The issue of climate change is becoming more urgent. Every day humanity is getting closer to pushing the planet to its boundaries and causing irreversible damage to the Earth system. To mitigate against the effects of climate change and prevent this eventuality, climate adaptation strategies are required so that we get off this trajectory of destructive climate change.
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Jetzt kostenlos anmeldenThe issue of climate change is becoming more urgent. Every day humanity is getting closer to pushing the planet to its boundaries and causing irreversible damage to the Earth system. To mitigate against the effects of climate change and prevent this eventuality, climate adaptation strategies are required so that we get off this trajectory of destructive climate change.
Climate change adaptation strategies are necessary to cope with the increasing risks coming from climate change. One of those negative changes is caused by the primary greenhouse gas, namely Carbon dioxide.
But what are these strategies, and how can they help?
Adaptive strategies in climate change are not aimed at reducing or stopping climate change but at responding to climate change and limiting its negative effects. In other words: strategies to adapt to a situation. This is the opposite of mitigation strategies, which do aim to reduce or prevent climate change from happening. Mitigation strategies include alternative/renewable energy, carbon capture, planting trees, and international agreements.
Climate change adaptation can occur on a local, regional, national and global scale.
As people become more aware of climate change and the associated dangers, there has been an increased emphasis on proactively taking action and formulating climate adaptation strategies. The ultimate goal is to create protection for ecosystems and their populations. This should lead to climate resilience.
According to the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES), climate resilience is: "The ability to anticipate, prepare for, and respond to hazardous events, trends, or disturbances related to climate. Improving climate resilience involves assessing how climate change will create new, or alter current, climate-related risks, and taking steps to better cope with these risks."1
Climate change adaptation strategies address many different areas of society and can differ dramatically in terms of approach and effectiveness. Let’s break down a few of them.
A few adaptation strategies relating to landscape design, both urban and rural, have and can be implemented to help people adapt to the threats of climate change.
Several studies have concluded that preserving green spaces can help adapt to climate change by using the natural/existing environment to act as a carbon sink. This is both a mitigation and adaptation strategy because, as well as aiming to reduce the implications of climate change, it is adapting current circumstances to cope with the struggles of climate change. Where ordinarily, the green spaces may be deforested, protective laws can adapt this circumstance to prevent this from occurring.
One of the significant threats people face due to climate change is sea-level rise. One way to adapt to this threat is to construct buildings in vulnerable areas on stilts/raised platforms (figure 2). This means that as sea levels continue to rise, the buildings will not be flooded, and the populations will be protected. This has resulted in entire towns being constructed at an elevated level, reducing the short-term risk of submergence.
Such climate change adaptation strategies are useful because they target key contributors to climate change and adapt core infrastructure so that anthropogenic activity is not drastically disrupted.
The agriculture industry is one of the worst culprits contributing to the climate crisis. However, it is also vulnerable to the threats of climate change. For example, flooding and drought events are likely to increase in frequency alongside climate change, and shifting ecosystems can cause damage to crops as well as the spread of diseases. These events can be harmful to crops and increase the risk of food insecurity. As agriculture is relied upon worldwide, it is not just something that can be discontinued. Instead, it needs to be adapted so that it may meet population demand without compromising the demands of future generations. Some examples of adaptation include:
Strategy | Effect |
Diversifying the crops planted | This shares out the risk of crop failure and increases the chances of successfully producing food. |
Genetic modification | Albeit controversial, modifying plant genes can make them resistant to harmful conditions, e.g. increasing temperatures. This can allow plants to survive that would ordinarily fail due to climate change. |
Increasing efficiency | Using new technologies to improve farming efficiency reduces the consumption of water. This allows agriculture to adapt to the threat of water insecurity resulting from climate change. |
In Scotland, owners of farms and agricultural businesses have been encouraged to introduce climate change adaptation strategies to protect the industry from harm. Some suggestions include:
One of the impacts of climate change is water insecurity. This can be caused by many factors, including increased evapotranspiration, the contamination of existing freshwater sources via rising sea levels and the increased frequency and intensity of drought events. This lower supply of water, combined with growing demand from an increasing population, can result in damaging and prolonged water shortages. Therefore, the population needs to adapt to having less water available to sustain them. This can be achieved in several ways:
In the MENA region, there is an organisation called the 'Arab Integrated Water Resources Management Network' (AWARENET), which works to determine water quotas throughout the region and reduce over-exploitation and unfair distribution of water supplies.
Remember: not all adaptation strategies are equally effective!
The climate change adaptation strategy is incredibly important because the issue of climate change is becoming increasingly prominent and urgent. There is a certain point beyond which climate change will leave the planet unsafe for human habitation and therefore doom us to extinction. Other effects of reaching such a point might include a mass extinction causing substantial biodiversity decline, habitat destruction, and extreme sea-level rise. Essentially, not adapting to stop us from reaching this point is critical to the long-term survival of humanity and the other species found on Earth. It is important to place such a strong emphasis on adaptation because it is important that the demands of the population are met and that countries have the opportunity to develop. Not compromising on the quality of life in society is crucial, so adaptation must occur to ensure that needs are met without contributing to climate change.
Increased awareness of climate change results in more proactivity
It is clear that adaptation and mitigation strategies are extremely important to climate change. While either of these strategies by itself is important, combining both will give the best results.
As mentioned earlier, mitigation is the act of reducing or even entirely eliminating the effects of something happening. When we use mitigation strategies, damages could be minimised:
When we combine mitigation strategies with adaptation strategies, meaning learning to adapt rather than prevent issues, we can make the biggest impact on climate change:
According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), we could indeed achieve some positive changes, but we would have to successfully implement both mitigating and adapting strategies by the next decade.
What can we change? | What is the outcome? |
Mobility | When journeys are undertaken either by public transport or (shared) electric cars we could minimise the number of traffic and traffic jams. This will not only benefit the climate but also improve quality of life. |
Architecture and town planning | With proper town planning, parking zones in streets can be reduced in favour of more urban allotments and parks. In the meantime, buildings and houses will be using renewable energy. |
Food | It would be beneficial to decrease our intake of meat, dairy and fish and increase our intake of fruit and vegetables. |
Agriculture | Decreasing the intake of meat and dairy means that livestock farming can be reduced as well. This will have a positive effect on reforestation, and the land becoming newly available can be used to cultivate other foods. |
Consumption | Single-use plastic will have to disappear, and other packaging will have to be easier to sort and recycle. Furthermore, sharing goods and services, purchasing less and reusing and recycling more will have a positive impact. |
The climate change adaptation strategy looks to transform components of life so that the impacts of climate change can be reduced and/or prevented.
There are many different climate change adaptation strategies that differ in terms of what they address, which scale they operate on, and how effective they are.
Some examples of climate change adaptation are: changing landscape design, improving agriculture and managing water effectively.
An effective climate change adaptation strategy must be introduced so that climate change doesn’t worsen to a point where the effects are irreversible.
An effective climate change adaptation strategy must also ensure that the present population's quality of life and needs aren't compromised.
Adaptive strategies in climate change are strategies that are not aimed at reducing or stopping climate change, but at responding to climate change and limiting its negative effects. In other words: strategies in order to adapt to a situation.
Mitigation strategies are strategies aimed at reducing or preventing climate change from happening. It includes:
As climate change continues on its current trajectory, so does the likelihood of doing irreversible damage to the planet. Climate change adaptation strategy is necessary to prevent this from happening, and to lessen the negative impacts suffered around the world.
Some examples of adaptation practices include:
Genetic modification enables plants / species to survive that would be at risk of environmental (natural) selection eliminating them in ordinary circumstances.
Why are climate adaptation strategies important?
All of the above!
What is the primary greenhouse gas that causes climate change?
Carbon dioxide
What is climate mitigation?
Mitigation strategies are strategies aimed at reducing or preventing climate change from happening. It includes:
What are examples of adaptation practices?
Some examples of adaptation practices include:
What is climate resilience?
The ability to anticipate, prepare for and respond to the threats of climate change.
True or false: agricultural systems contribute to climate change AND are at threat because of it.
True
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