This article is dedicated to Climate Adaptation and Resilience. Adjoining resources emphasize innovation and entrepreneurship as means of promoting adaptation and resilience. This article is a part of the #Youth4ClimateLive Educational Toolkit.
Imagine you’re on a ship that’s sinking because of a leak. If you want to stay afloat, you’ve got to act. The first thing you might do is grab a bucket and bail water as it gushes through the hull. This response is adaptation—addressing the effect (the water in the boat) but not the cause of the problem (the hole).
The IPCC defines adaptation as “the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate and its effects.” It’s doing what we can to live with and minimize the destruction and suffering that comes from climate change. In simple terms, countries and communities need to develop adaptation solutions and implement action to respond to the impacts of climate change that are already happening, as well as prepare for future impacts.
Adaptation happens in a variety of ways. Some adaptations are fueled by changes in government policies, other adaptations occur because of technological advances, and some happen at a grassroots level in communities. There is no one-size-fits-all solution—adaptation can range from building flood defenses, setting up early warning systems for cyclones, and switching to drought-resistant crops to redesigning communication systems, business operations, and government policies. Many nations and communities are already taking steps to build resilient societies and economies, but greater action and ambition will be needed to cost-effectively manage the risks, both now and in the future.
Resilience refers to the policy, infrastructure, services, transportation, energy strategy, agricultural innovations, and planning that position municipalities and communities to withstand natural disasters, changing weather patterns, and other dangerous impacts of climate change and to recover constructively from those disruptions when they are hit. If adaptation is about bailing water from our sinking ship, resilience is about reinforcing the parts of the hull that haven’t yet been breached to reduce future risk. Resilience supports sustainable development and the construction of better, more durable systems. It leads to investment in jobs and infrastructure, meaning that it can provide valuable uplift to economies.
Investment into resilience can align with sustainable development goals, improving quality of life, stimulating the economy, and protecting the environment while safeguarding areas against the onset of climate change. Of course, adaptation and resilience must always go hand in hand with mitigation efforts to tackle the root cause of climate impacts: our global emissions and the dangerous levels of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. If we want our ship to stop taking on water, sooner rather than later we’ll have to patch the holes in its hull.
Banner image courtesy of Comfreak, Pixabay.
