Another highlight of the Climate Leadership Academy was a presentation by Robert Mather, who leads the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) efforts in Southeast Asia.   One effort that was really interesting to me was about  the creation of crab banks, a low tech, low cost way to adapt to the impacts of climate change as well as ensure long term livelihoods for villages.

Villages in Thailand have been affected by the overfishing of blue swimming crabs.  When fisherman catch pregnant mother crabs, instead of selling them on the market, they bring them to a “crab bank” The fisherman get paid for their crabs. Then the crab bank keeps the mother crabs in aerated tubs until they release their eggs. The eggs are then funneled back into the river and the egg-less mother crabs are sold. The profits from these sales go to the upkeep of the crab bank (aerating tubs is the main expense). In the villages that have started crab banks, the crab count has increased by significantly. To learn more about these other efforts by IUCN in the region, visit their Building Resilience to Climate Change Impacts?Coastal Southeast Asia Project website.

Robert also talked about IUCN’s principles for effective local adaptation in their coastal resilience efforts.  These principles could apply anywhere – to a fishing village or urban area.  Good things to keep in mind if you are helping a community adapt to the impacts of climate change.

The Climate Leadership Academy was jointly presented by ICMA and our CityLinks Partner, the Institute for Sustainable Communities.

There were many other presentations and insight that was shared during the day.  To learn more about the Climate Leadership Academy click here or download presentations by joining the climate change discussion in the Climate Preparedness, Adaptation, and Resilience group on the Knowledge Network.  For more information about CityLinks, visit the CityLinks website, and Notes from CityLinks blog, or e-mail international@icma.org.  Follow us on Twitter - @ICMACityLinks.