Types of Adaptation Responses by Global Region
The Art
The Graph
“...The scientific literature presents extensive evidence of behavioural adaptation—change in the strategies, practices and actions that people, particularly individuals and households, undertake to reduce risk…. This includes, for example, household measures to protect homes from flooding, protect crops from drought, relocation out of hazard zones, and shifting livelihood strategies... This is followed by adaptation via technological innovation and infrastructural development, nature-based adaptation (enhancing, protecting or promoting ecosystem services) and institutional adaptation (enhancing multi-level governance or institutional capabilities). Behavioural adaptation is most frequently documented in Asia, Africa andSmallIslandStates,and in theagriculture, health and development sectors. In the agricultural sector, households are adopting or changing to crops and livestock that are more adapted to drought, heat, moisture, pests and salinity…. Studies in Africa and Asia have documented shifts in farming and animal husbandry practice …. In Small Island Nations, studies have documented household flood protections measures such as raising elevation of homes and yards, creating flood barriers, improving drainage, moving belongings and, in some cases, relocating….
Technological and infrastructural responses are widely reported in Europe, and globally in the context of cities and water and sanitation... Responses to flood risk in Europe include the use of flood- and climate-resistant building materials, large-scale flood management, and water storage and irrigation systems …Technological and infrastructural responses are also documented to some extent in agriculture, including, for example, breeding more climate-resilient crops, precision farming and other high-tech solutions such as genetic modification…. While less common, institutional responses are more prominent in North America and Australasia as compared with other regions, and include zoning regulations, new building codes, new insurance schemes, and coordination mechanisms ... Institutional adaptations are more frequently reported in cites than other sectors. Institutional adaptation may be particularly subject to reporting bias, however, with many institutional responses likely to be reported in the grey literature (see Chapter 17). Nature-based solutions are less frequently reported, except in Africa, where they are relatively well documented, and in the content of terrestrial systems where reports included species regeneration projects, wind breaks, erosion control, reforestation and riparian zone management …”
Source: Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Working Group II Contribution to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report, Chapter 16 pp 2433 and 2434 (Citations omitted) Figure 16.5
