What this lesson teaches
I can evaluate mitigation and adaptation as responses to climate change.
Syllabus 8834, Topic 1.2, 3. Responses to Climate Change. How can we respond to contemporary climate change?
Make a guess
A town builds a flood barrier, and new houses then spring up right behind it. Why could this be a problem later?
- Barriers cut greenhouse gas emissions.
- A bigger flood could now harm more people.
- Barriers stop future floods.
- There is no problem, because houses are needed.
Show the answer
A bigger flood could now harm more people.
Feeling safe can encourage building in places that will flood badly later. That is maladaptation: it raises future risk.
Adaptation adjusts to climate effects, and it works best when it reduces vulnerability without creating bigger risks later.
Adaptation means adjusting to actual or expected climate change and its effects. Unlike mitigation, it does not aim to cut emissions. Water storage and fixing leaks help with unreliable rain. Heat warnings, shade and rest breaks reduce heat harm. Coasts can use defences, restored mangroves, raised buildings or planned relocation.
Match the measure to the hazard and the people. A sea wall protects a crowded coast but does nothing for heat illness inland. A drought-tolerant crop must suit local soil, diets and markets. Warning systems need trusted messages, accessible shelters and the means to act.
Maladaptation is adaptation that raises risk or unfairness. A barrier may encourage building in a place that will flood badly later. Pumping groundwater in a drought can make land sink. Air-conditioning that people cannot afford leaves the poor exposed and adds emissions. A barrier can also push flooding onto another community.
Soft limits are barriers like money or institutions that could be overcome. Hard limits are where no adjustment can prevent serious loss, such as an ecosystem pushed past what it can survive. Adaptation cannot prevent every loss, even before a hard limit is reached.
Flexible plans can change as evidence improves. A city can reserve land for future drains. It can also set water-level triggers for when to upgrade. Compare who benefits, how long protection lasts, maintenance needs and whether the measure fits with mitigation.
- Adaptation
- Adjusting to climate change and its effects.
- Maladaptation
- A response that increases risk or unfairness.
- Soft vs hard limits
- Could be overcome vs cannot be overcome.
Step by step
Match measure to hazard
What exposure or vulnerability does it change?
Look further ahead
Check for shifted risk and future lock-in.
Plan for change
Monitor and decide in stages.
Real examples to use
Room for the River, Netherlands
Instead of only raising dykes, the Dutch gave rivers more space to flood safely, for example by moving dykes back and lowering floodplains.
Cyclone shelters, Bangladesh
Shelters and warnings cut cyclone deaths sharply, but poor coastal families still lose homes, crops and livelihoods.
Maldives: Hulhumale
More than 80% of the Maldives' land is less than 1 m above sea level. Since 1997 the country has built Hulhumale, a reclaimed island beside the capital Male, raised about 2 m above sea level, for housing. It lowers flood risk for its residents, but costs a lot, uses dredged sand and cannot protect every inhabited island.
Singapore: NEWater
Since 2003, PUB has treated used water with advanced membranes and ultraviolet light to make ultra-clean NEWater. It can meet up to 40% of Singapore's water demand, so supply depends less on rain and imports during droughts. It needs a lot of energy, so it has costs as well as benefits.
Worked example: Coastal Bangladesh
A Green Climate Fund project approved in 2018 aims to help coastal Bangladesh adapt, especially women facing salty drinking water and failing livelihoods. It shows that adaptation must address access and livelihoods, not just infrastructure. Approval alone does not prove success.
Watch out for this
Adaptation always reduces emissions.
Its aim is to cope with impacts. Some options cut emissions; others add to them.
Check your understanding
A community knows a water storage option works but cannot afford it. Which limit is this?
- A hard physical limit.
- A soft adaptation limit.
- A mitigation limit on greenhouse gases.
Show the answer
A soft adaptation limit.
Yes. Money is a barrier that could be overcome.