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Nature-focused Community-led Climate Action: What impacts can it make, and how can we measure them?

Nature-focused Community-led Climate Action: What impacts can it make, and how can we measure them? (PDF, 0.8 MB)

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Introduction

This report shows how to define and demonstrate the impact that community-led, nature-focused projects can have. It includes real world case studies.

Nature-focused projects are projects that aim to make a positive difference to nature or to people’s connection to it.

It’s sometimes hard to demonstrate their impact because ecological benefits can be difficult to detect and take time to become clear.

This report is for Climate Action Fund (CAF) grant holder projects that have nature-focused objectives. The findings may also be useful to people involved in other community-led nature projects.

Findings

The main findings are that the impacts of nature-focused projects can be shown as impacts on nature and impacts on people.

Measurable impacts on nature include:

  • improving nature’s state or condition — including extent and quality

  • reducing pressures facing nature and biodiversity

  • actions taken to protect nature

Measurable impacts on people at a community or individual level include:

  • environmental democracy and sharing best practice

  • cognitive (knowledge, skills or interest), emotional, and behavioural impacts

Not all impacts will be relevant to all projects.

The findings include indicators that may be used to measure these impacts. A project should consider identifying 3-6 different indicators relevant to their project.

Using shared metrics across multiple projects should only be used if goals overlap and contextual differences are shared.