Mitigation and Adaptation

Mitigation and Adaptation

Mitigation assumes that some change of human behavior (e.g., less use of fossil fuel) can be successfully implemented in time to sufficiently reduce the stress due to climate change and prevent irreversible loss. The tools and methods presented in our discussion over the last several units then can be used to determine the level of behavioral change that will be required to reduce the impact to a desired level. Of course all such calculations carry a degree of uncertainty.

Adaptation suggests that humans are either unwilling or unable to collectively change their behavior to a sufficient level to mitigate stress due to human-induced climate change, and that resources should be focused on "hardening" the impacted systems so that they might better be able to withstand the increased stress due to climate change. Successful adaptation requires:

The efficiency and effectiveness of adaptation strategies will depend on the availability of financial resources, technology transfer, and cultural, educational, managerial, institutional, legal, and regulatory practices, both domestic and international.

Some systems and geographic locations have better adaptive capacity than others. The vulnerability to change increases as the adaptive capacity decreases. The level of economic and institutional resources in a community or region influences the capability for adaptation. Less developed countries, more likely to be lacking such resources, are more vulnerable to negative impacts of climate change.

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