UNIT IV

ADAPTATION AND MITIGATION:

GLOBAL INITIATIVES WITH PARTICULAR Dr. Ruchi Sachan

REFERENCE TO SOUTH ASIA

WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?
People are observing new trends in disaster impacts
Traditional weather prediction does not work
Traditional disaster planning and policy are not working
New development activities are going on, without further consideration of future
climate scenario
Thus, there is a lack of:
Proper perception of climate change
Proper understanding and correlation
Proper interlinkages, and
Appropriate actions
The main problem is that people are seeing something unusual in the form of natural
disasters, which their ancestors did not experience. For example, in some places, there are
3-4 years of consecutive droughts, or longer spell of dry days. Some places, which never
had experienced typhoons, are currently hit by major typhoons and catastrophic rainfall.
Traditional forecast is not working, and traditional wisdom and knowledge may not be
relevant in some cases. Also, in most of the countries, the traditional disaster plan and
policies focus on past disasters, and do not take into consideration future disaster scenario
with climate change impacts.
In many places, new development activities are on-going without considering the future
uncertainties. Thus, always there is a gap between knowledge and perception, and
perception and action.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EWOrZQ3L-c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTfgNFz1DBM
WHAT IS CLIMATE CHANGE?
Due to increasing human activities at different levels, prominent changes occur in the
climate and natural environment
Climate change is already happening:
The global mean surface temperature in the 20th century has risen by about 0,6 °C.

Climate change is also projected:

The average sea level is projected to rise by between 0.09 and 0.88 m
The global mean surface temperature is projected to increase by °C by 2100

Climate change projections face some crucial issues:

The projections are often very coarse, and lack local details
The projections are often far into future, not immediate future
Better in predicting average change than extreme climatic conditions
Climate change is a consequence of human activities, and its impacts are already observed.
The world's climate has always varied naturally. Scientists believe, however, that a new
kind of climate change is now under way. Its impacts on people and ecosystems are to be
drastic. Levels of carbon dioxide and other 'greenhouse gases' in the atmosphere have risen
steeply since the industrial revolution. Concentrations have increased mainly because of the
use of fossil fuels, deforestation and other human activities, spurred on by economic and
population growth. Like a blanket around the planet, greenhouse gases stop energy escaping
from the Earth's surface and atmosphere.
Climate change is happening, and there are different climatic projections. Climate change
scenario is produced by different models. These models and climate change scenario have
limitations. In most cases, the projections are very coarse, and are in the regional levels.
However, local policy makers and managers do not have any clue on the local climate
scenario. The other issue is the projections are often far into future (in the range of years).
But, the policy makers and decision-makers need to know about the immediate future, e.g.,
next 5-10 years.
There is a distinct difference of extreme climate variation and climate change. Extreme
climate variations are often oscillatory. But the climate change scenario mainly talks about
the average changes of temperature, humidity, sea-level etc.
CLIMATE CHANGE AND
DISASTERS
Climate change will have a variety of impacts in terms of natural disasters:
More droughts, floods, heat waves, water shortages- In certain places, we see more dry days/ years (leading to
sever drought), in other places, it is consecutive days of rains (leading to catastrophic floods).
Increasingly diversion of the typhoon path- This affect the lives and livelihoods in both rural and urban
communities. Sudden changes in the disaster pattern leaves the people, communities and government
unprepared.

Impacts will hit the poor hardest- As obvious, the disaster impacts are more prominent for
poor people, and therefore, developing nations has to pay a high stake in this regard.
Precautionary principle- Since climate change impacts are difficult to predict, precautionary
principles are used to reduce its impacts. In most cases, it is found that improper
development enhance the impact of climate change.
Climate Change impacts is multiplied with misguided development, like poor land use
(building on floodplains or unstable slopes), deforestation, uncontrolled population growth
and urbanization, social injustice, poverty and economic growth.
 CLIMATE CHANGE AND
VULNERABILITY
Climate change impacts are related to vulnerability of different types: social, cultural, economic etc.
Important issues are: where are the vulnerable areas, and who are the most vulnerable Where and
Who: these two are the vital questions for climate change vulnerability. Where is the most affected
people, and who are the most affected people. The vulnerability analysis should attempt these two
points.
Climate change impacts should be seen at different levels (like international, national and local),
and at different issues (like eco-system, settlements, food, health and water)
Climate change impact and capacity assessment
Climate change vulnerability can be assessed in different ways: through stakeholder, resource
mapping, and sustainable livelihood analysis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmBDZKOdbkY
Can we avoid Climate Change?
NO

Can we reduce Climate Change?

YES
 DEALING WITH CLIMATE CHANGE:
Responding to climate change involves two possible approaches: climate change adaptation and
climate change mitigation.
These terms go hand-in-hand while navigating through the climate crisis, but they mean very
different things, where Mitigation refers to reducing and stabilizing the levels of heat-trapping
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, while adaptation refers to adapting to the climate change
already in the pipeline.
Climate change mitigation means avoiding and reducing emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse
gases into the atmosphere to prevent the planet from warming to more extreme temperatures
Reducing and curbing greenhouse gas emissions; attending to the causes of climate change.
Climate change adaptation means altering our behaviour, systems, and—in some cases—ways of
life to protect our families, our economies, and the environment in which we live from the impacts
of climate change. The more we reduce emissions right now, the easier it will be to adapt to the
changes we can no longer avoid reducing the vulnerability to the effects of climate change;
addressing the impacts of climate change.
Mitigation actions will take decades to affect rising temperatures, so we must adapt now to the
change that is already upon us—and will continue to affect us in the foreseeable future.
As the potential impacts are very diverse, the required mitigative and adaptive responses have to be
diverse as well. These can be grouped into policy measures, technological and structural measures,
change of use, activity or location, monitoring and forecasting, and risk sharing and spreading.
MITIGATION MEASURES
These are some of the mitigation measures that can be taken to avoid the increase of
pollutant emissions:
Practice Energy efficiency
Greater use of renewable energy
Electrification of industrial processes
Efficient means of transport implementation: electric public transport, bicycle, shared cars
Carbon tax and emissions markets
ADAPTATION MEASURES
In terms of adaptation measures, there are several actions that help reducing
vulnerability to the consequences of climate change:
More secure facility locations and infrastructures
Landscape restoration (natural landscape) and reforestation
Flexible and diverse cultivation to be prepared for natural catastrophes
Using nature to build resilience for conservation of natural ecosystem
Research and development on possible catastrophes, temperature behaviour, etc.
Preventive and precautionary measures (evacuation plans, health issues, etc.)
 Mitigation
"Avoid the unmanageable..."
Mitigation addresses the causes of climate change are
removed by reducing GHG emissions.
Thus, mitigation describes all actions taken by
humankind to reduce emissions into the atmosphere.
The UN defines climate change mitigation as a human
intervention to reduce the sources or enhance the
"sinks" of carbon emissions – these sinks, notably
rainforests, store and neutralize carbon.
Mitigation needs and targets have been a topic in
international negotiations and agreements for
decades.
Adaptation
"... and manage the unavoidable"
Adaptation addresses the impacts of climate change are met
by adjusting to predicted impacts.
Thus, Adaptation describes all actions taken by humankind to
deal with the impacts of a changing climate. This requires a
wide focus because the potential impacts are very diverse.
Adaptive capacity is closely linked to social and economic
development, i.e., the ability to adapt to changes requires
efforts in both the society and the economy of a country.
Measures can be taken on a global, national, regional, and
even community-based scale.
MITIGATION AND
ADAPTATION- COMPLEMENTS,
NOT TRADE-OFFS
Adaptation (Prepare for unavoidable
Mitigation (Reduce GHGs)
impacts)
To decrease force, or intensity. To manage the changes that occur as
mitigation strategies are implemented.
To alleviate, or lower risk.
To alter the exposure
To make something very bad, less bad.
To reduce the sensitivity
To reduce emissions of GHGs and
increase sinks of GHGs. To increase the capacity to adjust
Climate Change mitigation
The mitigation piece of the puzzle is easy to explain, but
difficult to accomplish. We must transition from powering
our world with fossil fuels to using clean, renewable energy.
And we need to stop deforestation and restore our natural
habitats until we reach net-zero carbon emissions—meaning
that the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere is
balanced with the capture and storage of those gases in
places like tree roots. Much like investing in a retirement
fund, the sooner we act to mitigate the impacts of climate
change, the better off we’ll be in the future. So far, the
world has been slow to act, but momentum is shifting.
Climate Change Adaptation
Adaptation solutions vary from place to place, are difficult
to predict, and involve many trade-offs. The first step to
adapting to climate change is understanding local risks and
developing plans to manage them. The next step is taking
action—putting systems in place to respond to impacts we
are experiencing today as we prepare for an uncertain
tomorrow. These actions can include diversifying crops that
can tolerate warmer and drier or wetter
conditions; ensuring infrastructure can withstand more
extreme weather; helping communities reduce their risk
from sea level rise and increased floods; and making sure we
manage our food, water, and other natural resources wisely
in the context of a changing climate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZ8pqBQfebM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5KEgq1f7J0
WHAT IS CLIMATE CHANGE
ADAPTATION?
Implementation of climate change mitigation measures needs time- To reduce the impacts
of the climate change, mitigation measures are planned and negotiated in the international
level, which takes time and efforts at different levels. In most cases, the ratification of
treaties and its actual implementation are time-consuming.
Applicability of climate change adaptation is increasingly recognized- Therefore, IPCC
(Inter Governmental Panel on Climate Change) has started emphasizing climate change
adaptation, which targets adaptive actions at different levels of governments and
communities.
Focus needs to be on community based adaptation, and local government policy options.
Over past, people has always been adapting to the weather they were faced with, including
extreme events. Climate change adaptation should build on that experience, but taking into
account that the change of climate is now more rapid, and there are several other
complicated factors, which adds to the vulnerability related to climate change. Community
and local government focus are two important elements for the climate change adaptation.
Since the adaptation very much depends on the local context, community involvement is a
key factor for its success.
A few steps on climate change adaptation include: 1) preliminary climate risk assessment,
2) assess priorities and plan follow-up, 3) raise awareness, 4) establish and enhance
partnership, 5) highlight climate related vulnerability with other actors, 6) document and
share experiences, and 7) promote advocacy for adaptive actions.
steps listed here are drawn from a Red Cross/Red Crescent publication “Preparedness for
Climate Change”. They are intended primarily for National Red Cross/Red Crescent
Societies who want to incorporate climate change adaptation into disaster risk reduction,
facilitated by national-level partnerships with hydro-meteorological offices, but
implemented through disaster risk reduction activities at the community level, with an
additional element of advocacy towards local and national governments. Hence, the steps
may not be applicable to all the actors, but these are basic steps, and can be customized to
fit into the local context.
To prevent and reduce climate change impacts, different treaties are proposed at
international levels, which needs time for ratification, and needs even more time for its
implementation
WHAT IS COMMUNITY BASED
ADAPTATION?
Community based adaptation is getting increasing attention. Climate change adaptation is required
at different levels, from national government policies to local community actions. However,
communities, being the first responders to the disasters, the concept of community based adaptation
is getting increasing attention.
Adaptation responses to date have been largely reactive rather than proactive. Proactive adaptation
emphasizes on pre-event activities, rather than post-event reactive measures. And, these activities
should be done at local level. Therefore, “proactive” and “micro” these are the key two terms, which
should be focused here.
Proactive Micro-Adaptation (PMA) has a significant potential to be a crucial component of
strategies to address impacts of climate change. Proactive micro adaptation encompasses
anticipatory strategies and measures taken by communities, businesses, governments and other
stakeholders at local level.
However, PMA will be relevant, only when it is linked to the local government policy implications.
Therefore, the linkage of implementation and policy is of extreme importance.
Further, proactive adaptation has considerable policy potential at various levels.
CLIMATE CHANGE
ADAPTATION MODEL
This figure shows the climate change adaptation model with involvement of different
stakeholders. Climate change impacts are seen as rainfall, run-off, temperature increase/
decrease, dray days, coastal zone erosion etc. The key is to develop the bridge between
government, NGO and community, and how these bridges (can be in the form of
organization or network or people) can effectively disseminate climate information to the
people, and urge them to take action.
Disaster proofing practice, climate scenario, link with specialized agencies (for technical
support) and relief-development linkage are some of the key issues, which need to be
discussed at local and government policy levels.
On the action side, there are different ways, from water management, agriculture, animal
husbandry and livelihood improvements. On the policy level, these should be incorporated
in the development plans. A synergy of these two approaches will lead to successful
adaptation at community level. Following slides will provide some illustrative examples.
HOW CBA CAN BE PRACTICED?
COASTAL ZONE
Climate change has affected the coastal zone of the Philippines. The Philippine archipelago, which
has one of the longest coastlines in the world, will not be spared of the adverse impacts of sea-level
rise and extreme climate events that are expected to happen in a warmer world.
The worst sufferers are the fishing communities, due to change in the coastal eco-system. The
erratic changes in the climate system have affected various coastal ecosystem and communities.
Among which coral bleaching, changes in productivity, changes in plankton dynamics, alterations in
seagrass and sea weed reproduction patterns, shoreline erosion and retreat, changes in trophic
dynamics as well as aggravation of marine diseases are just a few. Apparently, the most significant
impact is on coastal fisheries yield and community welfare. Lack of availability of good fish in the
coastal areas are getting restricted, and it is affecting the local livelihoods.
Adaptation measures include local government policies, awareness raising among different sectors,
and national government strategies and policies. To adapt with the changing climate, the local
communities are working with different stakeholders for awareness raising, and policy
implementation. A combination of technical support (from academics), advocacy support (from
NGOs), and policy support (from government) will lead to successful adaptation measures.
HOW CBA CAN BE PRACTICED?
DROUGHT
A significant change of rainfall pattern is observed in Western India, resulting 2-3 consecutive drought years.
This has left the local communities unprepared. Traditional coping mechanisms are not working in this
scenario.
The worst effect is on livelihoods: agriculture, and animal husbandry
To cope with 3 consecutive years of drought is beyond community coping capacities
To cope with drought, the key elements are: 1) proper information flow about the rainfall pattern, and
appropriate early warning, 2) village level participatory planning, 3) drought proofing measures like small
check-dams, rain water harvesting, fodder bank etc., 4) incentives for making existing schemes available to
small/marginal farmer (Credit, insurance, subsidies), 5) Cross-sectoral dialogue, 6) Agriculture based
industries and markets, 7) Support for traditional options, and 8) Development is the best form of adaptation.
Traditional drought proofing needs consideration of climate change uncertainties
Collective efforts are being undertaken for drought proofing. Drought proofing measures are important
elements, and all the efforts should be cross-sectoral to make it sustainable.
These measures, while implemented at community level, should be part of the local development policies.
 HOW CBA CAN BE PRACTICED?
FLOOD
For flood, the issues are quite similar to that of drought. Central part of Vietnam are hardly hit by
catastrophic rain within a short period of time, and it causes significant flood in the urban and rural
areas.
Agriculture, related livelihood options are deeply affected; The direct impact is on agriculture and
livelihood, but there are other impacts on health, sanitation, education etc.
Unlike drought, flood affects both urban and rural areas, and the CBA measures are different.
While, for the rural areas, it is more on the community based training, capacity building and action,
for the urban area, it is more on policy and plan.
In rural areas, the most common CBA measures are: 1) change of the crop pattern, and crop
calendar, 2) consultative decision making, training and capacity building, 3) effective community
based communication system, 4) focusing on health and sanitation issues, 5) undertake some small
infrastructure construction, and 6) documenting and sharing the experiences. In rural areas, the
adaptation measures are more on participatory planning, awareness raising, and implementation.
For urban areas, more emphasis are given on the planning and policy issues, where the climate
change uncertainties can be linked to urban development planning. In urban areas, CBA is more
related to urban planning, local development planning and policy, and establishing effective
communication system.
HOW CBA CAN BE PRACTICED?
CLIMATE INFORMATION
Providing right climate information to farmers is one of key issue

A few steps are:

Providing climate outlook
Transferring global to local outlook
Translating climate outlook to local scenario
Communication to local farmers
Farmers of Barangay Maquina in Dumangas Municipality, Iloilo Province, south of Philippines still remember the devastation brought by climate in 1997:
floods damaged their first crop, and El-Nino-induced drought damaged their second crop. The community is predominantly agricultural, with rice as the
main product (90%). For farmers who do not own the land they till (50% of total), this meant going deeper in debt as they try to re-pay their investment
and pay rent to landowners, and … hunger.

Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC)’s Extreme Climate Events (ECE) Program has piloted the demonstration of the application of climate forecast
information in Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam from 2001 till Seasonal forecasts are disseminated by the NMS (National Meteorological Services) to
various user agencies, which then analyze potential impacts with reference to past impacts and accordingly prepare contingency plans. The ECE program
complemented this approach by assessing climate risks to vulnerable populations (e.g. subsistence farmers at the tail-end of irrigation systems or those that
entirely depend on rainfall), evaluating what kind of climate information they would need at what time to be able to take anticipatory actions, and
communicating these needs to the NMS for the packaging of a climate forecast that is easily understood, will motivate at risk populations to take action,
and issued at appropriate times for them to take mitigation actions. This end-to-end climate information generation and application system is illustrated
below. The feedback mechanism allows for adjustments in the forecasts to make them relevant to users.

This helps the farmers to adapt to the climate change impacts.

ISSUES OF COMMUNITY BASED
ADAPTATION
The key issue of climate change community based adaptation is the right information to the community
Involvement of the community in the process is critical, and is linked to the ownership of the adaptation actions
Institutionalization at local government development plan is a definite challenge
Coordination among NGO, local government, and academic is crucial
High demand for training/awareness raising activities among stakeholders
Community based approach was very effective in developing appropriate adaptation strategies for vulnerable
communities. The most crucial point is to provide the right information to the community, which they can use
appropriately o make the planning and preparedness. This may be the right information on coastal eco-system, change in
crop pattern, weather forecast, flood warning etc.
Community should be strongly involved in the whole process, from assessment to awareness raising, to implementation.
This will help in develop ownership of the project and process.
Institutionalization, which needs to be implemented at local government levels is very important. Different agencies and
stakeholders has a strong role to play, thus coordination among stakeholder is also important. To sustain the whole effort,
training and capacity building is essential. It is found in different cases that continued efforts and people’s participation
can overrule political pressure.
CLIMATE CHANGE
ADAPTATION- LOCAL
Incorporate the recommended actions into local government policies
Special emphasis should be given on agriculture and livelihood support system, and health and education services in the
local governments
Training and awareness raising of local government managers is one of the important aspect of the policy measures
Resource commitment at local government is the key issue for the success of its adaptation actions
Multi-stakeholder cooperation is required at local level
Policy development and its implementation for climate change adaptation should start at local level. The first issue is this
regard is incorporation of recommended adaptation actions into local government policies. Especially for the rural areas,
focus should be on basic services like livelihood support, and extension services of agriculture, health, education.
Development of a system is important, and for this, human resources and financial resources are essential. Human
resources need to be developed through training and capacity building. Financial resource utilization from the regular
development budget is the key to the sustainability of the initiative.
Local government, communities, non-government organizations and local academic institutions should work closely to
ensure implementation of community based adaptation
CLIMATE CHANGE
ADAPTATION- NATIONAL
National and international policies set the context for facilitating Proactive micro adaptation (or community based
adaptation).
Good policy coordination on a range of proactive adaptation measures and actions at various levels can help avoid
mal-adaptation.
Resource mobilization is essential.
Climate change impacts are crosscutting in nature, and require synergies.
The most important issue for sustainable adaptation measure is its policy relevance. At the national and international
level, there are different negotiation on progress in this regard. Effective policy coordination is essential. Resource
mobilization is another key factor, which needs to be integrated in the policy. At the national level, for effective policy
integration, the inter-linkages and synergies among different treaties are important, since these are often implemented by
different focal point points in different ministries. The integration requires co-ordination among different stakeholders
within different defined landscape areas at local, national and international levels.
The main challenge of policy integration at national level is lack of inter-linkages and synergies among different MEA
(multilateral environmental agreements) and horizontal communication among different ministries at national level. Since
climate change issues are cross-cutting, it needs communication among different ministries, like health, labor,
construction, environment and so on.
CLIMATE CHANGE
ADAPTATION:
INTERNATIONAL
International climate negotiations to date, however, have paid inadequate attention to community based climate change adaptation
Bilateral and multilateral development agency should have policy on climate change adaptation
Actions needs to be taken at international levels should have following emphasis:
Efforts to link with other international initiatives
Emphasis on near future scenario
Risk management approach
At the international level, efforts are rather limited for CBA. Some progress is evident through National Adaptation Programme of
Action (NAPA) processes under UNFCCC (United Nations Framework of Convention for Climate Change), and the Small Grants
Programme of the Global Environmental Facility (GEF). However, a few major bilateral and multi-lateral development agencies have
clear policy on climate change adaptation. This is of extreme importance, since many of the development works are done by these
agencies, and if the current development practices do not include future uncertainties, it is difficult to sustain in future.
There needs to be stronger efforts to link the adaptation measures to other international initiatives on disaster, environment etc. Also, it
is required to focus on near future, rather than far future. Risk management approach should be undertaken for a wide range of elements
at risk, ranging from communities to ecosystems, at short and long time scales and across spatial scales.