS and positive local impacts in the most vulnerable communities worldwide.

Nature-based Solutions will often be appropriate for Community Environmental Action Planning. Implementing a Nature-based Solution can help maximise the potential spinoff benefits from a project. It is important to remember that, in order to minimise inadvertent harm, conflict sensitivity must be applied to all projects, including Nature-based Solutions work.

Looking for more examples?

The Catalog of Nature-based Solutions for Peace & Security showcases best practices, challenges, and implementation details for projects from around the world, to help inspire you and your communities while brainstorming possible interventions.

The site includes an interactive map with featured case studies and a decision tool to help you identify the most relevant projects, if you're not sure where to start.

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