5.5 Adaptations: options and capacities

Adaptation is used here to mean both the actions of adjusting practices, processes and capital in response to the actuality or threat of climate change as well as changes in the decision environment, such as social and institutional structures, and altered technical options that can affect the potential or capacity for these actions to be realised (see Chapter 17). Adaptations are divided here into two categories: autonomous adaptation, which is the ongoing implementation of existing knowledge and technology in response to the changes in climate experienced, and planned adaptation, which is the increase in adaptive capacity by mobilising institutions and policies to establish or strengthen conditions favourable for effective adaptation and investment in new technologies and infrastructure.

The TAR noted agriculture has historically shown high levels of adaptability to climate variations and that while there were many studies of climate change impacts, there were relatively few that had comparisons with and without adaptation. Generally the adaptations assessed were most effective in mid-latitudes and least effective in low-latitude developing regions with poor resource endowments and where ability of farmers to respond and adapt was low. There was limited evaluation of either the costs of adaptation or of the environmental and natural resource consequences of adaptation. Generally, adaptation studies have focussed on situations where climate changes are expected to have net negative consequences: there is a general expectation that if climate improves, then market forces and the general availability of suitable technological options will result in effective change to new, more profitable or resilient systems (e.g., Parson et al., 2003).