Aligning the management of nature-based solutions to locally led adaptation principles: A case study of sand dams in Makueni County, Kenya

Abstract

Advocates of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) have argued that the approaches are important for addressing the various social and environmental challenges, including adaptation to climate change and biodiversity conservation. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has developed eight criteria for identification of Nature-based Solutions: (1) address societal challenges (2) entail landscape scale of intervention (3) biodiversity gain (4) economic viability (5) governance capability (6) equitably balance trade-offs (7) adaptive management, and (8) mainstreamed within an appropriate jurisdictional context. Nevertheless, studies have shown that interventions that seek to help people in the frontlines of climate change often fail to provide predictable financing, enable local ownership, and align to the actual conditions of the local communities. To address these challenges, in 2018 more than 20 countries formed a global commission on adaptation, which in 2021 adopted eight guidelines known as Locally Led Adaptation (LLA) principles to guide climate change adaptation efforts by ensuring that local communities are empowered to lead the design, implementation, and decision-making processes for adaptation projects. While NbS offer substantial co-benefits—enhancing biodiversity, supporting livelihoods, and improving water security—their success hinges on effective financing, governance, and local engagement. Sand dams, in particular, have been implemented for decades across arid and semi-arid regions, offering a reliable method of water harvesting and climate adaptation. However, their integration into NbS frameworks and LLA principles remains underexplored. As such, this study sets out to assess how one of the sub-national governments of Kenya (Makueni County) has aligned its implementation of Nature-based Solutions to the principles of LLA. The NbS under consideration is the county's sand dam project, which was instituted to address water scarcity in the face of climate change and inadvertently disaster risk management. To gauge the NbS project's alignment to LLA principles, 43 indicators and measurement metrics were developed based on the eight principles of LLA. Each principle has between 4 and 7 qualitative indicators. Data was collected through focus group discussions with sand dams’ projects’ committee members, key informant interviews with county and national government officials responsible for water and climate change, and analysis of the sand dams’ projects documents. Each indicator was assigned a score of 1 if present and 0 if absent, giving a potential of 43 positive scores or 100 % if the county government scored 1 for all the 43 indicators. From indicators assessed, the County Government had a positive score in about 53 %, slightly above average (50 %). It is the view of the authors’ that if better governance structures are pegged to the remaining LLA principles, then financing can flow more naturally to the water sector.