Adaptation methods
Adaptation through local planning
Local land use and municipal planning represent important avenues for adaptation to global warming. These forms of planning are recognized as fundamental to avoid the effects of climate-related hazards, such as flooding and heat stress "Thermal (environmental) stress"), planning for demographic transition and consumption, and plans for ecosystem conservation.[53] This type of planning is different from national adaptation programs (NAPs), which are to be the frameworks for prioritizing adaptation needs.[54] At a local scale, municipalities are at the front line of adaptation carbon where Impacts are experienced in the forms of floods, forest fires, heat waves and sea level rise.[55].
Cities are planning to adapt to global warming and climate change. The New York Times began a series of articles on this topic highlighting Chicago's adaptation efforts.[56] Projects include switching from warming tolerant tree varieties, watering permeable pavements to absorb higher rainfall, and adding air conditioning in public schools. New York and other cities are engaged in similar planning.[57][58][59] Carefully planned water storage could help urban areas adapt to increasingly severe storms by increasing stormwater storage (household water butts, unpaved gardens, etc.) and increasing the capacity of stormwater systems (and also separating stormwater from sewage, so that when overflow in high seasons does not pollute the rivers). According to Nature English"), gardeners can help mitigate the effects of climate change by providing habitats for the most threatened species, and/or saving water by changing gardens to use plants that require less.[60].
Adaptation through local planning occurs in two different ways. The first is strategic planning, which is important, but is not exclusive to local governments. At the local level, the community vision, aspirational goals and place of decision-making are promoted, along with the definition of the paths to achieve these objectives. The second form is land use planning, and focuses on the allocation of space to balance economic prosperity "Prosperity (economy)") with acceptable standards of living and the conservation of natural resources. Although these two types of planning are very different in practice, and in many cases are managed by different departments, it is proposed that both are very important for adaptation to climate change, and can contribute to achieving adaptation at a local scale.[61] Important constraints are recognized to hinder adaptation through planning, including limited resources, lack of information, competing planning agendas and meeting the requirements of other levels of government.[62] Examples of adaptation include defending against sea level rise. through improved flood defenses, and changes in land use patterns such as avoiding the most vulnerable areas of housing.
Planning for sea level rise is one of the key challenges for local planning in response to climate change. Many national governments around the world have sought to address the problem of sea level rise through policy and planning reforms aimed at increasing adaptive capacity.[63] In the United States, many state and local governments are evaluating innovative and locality-specific options for adapting to sea level rise.[64][65] Although adaptation planning occurs through a variety of processes, local adaptation initiatives in the US often go through three stages of adaptation planning. the adaptation:[66].
• - Community knowledge of sea level rise construction as a local risk.
• - Carrying out a scientific evaluation of these risks in the medium and long term.
• - The use of a public process to develop an adaptation plan and supporting policies.
Improve adaptive capacity
In an evaluation of the literature, Smit et al. (2001) concluded that improved adaptive capacity would reduce vulnerability to climate change.[67] In their view, activities that improve adaptive capacity are essentially equivalent to activities that promote sustainable development. These activities include:[68].
• - Improve access to resources.
• - Poverty reduction.
• - Reducing resource and wealth inequalities between groups.
• - Improve education and information.
• - Improve infrastructure.
• - Improve institutional capacity and efficiency.
• - Promote local indigenous practices, knowledge and experiences.
Researchers at the Overseas Development Institute found that development interventions to increase adaptive capacity have tended not to result in greater agency for local people.[69] They argue that this should play a more prominent role in future intervention planning because agency is a central factor in all other aspects of adaptive capacity.
agricultural production
A major effect of global climate change is the alteration of global precipitation patterns, with certain effects on agriculture.[70] Seasonal agriculture constitutes 80% of global agriculture. Many of the world's 852 million poor people live in areas of Asia and Africa that depend on rain to grow and harvest food. As the world's population swells, more food will be needed, but climate variability is likely to make successful agriculture more difficult. Prolonged drought can cause the failure of small and marginal farms, generating economic, political and social problems. However, these types of events have occurred previously in human history independent of global climate change. In recent decades, global trade has created distribution networks capable of transporting surplus food to where it is most needed, thus reducing the local impact.[70].
Drought-tolerant crop varieties
Any type of agriculture is strongly influenced by the availability of water. Climate change will modify precipitation "Precipitation (meteorology)"), evaporation, circulation and storage of soil moisture. Changes in seasonal precipitation totals or in their pattern of variability are important. The occurrence of moisture stress during flowering, pollination and grain filling is detrimental to most crops and particularly corn, soybeans and wheat. Increased soil evaporation and plant transpiration will cause accelerated water stress. As a result, there will be a need to develop crop varieties with greater drought tolerance.
More spending on irrigation
Demand for water for irrigation is expected to increase in a warmer climate, bringing increased competition between agriculture, which is already the largest consumer of water resources in semi-arid regions, and urban, as well as industrial users. Falling water tables and the resulting increase in the energy needed to pump water will make the irrigation practice more expensive, particularly when drier conditions will require more water per hectare. Other strategies will be needed to make the use of water resources more efficient. For example, the International Water Management Institute has suggested five strategies that could help Asia feed its growing population in the face of climate change. These are:
• - Modernization of existing irrigation systems to adapt to modern cultivation methods.
• - Support farmers' efforts to find their own water supplies, exploring groundwater sustainably.
• - Look beyond conventional "Participatory Irrigation Management" schemes, through the participation of the private sector.
• - Expansion of capacity and knowledge.
• - Investment outside the irrigation sector.[71].
forest resources
They are the most important means of adaptation for forest-dependent people whose lives have depended on it. If the long duration of the drought persists, it will certainly affect the rain-fed agricultural system. In this situation, people can collect the edible fruits, roots (botanical) and leaves for their survival. Similarly, forest resources provide not only goods but also services such as regulating ecosystems, maintaining upstream-downstream linkages through watershed conservation, carbon sequestration and aesthetic value. These services become a fundamental part of sustained life by increasing the adaptive capacity of the poor and vulnerable, women and socially excluded communities.
Rainwater storage
Providing farmers with access to a wide range of store water could help them overcome periods of drought that would otherwise cause their crops to fail. Field studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of small-scale water storage. For example, according to the International Water Management Institute, using small water-planted 'harvest' basins in Zimbabwe has been shown to increase maize yields whether rainfall is abundant or scarce. And in Niger, they have resulted in a three- or four-fold increase in millet yields.[72].
Time control
Russian and American scientists in the past have tried to control the climate, for example by seeding clouds with chemicals to try to produce rain when and where it is needed. A new method being developed involves replicating the urban heat island effect, where cities are slightly hotter than the countryside as they are darker and absorb more heat. This creates 28% more rainfall 20 to 40 miles downwind of cities compared to the wind.[73] On the time scale of several decades, new weather monitoring techniques may become viable as they would allow control of extreme weather conditions such as hurricanes.[74].
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) through its Commission for Atmospheric Sciences (CEC) has issued a "DECLARATION ON WEATHER MODIFICATION", as well as "GUIDELINES FOR PLANNING ACTIVITIES in climate modification" in 2007, indicating among others that "For the purpose of increasing precipitation (meteorology), reducing hail damage, fog dispersion and other types of clouds and storm modifications, cloud seeding technologies are being developed that are still struggling to achieve a solid scientific basis and that have to adapt greatly to varied natural conditions."[75].
Glacial lake damming
Snowmelt flooding may become a major concern as glaciers shrink, leaving behind numerous lakes that are often impounded by a terminal of weak moraine dams. In the past, the sudden failure of these dams has resulted in localized property damage, injuries and deaths. Glacial lakes in danger of bursting may have their moraines replaced with concrete dams (which can also provide hydroelectric power).[76].
Geoengineering
In an evaluation of the literature, Barker et al. (2007) described geoengineering as a type of mitigation policy.[77] IPCC (2007) concluded that geoengineering options, such as ocean fertilization to remove CO2 from the atmosphere, remained largely untested.[78] Reliable cost estimates for geoengineering were considered unpublished.
The Royal Society (2009) published the results of a study on geoengineering. The authors of the study defined geoengineering as a "deliberate, large-scale intervention in the Earth's climate system, with the aim of moderating global warming" (p. ix). According to the study, the safest and most predictable method of moderating climate change is early action to reduce GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions.
Scientists such as Ken Caldeira and Paul Crutzen[80] suggest geoengineering techniques, which can be used to deliberately change the climate and thus control some of the effects of global warming. These include:
• - The management of solar radiation can be seen as an adaptation to global warming. Techniques such as space shading, the creation of stratospheric sulfur aerosols, roof paint, and white paving materials fall into this category.[80]
• - Hydrological Geoengineering - typically seeks to preserve sea ice or adjust thermohaline circulation using methods such as diverting rivers to keep warm water away from sea ice, icebergs, or immobilization to prevent them from becoming part of warmer and melting waters. This can be seen as an adaptation technique, although preventing the release of methane in the Arctic may also have mitigation aspects.[80].
Helping disadvantaged countries
In 2000, there was a proposal made at the Sixth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which called for the creation of an Adaptation Fund with $1 billion a year for developing countries, especially the least developed and small island states, to enable them to combat the consequences of climate change.
Many scientists, policy makers and the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report have agreed that disadvantaged countries, especially in the global south, need more attention to the negative impacts of climate change. These regions are highly populated and people generally have lower adaptive capacity. A balance, however, between development and climate change mitigation and adaptation has to be found.
In the southern part of the world, national governments are primarily responsible for the formulation and execution of the adaptation plan, from the local to the national level. In this context, a contradictory situation exists. National governments assign a high priority to non-climate change policies and plans for development. Development agendas are driven by pre-existing problems, such as poverty, malnutrition, food insecurity,[81] the availability of drinking water, indebtedness, illiteracy, unemployment, local resource conflicts, less technological development, etc. Here, it is important to recognize that if the phenomenon of climate change is not properly understood and coping strategies such as mitigation and adaptation are not adopted in a timely manner, the impacts of climate change will exacerbate these pre-existing problems.
Therefore, there is a need to explore integration strategies between climate change plans and development plans in the south of the globe. This integration must include principles such as social justice and equity, the inclusion of the marginal population in decision-making, participation and the promotion of social cohesion of women. The inclusion of these principles will not only promote climate change mitigation and adaptation, but will also make development more distributive.
The Institute for Development Studies' collaborative research points to the links between adaptation and poverty to help develop a pro-poor adaptation agenda that can inform poverty reduction and climate resilience. Adaptation to climate change will be "ineffective and unfair if it fails to learn from and build on an understanding of the multidimensional and differentiated nature of poverty and vulnerability."[82] The poorest countries tend to be the most severely affected by climate change, yet they have reduced assets and capacities with which to adapt. This has led to more activities to integrate adaptation into development and poverty reduction programmes. The rise of adaptation as a development issue has been influenced by concerns around minimizing threats to progress on poverty reduction, particularly the MDGs, and by the injustice of impacts felt most difficult by those who have done the least to contribute to the problem, framing adaptation as an equity and a matter of right.[83].
Migration
Recent literature has also presented the concept of migration as a climate change survival mechanism. Climate change push factors are compared with economic or social pull factors: the role of climate change in migration is therefore not a linear cause and effect. Migration often requires potential migrants to have access to social and financial capital, such as support networks in their chosen destination, and funds to move. Often the last adaptive response households will take to environmental factors that threaten their livelihoods, and especially when they resorted to other coping mechanisms they have not been successful. Migration and Climate Change, a UNESCO publication, explores the dynamics of environmental migration and the role of migration as an adaptive response to climate change.[84].
Insurance
One method of adaptation to climate change is encouraging individual actions to mitigate, spread, or transfer the risk of damage. Specifically, one of the existing tools is insurance, whether for a general catastrophe or real floods. The idea is to allow reactive options to rebuild communities after the adverse impacts of extreme weather events.[85] Although it may be preferable to take a proactive approach to eliminate the cause of the risk, post-damage reactive compensation can be used as a last resort.[86] Access to reinsurance can be a way to increase the resilience of cities.[87] When there are failures in the private insurance market, the public sector creates residual market mechanisms (RMM) to encourage reducing individual risk by subsidizing premiums.[88] One study identified key equity issues for policy considerations:[89].
• - The transfer of risk to the public treasury does not reduce the overall risk.
• - Governments can spread the cost of losses over time rather than space.
• - Governments can force homeowners in low-risk areas to subsidize the insurance premiums of those in high-risk areas.
• - Cross-subsidizing is increasingly difficult for private sector insurers operating in a competitive market.
• - Governments can tax people to pay for tomorrow's disaster.
Government-subsidized insurance, such as the United States National Flood Insurance Program, is criticized for providing a perverse incentive to develop properties in hazardous areas, increasing overall risk.[90] This behavioral effect can be counteracted with appropriate land use policies that limit new construction where they are perceived and/or encourage the adoption of damage-resistant building codes to mitigate potential current or future climate risks.[91]