[t]he property of a system to adjust its characteristics or behaviour, in order to expand its coping range under existing climate variability, or future climate conditions. In practical terms, adaptive capacity is the ability to design and implement effective adaptation strategies, or to react to evolving hazards and stresses so as to reduce the likelihood of the occurrence and/or the magnitude of harmful outcomes resulting from climate-related hazards. Another concept closely related to adaptive capacity is that of resilience. The IPCC Fourth Assessment Report Glossary defines resilience as “the ability of a social or ecological system to absorb disturbances while retaining the same basic structure and ways of functioning, the capacity for self-organization, and the capacity to adapt to stress and change.” However, when assessing the relationship between climate change adaptation, development and population dynamics, it is obvious that returning to the “same basic structure” is not sufficient. In contrast, Dodman et al. (2009) suggest that it is more appropriate to consider resilience as a process that enables not only the ability to cope with added shocks and stresses but also addresses the myriad challenges that constrain lives and livelihoods and facilitates more general improvements to the quality of human lives. They go on to argue that resilience is shaped by individual, household or community access to a range of rights, resources and assets. This is a more systems-oriented and dynamic approach, with adaptive capacity at its core (Nelson et al., 2007). Community resilience is based on “the capacity to retain critical functions, self-organize, and learn when exposed to change” (World Bank, 2010, p. 105). It is important to build on local and traditional knowledge for managing climate risk: Many communities already have context-relevant knowledge and strategies, and many adaptation strategies need to be undertaken at the local level. At the level of the city, the Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network (ACCCRN) suggests that “resilient cities create, enable, and sustain the services and institutions required for basic ongoing survival and are characterized by their ability to generate new opportunities for their residents. They avoid relying on solutions that depend on anticipating specific hazards, and instead take a broader, integrated approach” (ACCCRN. 2009, p. 405). This involves incorporating redundancy, flexibility, the capacity to reorganize and the capacity to learn (see Figure 1.3). Several different types of adaptation measures and processes can be identified: engineering options; social response options; land use planning; economic instruments; natural system management; sectorspecific practices; and traditional responses of communities exposed to natural hazards and climate change (Birkmann et al., 2010).
Linking adaptive capacity to population dynamics Hardoy and Pandiella (2009, p. 206) propose a second set of questions that highlight adaptive capacity at the local level: • Who lacks knowledge, capacity and opportunities to take immediate short-term measures to limit impacts? • Who is least able to cope with impacts? • Who is least able to adapt to avoid impacts? 14
The De mogra ph y of Ada ptation to C l imate Ch ange
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