Adaptations to climate change
Contents
Adapting to Climate Change
Scientists havereported that increasing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere due to theburning of fossil fuels foranthropogenic economic activities and land use changes will change the earth’s climate significantly in the coming centuries. This change in climateis expected to haveserious impacts onmany aspects of human and non-human activities across the globe.A global action to curtain the increaseof greenhouse gasesover time won’t likely stop thecurrent warming trend completely due in part to the greenhouse gases already emitted into the atmosphere for the past centuries and also to the inevitability of the continued use of fossil fuels in the future. As far as those potentially severelyaffected by such changes are concerned, e.g.farmers in low latitudes and people who live near the oceans, additionalefforts should beneeded in the near termto help 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 adaptive measuresover the history of time to utilize thegiven climate conditions of their surroundings in the best possible way. A casual observation across the global community reveals that even the housing structure differs significantly across different climate zones. Agricultural farmers have chosen measures to adapt to the existing climate over along period of time. For example, they manage mixed farming of both crops and livestock, adopt an appropriate irrigation system, and choose a specific combination of crops or livestock to maximize the farm profit 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 measurescan betaken individually. However,other adaptation measureswill require a public intervention to provide them efficiently. For example, subsistent farmers may not be able topurchase a crop insurancedue to capital constraints. 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. For example, a cure for Malaria cannot be developed efficiently.
Short-term vs Long-term Adaptation
Some adaptation measuresare appropriatein the short-term while others are more proper in the long-term. For example, changing cropvarieties or adjusting planting/harvesting dates are short-term measures that can be used by farmers. Transforming agricultural production systemitself into a moreresilient system to climate change such as integrated farming is a longer term adaptation strategy. Long-term solutions also include insurance and banking.
Adaptation and Mitigation
Adaptation alone cannot eliminate climate-relatedrisks completely. Even with all the possible protective measures, climate change will impose additional economic, social, and ecological costs. In addition to adaptation measures taken privately and publicly, global communities shouldcooperate on mitigatinggreenhouse gases through an efficient and effective policy tool.
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., 2010, “Is an Integrated Farm More Resilient Against Climate Change?: A Micro-econometric Analysis of Portfolio Diversification in African Agriculture”, Food Policy 35: 32-40.
- Seo, S.N., 2010, “Managing Forests, Livestock, Crops under Global Warming: A Micro-econometric Analysis of Land Use in Africa”, Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics 54: 239-258.
- 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.
