In the face of projected climate change scenarios it has become apparent that societies will need to adapt to sustain the social and ecological systems on which they rely. Adaptations are adjustments in practises, processes or structures to take account of changing climatic conditions. They may be autonomous or policy driven (McCarthy et al 2001). The tools and techniques for adapting to climate change vary dramatically and their success will relate to the level in which they address the adaptive capacity of the community in which they are applied.

The importance of aligning adaptation with adaptive capacity is increasingly recognized, and we hope that CVAAN will provide opportunities to increase awareness of the groundbreaking work completed in this area.

Adaptation Planning

Coastal areas have been a particular focus of adaptation planning for sea level rise and climate change, as well as the relationship of adaptation to wider coastal management. Climate change is only one of many interacting stresses in the coastal zone. Thus, when considering adaptation strategies and planning for increased coastal resilience, other impacts must also be considered. The ability to deal with multiple stressors is a function of socioeconomic and environmental condition and existing management arrangements.

The IPCC technical guidelines for assessing climate change impacts and adaptations provide a set of technical guidelines (for a range of methods) that enable comparable estimates of impacts in adaptations in different sectors or regions. The key tools include general circulation models, scenario data in impacts assessment, empirical analogue studies, expert judgment, economic models, biophysical models, and cost-benefit analysis.

Information on types of adaptation planning can be accessed from the UNFCCC ‘Compendium on methods and tools to evaluate impacts of, vulnerability and adaptation to, climate change’.

 

Table 1: Technologies for adaptation in coastal zones

Protect	Retreat	Accomodate
* Hard Structures – dykes, sea-walls, tidal barriers, detached breakwaters * Soft Structures – dune or wetland restoration or creation, beach nourishment * Indigenous options of walls of wood, stone or coconut leaf, afforestation	*Establishing set-back zones * Relocating threatened buildings * Phasing out development in exposed areas * Creating upland buffer * Rolling easements	* Early warning and evacuation systems * Hazard insurance * New agricultural practices, such as using salt-resistant crops * New building codes * Improved drainage * Desalination systems

Source: UNFCCC (2006)

 

Adaptation Techniques

There are numerous policy approaches aimed at reducing GHG emissions and/or enhancing sequestration by sinks, for example; taxes, tradable permits, subsidies, voluntary agreements, product bans and government investment. The implementation of policies can be seen as a tool for governments to achieve certain objectives that they foresee would not be achieved without the implementation of control mechanisms. Policies can be generic or sector specific. A brief outline to select policy instruments is presented below.

Economic Instruments

Emission taxes or charges, as the name implies, sees costs attributed to the levels of emissions produced. Emission taxes do not guarantee a set level of emissions, so require adjustment to ensure that levels of emissions are meeting set targets. In a tradable permit system, a number of permits – equal to the emission limit – are distributed. Each permit-liable entity is required to hold permits equal to its actual emission level. The tradable nature of permits makes them a cost-effective means of enforcement, and assuming compliance, a more reliable means that emission taxes at achieving set emissions limits.

Policy/ Legal

Regulatory environmental standards set technology standards or performance standards that are enforced through fines and other penalties. Regulatory standards may have impacts on economic decision making, however they differ from market based instruments by specifying technology or performance outcomes rather than by directly changing prices.

Assessment of the effectiveness of a particular policy instrument follows the implementation of policies. Alternatively, assessment may be carried out prior to the implementation of policy instruments to ensure the appropriate instrument is applied depending on the objective. Commonly, the assessment of effectiveness is problematic and criteria have been established to evaluate policy options. The criteria can be broken into three main categories, representing the ‘triple bottom line’ approach: environment, economy, and society. Environmental effectiveness refers to the ability of the policy to achieve the environmental goal, such as a GHG emissions reduction target and its reliability in achieving that target. Economic effectiveness reviews the ability of the policy to achieve the environmental goal at the lowest cost, taking transaction, information, and enforcement costs into account. Social effectiveness examines how the costs of achieving the environmental goal are distributed across groups within society, including future generations. Finally, the administrative and political feasibility of the instrument can be referred to as ‘institutional effectiveness’. Institutional effectiveness considers flexibility in the face of new knowledge, general public comprehension, impacts on the competitiveness of different industries, and other government objectives.

Engineering

As our environment changes, historic development trends are increasingly seen as inappropriate. Further, as our knowledge of the physical and biological environment increases; the detrimental impact of human development increasingly comes to the fore. The response to these discoveries and solutions to accommodate environmental changes completes with societal social norms and values. Tradeoffs are made, commonly with the environment adjusted to accommodate the established social system. One of the key means to adjust or adapt to changing environmental conditions is through engineering. Engineering typically consists of adjusting the physical environment to preserve man-made structures and can be classified into hard and soft approaches. Hard approaches include the construction of sea walls, dykes and breakwaters. Soft approaches include dune restoration and beach nourishment. The approach undertaken will depend on the socio-ecological environment in which it is applied.