Adapting to Climate Change

Scientists have confirmed that increasing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere due to the heavy use of fossil fuels for human economic activities will change the earth’s climate significantly in the coming centuries. This change in climate will certainly affect many aspects of human and non-human activities across the globe. Even though nations were to take a unified action to curtail the greenhouse gas emissions based on a global agreement, it won’t likely stop current warming trend completely due in part to the greenhouse gases already emitted into the atmosphere for the past century and a half and also to the inevitability of the continued use of fossil fuels in the future. As far as those potentially affected by such changes are concerned such as farmers and people who live near the oceans, additional investments should be directed in the near term towards helping them adapt to a new climate condition. Individuals will take adaptation measures voluntarily when these actions deem beneficial to them.

Cost of Adaptation

It is feasible to adapt to climate change when climate should change gradually, not abruptly, over time, allowing individuals and governments time to adjust to the changes. If climate change becomes abrupt or increases climate variability significantly, it will be more difficult to adapt, increasing the cost of adaptation dramatically.

Examples of Adaptation

People have taken numerous adaptive measures extensively over the history of time to utilize the current climate conditions of their environment in a best possible way. A casual observation across the global community reveals that even the housing structures differ significantly depending on climate. Agricultural farmers have chosen measures to adapt to the existing climate over long period of time. For example, they manage mixed farming of both crops and livestock, adopt appropriate irrigation systems, and choose a specific combination of crops or livestock to maximize profits taking the current climate as given. Coastal areas have built sea walls to increase protection from an unexpected sea-level rise.

Public Adaptation

Some adaptation measures should be taken privately. Individuals can afford to take measures to avoid climate damages to a certain extent. However, some adaptations will require public intervention when the adaptation measure requires an extensive capital investment which goes beyond the individual’s capacity. For example, most of the current irrigation systems in California were established with a heavy support from the State government. Market failures can result in the provision of public adaptation measures due to their public goods’ nature.

Short-term vs Long-term Adaptation

Some adaptation measures should be taken in the short-term while others in the long-term. For example, changing crop mixes or planting/harvesting dates are short-term measures of farmers. Transforming agricultural production itself to a more robust system to climate change is a long-term adaptation strategy, as is the introduction of integrated farming or provision of a farm climate insurance system. Long-term solutions also include building resilience into the physical infrastructure of the built environment.

Adaptation and Mitigation

Adaptation alone cannot eliminate climate-related damages completely. Even with all the possible protective measures, climate change will impose additional economic, social, and ecological costs. In addition to the adaptation measures taken privately and publicly, global communities should cut the rising greenhouse gases through an efficient global economic policy and cooperation.

Further Reading

• Seo, S. N. and R. Mendelsohn 2008, “Measuring Impacts and Adaptations to Climate Change: A Structural Ricardian Model of African Livestock Management”, Agricultural Economics 38:1-15.
• Seo, S. N. and R. Mendelsohn 2008, “An Analysis of Crop Choice: Adapting to Climate Change in South American Farms”, Ecological Economics (in Press).
• Smit, Barry and Olga Pilifosova. 2001. “Adaptation to Climate Change in the Context of Sustainable Development and Equity.” In J.J. McCarthy, O.F. Canzianni, N.A. Leary, D.J. Dokken, and K.S. White, eds., Climate Change 2001: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability - Contribution of Working Group II to the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press. ISBN: 0521807689.