It is now widely accepted that adaptation will be necessary if we are to manage the risks posed by climate change. What we know about adaptation, however, is limited. While there is a well established body of scholarship proposing assessment approaches and explaining concepts, few studies have examined if and how adaptation is taking place at a national or regional level.

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time. As such, both the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the 25th Conference of the Parties (COP 25) recommendations call for action not only from government, but also from various stakeholders. Apart from the knowledge offered by modeling and forecasts, which allows the readers to understand the problem and how it is likely to develop in the future, the book highlights approaches, methods and tools that can help readers cope with the social, economic and political problems posed by climate change. In other words, the book’s goal is to accelerate developments in the field of climate change adaptation. This book gathers papers presented at the “2nd World Symposium on Climate Change Adaptation”, a joint initiative by the University of Coimbra (Portugal), the Research and Transfer Centre “Sustainable Development and Climate Change Management” at Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (Germany), and the International Climate Change Information Programme (ICCIP). The book is truly interdisciplinary, covering various key areas in the field of climate change adaptation. Its focus is on “integrative approaches to implementing climate change adaptation”, and is expected to contribute to the further development of this fast-growing field.

Climate change policy has typically emphasized mitigation, calling for reducing emissions and shifting away from fossil fuels. Yet while these efforts have floundered, floods, wildfires, droughts, and other disasters are becoming more frequent and potent. As the risks escalate, we must ask how to adapt to a changing climate. How might farmers modify their practices to maximize food security? Can coastal cities protect their infrastructure from rising seas? Are there strategic ways for developing countries to combine climate resilience with economic growth and poverty reduction? For people and societies around the world, these questions are not theoretical: adaptation is already underway. This book offers a concise overview of climate adaptation governance. In clear, accessible language, Lisa Dale describes key strategies that governments, communities, and the private sector are now deploying. She presents the theory and practice that underlie climate adaptation efforts at local and global scales, providing illuminating case studies that foreground the problems facing developing countries. Dale analyzes the effectiveness of a range of policy interventions, drawing out principles of good governance and discussing how practitioners can navigate complex tradeoffs. She emphasizes equity and inclusion, considering how climate adaptation policy can account for the needs of historically disadvantaged groups. Written for a wide audience, this book is an invaluable introduction for all readers interested in how societies can meet the challenges of an altered climate.

Climate change poses multiple challenges to development. It affects lives and livelihoods, infrastructure and institutions, as well as beliefs, cultures and identities. There is a growing recognition that the social dimensions of vulnerability and adaptation now need to move to the forefront of development policies and practices. This book presents case studies showing that climate change is as much a problem of development as for development, with many of the risks closely linked to past, present and future development pathways. Development policies and practices can play a key role in addressing climate change, but it is critical to question to what extent such actions and interventions reproduce, rather than address, the social and political structures and development pathways driving vulnerability. The chapters emphasise that adaptation is about much more than a set of projects or interventions to reduce specific impacts of climate change; it is about living with change while also transforming the processes that contribute to vulnerability in the first place. This book will help students in the field of climate change and development to make sense of adaptation as a social process, and it will provide practitioners, policymakers and researchers working at the interface between climate change and development with useful insights for approaching adaptation as part of a larger transformation to sustainability.

This edited volume brings together critical research on climate change adaptation discourses, policies, and practices from a multi-disciplinary perspective. Drawing on examples from countries including Colombia, Mexico, Canada, Germany, Russia, Tanzania, Indonesia, and the Pacific Islands, the chapters describe how adaptation measures are interpreted, transformed, and implemented at grassroots level and how these measures are changing or interfering with power relations, legal pluralismm and local (ecological) knowledge. As a whole, the book challenges established perspectives of climate change adaptation by taking into account issues of cultural diversity, environmental justicem and human rights, as well as feminist or intersectional approaches. This innovative approach allows for analyses of the new configurations of knowledge and power that are evolving in the name of climate change adaptation. This volume will be of great interest to students and scholars of climate change, environmental law and policy, and environmental sociology, and to policymakers and practitioners working in the field of climate change adaptation.

Climate change adaptation is increasingly recognized as complementary part to climate change mitigation. Climate change affects sea level, the extent of flood prone areas and precipitation patterns among many others. To adapt to these changes, the tasks of municipalities and cities are to implement policies and strategies for changes in land use and coastal management as part of their future development. It is of vital importance to address the uncertainties of climate change scenarios when proposing adaptation measures that are socially viable and economically reasonable. The decision making process, promoted here, is based on scientific excellence as well on an integrated communication process. This book provides a comprehensive overview of key elements required for effective analysis and assessment of climate change impacts, economic cost-benefit analysis, communication processes and creation and transfer of knowledge, governance issues and implementation of related policies. It describes the results achieved by the BaltCICA (www.baltcica.org) project whose contributors come from the scientific and public administration communities. The regional cooperation has led to the implementation of climate change adaptation in several case studies. The BaltCICA project developed concepts, methodologies and tools for climate change adaptation that can be translated across other global regions. Scientists and students working on the development of climate change and adaptation strategies; public administrators in the related fields on local, regional and state level including environment, water management, civil defense; as well as professionals working with adaptation technologies, including engineering, technological solutions, urban planning agencies and construction, will value this innovative book.

This collection showcases experiences from research and field projects in climate change adaptation on the African continent. It includes a set of papers presented at a symposium held in Addis Abeba in February 2016, which brought together international experts to discuss “fostering African resilience and capacity to adapt.” The papers introduce a wide range of methodological approaches and practical case studies to show how climate change adaptation can be implemented in regions and countries across the continent. Responding to the need for more cross-sectoral interaction among the various stakeholders working in the field of climate change adaptation, the book fosters the exchange of information on best practices across the African continent.