Southeast Asia is a region renowned for its extraordinary nature. However, it faces numerous challenges that threaten climate and environmental sustainability, such as a rapidly growing population, swift urbanization, and industries contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. The successful implementation of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) is crucial in addressing these issues. 

To accelerate and enhance the implementation of and investment in high-quality NbS projects that deliver triple benefits (people, nature, and climate), the Southeast Asia Climate and Nature-based Solutions (SCeNe) Coalition developed three workstreams to drive this: the NbS Tool, NbS Portfolio, and NbS Incubator. The NbS Tool, developed with the grant support from Google.org, is a web-based platform designed to facilitate the analysis and provision of crucial data for NbS project development by frontline organizations. The NbS Incubator supports these organizations in preparing, designing, and implementing best practices for NbS projects and the NbS Portfolio establishes guidance criteria for high quality triple benefit NbS projects and curates NbS projects to showcase to attract potential climate funding and serve as case studies to guide developers. 

At COP28, the SCeNe Coalition launched the first version of the NbS Tool. Since then, the team has been working on enhancing the tool including adding more data layers and improving user experience. The team held a series of engagement events from November 2023 to June 2024 in Indonesia, the Philippines, Cambodia, and Thailand, to introduce the tool and gather user feedback. More than 200 participants from frontline organizations, communities, and other stakeholders attended and these sessions incorporated Focus Group Discussions (FGD), user testing, and case study exercises. 

Dewi Sari, NbS Tool Lead of SCeNe Coalition, introducing the NbS Tool at the event in Bangkok.
Dewi Sari, NbS Tool Lead of SCeNe Coalition, introducing the NbS Tool at the event in Bangkok. 

The first event took place in South Sumatra in October 2023, in collaboration with Hutan Kita Institute (HaKI), an organization that focuses on forest ecosystem conservation and protection. The next event was held in Manila in November 2023, in partnership with the Philippine Eagle Foundation (PEF), an organization dedicated to saving the critically endangered Philippine Eagle and its rainforest habitat. In 2024, the team conducted sessions in Phnom Penh in May, followed by events in Bangkok and Jakarta in June. 

Participants in South Sumatra exploring the features of NbS Tool.
Participants in South Sumatra exploring the features of NbS Tool. 

In addition to the engagement and sharing events, the team conducted site visits to Semendo and Merang in South Sumatra (Indonesia) and in Bukidnon (the Philippines). These visits aimed to validate data, better understand each site’s potential, and grasp the local context and socio-economic conditions in both areas, to assess suitability for support through the NbS Incubator. 

SCeNe Coalition and PEF visited Guilang-guilang Apo Datu Nanikunan Association (GADNAI) Kapulinagan Carbon Forest in Bukidnon.
SCeNe Coalition and PEF visited Guilang-Guilang Apo Datu Nanikunan Association (GADNAI) Kapulinagan Carbon Forest in Bukidnon. 

Through this series of events, the team gathered numerous inputs and new perspectives. Participants in Manila highlighted the need for the NbS Tool to incorporate more country-specific data, which is essential for accurately reflecting and addressing the unique environmental and cultural landscapes, particularly in regions inhabited by indigenous communities. "The NbS Tool would really enhance the ability of indigenous people to plan their land management. With the right facilitation and support, the NbS Tool would be very empowering," explained Jayson Ibanez, Director for Research and Conservation of PEF. This sentiment was echoed by participants in Phnom Penh, who emphasized the importance of integrating local and specific data sources for accurate environmental and social assessments. 

The NbS Tool development team guiding NbS Tool run-through in Phnom Penh.
The NbS Tool development team guiding NbS Tool run-through in Phnom Penh.

Some participants also expressed their struggles in accessing and utilizing data when developing their projects and how they hoped the NbS Tool would solve this. “Hopefully, the NbS Tool will support our diverse needs like generating documents for social forestry or management plans by measuring areas and potential carbon sequestration,” said Adiosyafri, Director for Research and Campaign of HaKI. Meanwhile, others emphasized the tool's potential to streamline their workflows and improve the quality of their documentation. 

Participants in Indonesia engaging in an interactive use case study.
Participants in Indonesia engaging in an interactive use case study. 

From the case study session, participants discussed how the NbS Tool could address various challenges for different purposes. In Thailand for example, some participants shared that it can support frontline organizations in developing analyses of landscape sustainability, other effective area-based conservation measures (OECM), community forests, and indigenous land management and tenurial rights. “It is also important to identify the organizations that directly work on those issues and subjects, as it will foster the collaboration to maximize the benefit of NbS Tool,” said Dharmodip Basumatary, Program Officer at Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact.

In Indonesia, it could aid in supporting Social Forestry (particularly for village forests, community forests, and forestry partnerships), mitigating social and tenurial conflicts, assessing High Conservation Value (HCV) or High Carbon Stock (HCS) areas, managing Indigenous People and Local Communities Conserved Areas (Areal Konservasi Kelola Masyarakat), evaluating the Suitability of Marine Space Utilization Activities (Kesesuaian Kegiatan Pemanfaatan Ruang Laut/KKPRL), and identifying Ecosystem Essential Area (Areal Bernilai Konservasi Tinggi/ABKT). 

As the SCeNe Coalition moves forward, it will continuously improve the NbS Tool and other workstreams based on user feedback and evolving needs. “The insights gathered from these engagement and sharing events will be instrumental in refining the tool to better serve the needs of frontline organizations,” said Dewi R. Sari, NbS Tool Lead of SCeNe Coalition as well as WRI Indonesia’s Nature-based Solutions Manager. 

In 2024-2026, the SCeNe Coalition will develop new spatial layers, update country-specific data layers, improve NbS tool features by integrating AI into project documentation generation and conducting user testing, and enhance system infrastructure by reducing processing time and enhancing data and system security. 

This effort marks significant strides towards addressing environmental challenges and advancing climate action in Southeast Asia. By empowering local frontline organizations with the right tools and knowledge, we pave the way for a future where nature thrives, benefiting biodiversity, communities, and climate.