Climate Adaptation

Adaptation
In the specific context of climate change, adapting means adjusting to a new set of climatic attributes, either new and unfamiliar from those already existing, or changed parameters of existing attributes.  This adjustment can be imposed based on premeditated planning, or it can take place without specific policy frameworks to implement it (i.e. autonomous adaptation).  A shift from emphasis on the latter to the former can be distinguished when looking back at scholarship since the 1970s, as awareness of detrimental human impact on the environment as cause for risk to humans replaced the idea that humans were at the mercy of the environment.  In this process, adaptation has gone from being considered something done by plants and animals in evolution, to being promoted as a concept for guiding policy to ensure sustainable development, reduce vulnerability and minimise risk to humans from climate change.  Although many researchers have identified different adaptation typologies and presented a number of concepts and frameworks as bases for characterising different types of adaptation, the majority of scholarship in the context of climate change continues to inform planned adaptation. 

Vulnerability
Vulnerability to environmental change has been defined and redefined since the early 1980s.  Vulnerability describes how sensitive an individual or system is to a specific hazard, and is sometimes described as sensitivity, which may refer more commonly to ecological systems.  Vulnerability is determined by numerous factors, including geographical location, gender, age, political affiliation, livelihood, access to resources and wealth (entitlements), etc.  The most useful element of the concept is the notion that a hazard does not translate directly into risk, but rather is qualified by the degree of vulnerability of the individual or system in question to that hazard.   The underlying factors causing vulnerability are what therefore determines risk.  It is for this reason that poverty is often considered one of main drivers of risk, but in reality there are a number of other significant factors that should not be overlooked, including belief systems and influence on decision makers, that  also drive vulnerability. 

Adaptive Capacity
Adaptive capacity has been a slippery concept since it was first coined.  It generally refers to the degree to which individuals or groups can adapt to risk at any given time.  It is considered that one way to enhance adaptation is by building ‘adaptive capacity’.  Since there are so many factors that determine this capacity, a debate has been on-going about the main differences between building adaptive capacity and simply supporting sustainable development.

Resilience
Resilience has its roots in ecology and has two different applications for ecological systems, which are now also widely found in the discourse of social systems.  Resilience may either refer to the extent to which a system is able to absorb adverse effects of a hazard, or it may refer to the recovery time for returning after a disturbance.  In this sense, highly resilient systems are either characterised by their ability to endure despite high stress, or their ability to bounce back quickly.  From this perspective, resilience can be described as a buffer, or a shock absorber, allowing individuals or systems an opportunity to cope during an event and not depleting all resource or options for recovery following an event.   It is therefore seen to have links with the adaptive capacity and vulnerability of a system. 

Impacts
Impacts refer to the way a human or natural system reacts to climate change. Often, reference to impacts refers also to secondary and tertiary consequences.  For example, climate change can result in less rainfall, which  will inhibit crop growth.  This is either because it means less water falling on plots, less groundwater recharge, or less water in streams from which water is taken to irrigate crops.  The secondary consequences of this is less crop product, which can lead to economic difficulties or hunger.

Risk
Risk is used in many different contexts.  In terms of environmental change, it either refers to the threat posed by a change, i.e. the probability of an adverse impact.  Climate change risk is a function of the magnitude of an individual hazard and degree of vulnerability of a system in question to that hazard, according to the conceptual equation Risk = f(Hazard, Vulnerability).  Generally, unless a system is vulnerable to the hazard, there is no risk implied. 

Hazards
Hazard is a physical event (natural hazard) that can pose a threat to a system if the system is vulnerable to the hazard.  Hazard is often used in a way that implies risk, but in reality if a flood occurs in an area that is not vulnerable to floods, there is no risk involved.  Of course, risk without hazard is not possible, and therefore hazard is conceptually linked with damage and loss.

Coping
Coping is sometimes used as a synonym for adaptation, however coping measures are generally short-term actions to ward off immediate risk, rather than to adjust to continuous or permanent threats or changes.  In some cases, coping strategies can in fact deplete assets such that recurrent hazards pose a higher risk.  It is therefore important to distinguish between coping and adapting.

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