Global Warming and Environmental Science

Climate Change Adaptation

Adaptation is "the process of adjustment to current or expected changes in climate and its effects". As global climate change effects vary across regions, so do adaptation strategies. While some adaptation responses involve trade-offs, others bring synergies and co-benefits. Increased use of air con allows people to raised deal with heat, but also increases energy demand. Other samples of adaptation include improved coastline protection, better disaster management, and therefore the development of more resistant crops. Adaptation is especially important in developing countries since they are predicted to bear the brunt of the effects of climate change.

The capacity and potential for humans to adapt, called adaptive capacity, is unevenly distributed across different regions and populations, and developing countries generally have less. There are limits to adaptation and more severe global climate change requires more transformative adaptation, which may be prohibitively expensive.