PARES Technical Field Visits Highlight the Role of Nature-based Solutions in Strengthening Climate Resilience and Human Security in Latin America

• Field visits conducted across six countries demonstrated that climate adaptation is most effective when Nature-based Solutions are designed around local realities and integrated with local governance, livelihoods, and human security.

A technical team from CATIE (Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center), through the Peace, Action, Resilience and Sustainability in Latin American Landscapes (PARES) project, recently completed an intensive series of technical field visits in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Mexico, Colombia, and Ecuador. The visits aimed to strengthen the implementation of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) in landscapes vulnerable to climate change, environmental degradation, and multiple pressures affecting human security.

Beyond reviewing progress in the field, the process identified key regional lessons: NbS achieve greater impact when they are designed according to the specific conditions of each landscape and integrated with local governance, community organization, sustainable livelihoods, and collaborative management of shared natural resources such as water, forests, and soils.

The visits also highlighted the close relationship between climate adaptation and human security. Across the landscapes visited, pressures on water resources, forests, soils, and livelihoods are closely linked to territorial conflicts, inequality, food insecurity, migration, and weakened community organization. As a result, strengthening NbS also means strengthening social cohesion, local capacities, and the conditions needed for peacebuilding.

Throughout the process, CATIE's technical team worked alongside PARES partner organizations to review project progress, develop technical recommendations, and identify opportunities to improve field implementation. This regional assessment generated valuable inputs to strengthen implementation, document emerging evidence, and support the scaling up of successful approaches across different Latin American contexts.

The technical missions covered a wide diversity of landscapes, including cloud forests, mangroves, springs, micro-watersheds, agroecological farms, agroforestry systems, seasonal lagoons, restoration sites, and productive landscapes exposed to droughts, extreme rainfall, wildfires, soil erosion, loss of vegetation cover, and increasing pressure on water resources.

Across these territories, NbS take many forms, including forest restoration, assisted natural regeneration, integrated fire management, mangrove restoration, agroecological production, rainwater harvesting, nursery strengthening, agroforestry systems, bio-input production, silvopastoral systems, protection of water sources, and community-based water resource management.

"These field visits have allowed us to see very clearly that the nexus between climate change, peace, and security is not an abstract concept. In several landscapes, pressures on water, forests, and livelihoods intersect with migration, conflict, insecurity, and territorial inequality. Supporting NbS therefore also means strengthening local governance, social cohesion, and communities' capacity to make informed decisions about their territories," said Ileana Ávalos, PARES Project Coordinator at CATIE.

The visits included CATIE specialists in landscape restoration, watershed management, water security, agroforestry systems, territorial governance, hydrological restoration, climate analysis, sustainable livelihoods, and disaster risk management. Government focal points from Guatemala, Mexico, El Salvador, and Ecuador also participated, gaining first-hand insight into how locally led actions contribute to climate adaptation, ecosystem restoration, vulnerability reduction, and community security.

One of the main lessons emerging from the process is that the long-term sustainability of NbS depends on agreements, institutional coordination, technical capacities, and governance mechanisms that enable collaboration among producers, conservation actors, natural resource managers, and decision-makers. This requires going beyond technical implementation to strengthen the social and institutional conditions that allow positive changes to endure over time.

"Our visit to Chiapas confirmed that climate policy must be grounded in territorial realities in order to be truly effective," said Gustavo Adolfo Pérez Chirinos, Deputy Director for Climate Finance Monitoring at the General Directorate for Climate Action Policies of SEMARNAT, Mexico.

According to Luis Diego Jiménez, CATIE specialist, field visits consistently demonstrate that NbS are most effective when they respond to local conditions and are implemented according to each territory's specific context. "They allow interventions to be adjusted in real time, validate what works in dry and highly climate-vulnerable landscapes, and enable resilient strategies to be developed together with communities. Above all, they remind us that true restoration begins with people, is built collectively, and ultimately takes shape in the landscape," he said.

Partner organizations also recognized the technical support provided during the visits as a key contribution to strengthening their capacities and improving project implementation.

"CATIE's technical support has been essential for guiding and strengthening the implementation of PARES activities in our territory. It has enabled us to review progress, identify opportunities for improvement, and strengthen our technical capacities to generate greater impact in the communities and landscapes where we work," said Sindy Mejía, Field Technician at FENAPROCACAHO.

Overall, the field visits produced a comprehensive regional assessment of the progress, challenges, and opportunities faced by PARES partner organizations. They also generated valuable inputs to strengthen NbS portfolios, refine implementation strategies, document emerging evidence, and support territorial scaling processes.

Through this initiative, PARES reaffirms the importance of working directly with territories, recognizing that climate resilience is built by combining technical knowledge, local expertise, institutional collaboration, and community capacities. The experiences observed demonstrate that protecting landscapes also means strengthening the conditions that enable people to live, produce, and make decisions with greater security in the face of climate change.

About PARES

The Peace, Action, Resilience and Sustainability in Latin American Landscapes (PARES) project is implemented by CATIE in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and funded by the European Union. Its objective is to strengthen Nature-based Solutions (NbS) that contribute to climate adaptation, human security, peacebuilding, and resilience in vulnerable landscapes across Latin America.