Including Coastal Ecosystems in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)[Les enjeux de l’inclusion des écosystèmes côtiers dans les Contributions Déterminées au niveau National (CDN)]

The effects of climate change are growing and are already having dramatic consequences, particularly for coastal populations in developing countries (IPCC, 2018). In 2015, by adopting the Paris Agreement, the international community committed to reducing the magnitude of ongoing climate change through the development of national action plans, called Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). Five years after signing the Agreement, it appears that the States must undertake drastic efforts to raise their climate ambitions. The ocean, which plays a key role in stabilizing the climate, offers many mitigation and adaptation solutions (Gattuso et al., 2018). Among them, proper management, conservation and restoration of coastal ecosystems can help meet both the challenges posed by climate change and the decline in biodiversity, while increasing human well-being. This policy brief explores the challenges of the inclusion in NDCs of such actions based on emblematic coastal ecosystems: mangroves, coral reefs, seagrasses and salt-marshes.