POLICY RESPONSES TO CLIMATE

CHANGE
Adaptation
 Categories of policy responses to climate
change
• Policy responses to climate change can be
broadly classified into two categories:
– Adaptive measures to deal with the consequences
of climate change and
– Mitigation, or preventive measures, intended to
lower the magnitude or timing of climate change.
 Climate change adaptation
• The IPCC defines climate change adaptation as:
– "In human systems, as the process of adjustment to
actual or expected climate and its effects in order to
moderate harm or take advantage of beneficial
opportunities”
– Adaptation aims to moderate or avoid harm of climate
change
– It also aims to exploit opportunities.
• Scientific research into climate change adaptation
generally starts with analyses of the likely effects of
climate change on people, ecosystems and the
environment.
• Adaptation actions can be incremental or
transformative.
– Incremental actions are actions that aim to
maintain the essence and integrity of a system.
– Transformative actions are actions that change the
fundamental attributes of a system in response to
climate change and its impacts.
Categories of adaptation responses
• Adaptation responses fall into four categories
that all directly aim to reduce risks and exploit
opportunities:
– Infrastructural and technological adaptation
– Institutional adaptation
– Behavioral and cultural adaptation
– Nature-based solutions
 Infrastructural and technological options

• Built environment
– Installing or upgrading infrastructure to protect
against flooding, sea level rise, heat waves and
extreme weather.
– They also include infrastructure to respond to
changed rainfall patterns in agriculture.
• This could be infrastructure for irrigation.
• Early warning systems
– Because of changes in extreme weather and sea level rise, due
to climate change, the UN has recommended early warning
systems as key elements of climate change adaptation
and climate risk management.
– Flooding, cyclones and other rapidly changing weather events
can make communities in coastal areas along flood zones and
communities reliant on agriculture, very vulnerable to extreme
events.
– Early warning systems help communities adapt to drought, heat
waves, disease, fire, and other related effects of climate change.
– The UN is running a partnership titled "Climate Risk and Early
Warning Systems" to aid high risk countries with neglected
warning systems in developing them.
• Climate information services
– Climate Information Services (CIS) (or climate
services) entail the dissemination of climate data in a
way that aids people and organizations in making
decisions.
– CIS are systems to deliver the best available climate
information to end-users in the most usable and
accessible formats.
– CIS involve the timely production, translation and
delivery of useful climate data.
– CIS helps its users foresee and control the hazards
associated with a changing climate.
 Institutional options

• Building codes
– Managing the codes or regulations that buildings must
conform to is important for keeping people healthy and
comfortable during extremes of hot and cold and
protecting them from floods.
– They include increasing the insulation values, adding solar
shading, increasing natural ventilation or passive cooling,
codes for green roofs to reduce urban heat or requiring
waterfront properties to have higher foundations.
– Land use zoning controls are central to investment
in urban development. They can reduce risks to areas
threatened by floods and landslides
• Insurance
– Insurance spreads the financial impact of flooding
and other extreme weather events.
– For example, index-based insurance is a new
product which triggers payment when weather
indices such as precipitation or temperature cross
a threshold.
• It aims to help customers such as farmers deal with
production risks.
• Where there are failures in the private insurance
market, the public sector can subsidize premiums.
• Coordination mechanisms
– Coordination helps achieve goals shared by a
range of people or organizations.
– Examples: information-sharing or joint
implementation of adaptation options.
– Coordination helps use resources effectively.
– It avoids duplication, promotes consistency across
government, and makes it easier for all people and
organizations involved to understand the work.
 Behavioral and cultural options
• Change in food waste
– Food waste increases with exposure to higher temperatures,
humidity and flooding.
– This can happen at different points in the food supply chain.
Thus it can be a risk to food security and nutrition.
– Adaptation measures can review the production, processing and
other handling practices of suppliers.
– Examples include further sorting to separate damaged products,
drying the product for better storage or improved packaging.
– Other behavior change options for retailers and consumers
include accepting fruit and vegetables that appear less than
perfect, redistributing food surpluses, and lowering prices on
nearly expired food.
• Change in livelihood strategies
– Agriculture offers many opportunities for
adaptation.
– These include changing planting times, or
changing to crops and livestock that are better
adapted to climate conditions and presence of
pests.
– Another example is adopting different income-
earning activities.
– All these aim to improve food security and
nutrition
 Nature-based options
• Nature-based solutions (NBS) work with
nature and ecosystems to provide benefits to
both societies and overall biodiversity.
• The International Union for Conservation of
Nature defines NBS as: actions to protect,
sustainably manage, and restore natural
ecosystems, that address societal challenges
effectively and adaptively
• Supporting ecosystems and biodiversity
– Climate change is a major driver of biodiversity loss
– Ecosystems adapt to global warming depending on their
resilience to climate change.
– Humans can help adaptation in ecosystems in order to
strengthen biodiversity.
– Example: increase links between ecosystems so that
species can migrate on their own to more favorable
climate conditions, or to assist this migration through
human transport of plants or animals.
– Protection and restoration of natural and semi-natural
areas also helps build resilience, making it easier for
ecosystems to adapt.
• Supporting people and societies
– Many actions that promote adaptation in
ecosystems also help humans adapt.
• Migration to more favorable climate conditions
– Other examples: restoration of natural fire
regimes
• This makes catastrophic fires less likely and reduces the
human exposure to this hazard.
– Giving rivers more space
• This allows natural systems to store more water. This
also makes floods in inhabited areas less likely.
 Adaptive capacity
• Adaptive capacity is the ability to reduce the likelihood of
negative impacts of climate-related hazards.
• Adaptive capacity differs between high and low-income
countries.
– high-income countries tend to have higher adaptive capacity
• Adaptation is particularly important in developing
countries because they are most vulnerable to climate
change, bearing the brunt of its effects
– Developing countries can receive international funding to help
develop national adaptation plans.
• Adaptation must also anticipate future risks of climate
change.
• The determinants of adaptive capacity include:
– Economic resources: Wealthier nations are better able to bear
the costs of adaptation to climate change than poorer ones.
– Technology: Lack of technology can impede adaptation.
– Information and skills: Information and trained personnel are
necessary to assess and implement successful adaptation
options.
– Institutions: Nations with well-developed institutions are likely
to have greater adaptive capacity than those with less effective
institutions.
– Equity: adaptive capacity is greater where there are
government institutions and arrangements in place that allow
equitable access to resources.
 Quiz
1. Discuss the difference between adaptive
measures and mitigation measures (2pts)
2. Discuss the three infrastructural and
technological options for climate change
adaptations (3pts)