Adaptation Measures

5.1.4 Effectiveness of Adaptations

The reasons for varying effectiveness of adaptations need to be understood and incorporated

into strategy designs.  

In assessing the capacity of society to adapt to climate change in order to project future

vulnerabilities, it is instructive to look at the effectiveness of adaptation policy under current

climatic conditions.  Historic evidence demonstrates that society has not always adapted to

existing risks effectively.

The difficulties involved in ensuring the effectiveness of future adaptive responses is illustrated

by shortcomings in existing efforts to cope with the effects of climate variability under current

climatic conditions.  For example, exposure to extreme heat causes deaths in urban areas

throughout the world, even during years with no heat waves.  During heat waves, these numbers

can increase dramatically. These deaths are preventable, yet they persist.

There is a wide array of possible explanations for society’s failure to adapt effectively to

existing risks.  This may be due to a failure to identify and understand stressors and factors that

affect the risk and the ability of society and individuals to respond.  It may be due to limited

resources available to society for adaptation.  Or it may be due to a conscious decision by

society not to invest scarce resources in adaptive responses.  Regardless of the reasons for the

limited effectiveness of existing adaptive responses, the historic evidence suggests that one

cannot be cavalier about the effectiveness of adaptive strategies when making projections of

future vulnerabilities to climate change.  In cases where past adaptations have not been perfectly

effective, the reasons for the shortcomings should be explored to help improve the design of

future adaptation measures.

5.1.5 Maladaptation  

There are dangers of maladaptation in poorly designed adaptation strategies.  

Adaptive responses may have unintended, adverse, secondary consequences that outweigh the

benefits of undertaking the strategy.  An adaptive response that is made without consideration

for interdependent systems may, inadvertently, increase risks to other systems that are sensitive

to climate change.  However, even when a comprehensive approach is taken to the development

of strategies for adapting to climate-induced effects, one must account for potential non-climate

related side effects of the adaptive strategies to avoid maladaptation.  The possibility has to be

considered that adaptive responses might have adverse consequences for human health or the

environment (Shriner and Street, 1997; Parry and Carter, 1998).  Adaptive responses also might

have adverse consequences for social well-being.  Consideration should be given in the design

of adaptive strategies to issues of equity.  The social acceptability of a particular adaptive

response may depend upon who in society will benefit from the adaptation policy and who will

lose (Smith et al., 1995).

The concept of maladaptation can be illustrated by one possible response to risks posed by

climate change to fisheries.  Climate change is likely to exacerbate existing stresses on fish

stocks.  Hatcheries can be used to enhance natural recruitment of fish stocks when climate

causes stocks to fall below the carrying capacity of an ecosystem for a given species.  This

adaptive response might increase stock productivity, reduce recruitment variability, and enable

the colonization or re-colonization of new areas.  But injudicious use may alter or impoverish

106