IPCC WGII Fifth Assessment Report (AR5): Expanding the solution space for adaptation

Publications

Keywords: IPCC, Adaptation, Impacts, Climate policy

Author(s): Elisa Sainz de Murieta, Marc B Neumann and Anil Markandya

Date: 2014-25-04

Issue: PB 2014/ Special Issue-01

Keypoints

The IPCC Report shows increasing confidence of current impacts of anthropogenic climate change, including migration of species in oceans and diminishing crop yields.
Adaptation is widely occurring and has become the central focus for dealing with climate change. If done in an effective way, taking account of the wide range of options and opportunities it offers a positive prospect to addressing the climate challenge.
The scope for adaptation can be significantly widened by emphasising the important contributions of exposure and vulnerability as opposed to focusing on hazards when facing climate risks.
Mainstreaming adaptation into other domains of public action such as sustainable development or poverty alleviation while identifying synergistic low-regret options leads to an even larger solution space.
As there are limits to adaptation stronger mitigation efforts are required to prevent the occurrence of irreversible impacts and the crossing of tipping points .