Climate Change Adaptation

It is now widely accepted that human activities are contributing to climate change and that this change is producing significant physical effects.

Image by Peripitus. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0

Some of the effects from climate change are already happening; some are inevitable and will become more severe if we do not modify our behaviour.

Since 1950 Australia has experienced a warming of 0.4 to 0.7°C, with more heatwaves, more rain in the north-west and less rain in the southern and eastern regions and an increase in the intensity of droughts. Australia is already experiencing impacts from recent climate change with increasing stresses on water supply and agriculture, and is expected to face more severe extreme events with more intense and frequent heatwaves, droughts, floods and storm surges.
 
For further information on climate change impacts please see the CSIRO climate change  fact sheet.
 
There are two main categories of human responses to climate change: mitigation and adaptation. Both types of response help to reduce the risks of climate change.
 
Mitigation involves actions that are intended to reduce the magnitude of our contribution to climate change. It includes strategies to reduce greenhouse gas sources and emissions and enhance greenhouse gas sinks.
 
Adaptation consists of actions undertaken to reduce the adverse consequences of climate change, as well as to harness any beneficial opportunities. Adaptation actions aim to reduce the impacts of climate stresses on human and natural systems.
 
Both types of responses are essential and complementary. However, climate change is already happening and is bound to continue because of the amount of greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere. Even the toughest mitigation efforts and targets cannot avoid further impacts of climate change in the next few decades. Adaptation to these impacts which are already ‘locked in’ and cannot be avoided is therefore essential and of critical importance.
 
There are many different types or categories of adaptation. The most common distinctions concern:
  • Timing: proactive adaptation if it is done in anticipation of an impact, reactive if it is done in response;
  • Temporal and spatial scope: short term as opposed to long term, localised as opposed to widespread;
  • Purposefulness: autonomous if it is done unconsciously, planned if it is the result of a policy decision;  
  • Agent: public or private; government, industry, business or individual.
These different characteristics demonstrate the range of actions that are classified as adaptations.
 
Adaptation will be undertaken by a variety of actors, including individuals, communities, businesses, private actors, civil society and governments, and will consist of a wide range of behavioural, institutional, structural and technological adjustments.
 
Examples of adaptation measures include:
  • construction of sea walls;
  • building of new water reservoirs;
  • establishment of early warning systems;
  • revision and/or modification of building codes;
  • alteration of farming practices and crop use;
  • improvement of risk management; and
  • enhancement of water use efficiency.
 
Australians have a long history of responding to an extremely variable climate and to climatic extremes, such as floods, droughts and cyclones. This history, as well as the high educational standards and standard of living in Australia, provides Australians with a strong capacity to adapt to many of the expected impacts of climate change.
 
However, climate change will pose new risks outside the range of historical experience. The continuing drought in many parts of Australia and the bushfires, floods and storm tides experienced in 2009 highlight Australia’s existing vulnerability to extreme events. There is a need to enhance our society’s resilience to current climate and to build our capacity to respond and adapt to the impacts of climate change, which will likely fall beyond the range that Australia has experienced so far.
 
 

Climate Change Adaptation, the UNFCCC and international negotiations
NASA image of Cyclone Larry, 19 Mar 2006The international political response to climate change began with the negotiation and adoption of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1992. This Convention sets out a framework for action aimed at stabilising atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases to avoid ‘dangerous anthropogenic interference’ with the climate system. In 1997, the Kyoto Protocol was negotiated and commits industrialised countries and countries in transition to a market economy to achieve emission reduction targets. Although adaptation is mentioned in both the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol, it is still a relatively recent concern within the international negotiations on climate change, and its implementation has only come into much sharper focus since the Seventh Conference of the Parties (COP-7) in Marrakech in 2001. At COP-7 three funds dealing with adaptation were established: 1) the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF); 2) the Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF); and 3) the Adaptation Fund. The LDCF and SCCF were established under the UNFCCC while the Adaptation Fund was established under the Kyoto Protocol.
  • The LDCF was established to support the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in their preparation and implementation of National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs), especially with regards to the implementation of priority adaptation projects identified in the NAPAs.
  • The SCCF was established to finance a variety of mitigation and adaptation activities in developing countries. Activities and projects can be specific to sectors – energy, transport, industry, agriculture, forestry and waste management – or targeted directly at adaptation, technology transfer and capacity building, and economic diversification.
  • The Adaptation Fund was established to finance concrete adaptation projects and programmes in developing countries. This Fund is financed through voluntary contributions as well as from a 2% share of the proceeds of certified emission reductions (CERs) from projects under the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).
 
The subsequent rounds of negotiations brought further focus on adaptation and its implementation. At COP-10 in 2004 the Buenos Aires Programme of Work on Adaptation and Response Measures was accepted and this eventually led to the development of the Nairobi Work Programme on Impacts, Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Change (NWP) at COP-12. The objective of this 5-year work programme (2005-2010) is to assist governments to improve their understanding and assessment of impacts, vulnerability and adaptation to climate change, and make informed decisions on practical adaptation actions. The NWP is structured around nine work areas including, methods and tools, data and observations, adaptation planning and practices, and technologies for adaptation. The NWP aims to facilitate the dissemination of scientific and technical knowledge and thus to support and encourage the implementation of adaptation.
 
COP-13 in Bali in 2007 resulted in the adoption of the Bali Action Plan. The Bali Action Plan calls for a shared vision for long-term cooperative action on four key elements: mitigation, adaptation, finance and technology. COP-13 also resulted in an agreement on a two-year process, the Bali Roadmap, to finalise a post-2012 climate regime by the end of 2009 at COP-15 in Copenhagen.

Useful Climate Change Adaptation links: 

 
Climate Change:
IPCC website: www.ipcc.ch   
UNFCCC website: http://unfccc.int/
Australian Government Department of Climate Change: http://www.climatechange.gov.au/
Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research: http://www.tyndall.ac.uk/
UK Climate Impacts Programme: http://www.ukcip.org.uk/
Stockholm Environment Institute: http://www.sei.se/
 
Climate Change Adaptation:
Resilience Alliance: http://www.resalliance.org/
Community based adaptation exchange – Eldis: http://community.eldis.org/.59b70e3d/
AusAid webpage on adaptation: http://www.ausaid.gov.au/keyaid/adaptation.cfm  
OECD work on adaptation: http://www.oecd.org/env/cc/adaptation