LIFE ADAPT'ISLAND

Guadeloupe is regularly exposed to extreme weather events. These are expected to get stronger and more frequent with climate change. The Caribbean is home to coral reefs, mangrove forests and seagrass meadows land and marine ecosystems, which provide essential defense infighting climate change. However, due to increasing CO2 emissions, waste pollution and ocean acidification, serious doubts arise about their future capacity to provide ecosystemic services as those unique ecosystems are already showing signs of significant weakness and degradation. LIFE Adapt'Islands objectives are to make the territory better adapted to climate change and to build its resilience against extreme climate events. It will restore and protect coastal and marine ecosystems and their ecological connections, and improve the quality of goods and services that these ecosystems provide.
The projects goals are to:
* restore physical ecological connections between the three coastal and marine ecosystems;
* demonstrate innovative, efficient and replicable techniques for restoring coastal and marine ecosystems across the Caribbean;
* raise awareness among the public society including business leaders, users, school children and the public;
* integrate coastal biodiversity with socio-economic development by involving economic stakeholders and training young people.
The project will contribute to the EU adaptation strategy to climate change and to its other climate change commitments such as the binding target to cut greenhouse gases by 40% by 2030 and the Paris agreement. The project will also contribute to the EUs objective for 2020 to halt the loss of biodiversity and the degradation of ecosystem services.
Expected results:
* more than 5 600 ha of coasts protected;
* a new climate adaptation strategy for over 90 000 inhabitants, with a focus on people living less than 10m above sea level. Almost 400 000 people are expected to benefit indirectly;
* around 1 200 school children informed about the implemented climate adaptation strategies;
* at least 45 000 m of coral reef restored by planting more than 15 000 specimens of nursery-cultivated coral (Acropora palmata and Acropora cervicornis) at degraded sites.