Primer on Adaptation to Climate Change

5.0  PRIMER ON ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE

As our understanding of the potential consequences of climate change in the Great Lakes region

has grown, the importance placed on developing response options to reduce the risks, or take

advantage of the opportunities, posed by climate change has also increased.  Adaptation

measures intended to increase the resilience of the Great Lakes region to change is a necessary

complement to mitigation actions.  Even if mitigation measures aimed at reducing greenhouse

gases and slowing climate change are implemented, the earth’s climate is expected to change,

resulting in impacts throughout the Great Lakes region.

Many of the physical, biological, and ecological systems in the Great Lakes region are sensitive

to weather and climate; i.e. many systems are affected to varying degrees by climate-related

stimuli (encompassing all the elements of climate change, including mean climate

characteristics, climate variability, and the frequency and magnitude of extremes).  Many of

these systems yield Ňbeneficial uses” protected by the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement of

1978 (as amended by the protocol signed November 18, 1987).  Changes in climate will affect

these systems.  The effects may be direct (e.g. reductions in Great Lakes water levels due to

changes in precipitation, temperature, and evaporation) or indirect (e.g. changes in water quality

in rivers and streams as more intense precipitation leads to runoff of pesticides from farmland).  

Yet, many of the sensitive systems in the

Adaptation refers to adjustment in natural or

Great Lakes region also have the ability to

human systems in response to actual or

adjust to climate change.  The extent to

expected climate stimuli or their effects,

which a system is vulnerable to a changing

which moderates harm or exploits beneficial

climate depends upon its adaptive capacity,

opportunities (IPCC, 2001).

i.e. on the ability of the system to adjust to

climate change (including climate

variability and extremes) to moderate

potential damages, to take advantage of opportunities, or to cope with the consequences (IPCC,

2001).  Vulnerability plays an essential role in determining whether climate change actually

harms human populations, so that understanding the dynamics of vulnerability is as important as

understanding climate itself (Liverman, 1990; Handmer et al., 1999).  

Adaptive actions are those responses or actions taken to enhance the resilience of vulnerable

systems, thereby reducing damages to human and natural systems from climate change and

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 These actions may be taken in reaction to climate change as it occurs or in

variability.

anticipation of future climate change (Smith, 1997; WHO, 2000).  In natural systems, adaptation

is reactive, whereas in human systems it also can be anticipatory.  For example, aquatic life

must react to changes in the mix of surface nutrients and oxygen throughout the depth of the

Great Lakes as air and lake temperature, sunshine, and winds change.  In contrast, humans have

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Several definitions of climate-related adaptation can be found in the literature and they continue to evolve. Many

definitions focus on human actions (e.g. Burton, 1992; Smith et al., 1996), some include current climate variability

and extreme events (e.g. Smit, 1993), and others are limited to adverse consequences of climate change (e.g.

.

Stakhiv, 1993; Smith et al., 1996). The IPCC (2001) definition is used through this chapter

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