Global Green-Gray Infrastructure Community of Practice
Chaired By
FEBA, recognizing the critical role of green-gray infrastructure in advancing and mainstreaming ecosystem-based adaptation into infrastructure development, is a founding member of the Global Green-Gray Infrastructure Community of Practice, led by Conservation International. The Community of Practice serves as a forum for collaboration across the conservation, engineering, finance, and construction sectors to generate and scale green-gray climate adaptation solutions. Green-gray infrastructure combines conservation and/or restoration of ecosystems with the selective use of conventional engineering approaches to provide people with solutions that deliver climate change resilience and adaptation benefits. By blending “green” and “blue” conservation with “gray” engineering techniques, communities can incorporate the benefits of both solutions while, through a hybrid approach, minimizing the limitations of using either individually.
The Community of Practice has grown to 58 members spanning the globe, including engineering and architecture firms such as AECOM, Bechtel, Deltares, Arup, Caterpillar, and many academic partners. This multi-disciplinary community is addressing specific issues related to green-gray economics and finance, identifying case studies of hybrid solutions in action, and defining science-based engineering guidelines.
To stay up to date on the work of the Green-Gray CoP, visit their webpage here.
Knowledge Products
Practical Guide to Implementing Green-Gray Infrastructure
A hybrid green-gray approach to infrastructure — one that combines “green” ecosystem conservation and restoration with “gray” conventional engineering — can generate more benefits and climate resilience for people and nature than either strategy applied alone.
The Practical Guide to Implementing Green-Gray Infrastructure is a tool for identifying, funding, planning, designing, constructing, and monitoring green-gray infrastructure projects, to increase the resilience of vulnerable cities, communities, and assets around the world. The Guide includes 35 case studies from around the world, identifies key challenges a practitioner may seek to resolve, and where green-gray solutions can meet project goals and integrate into different land use types.
This is a living document that will continue to be improved and updated as new information is discovered and as design techniques evolve. Learn more about the Green-Gray Community of Practice. The brief is available for download here.
If you are interested in joining this or another expert working group, or starting a working group on another topic, please contact us.