Adaptation as climate risk management: Methods and approaches

Abstract

This chapter highlights the benefits of framing adaptation to climate change as an issue of climate risk management and describes a number of methods and approaches that may be applied in the process of developing adaptation strategies. A key consideration when developing adaptation strategies is to have a sound understanding of how a given system functions in response to changes in both climate and non-climate factors, and thus the need for a causal model which represents this understanding. There are a range of methods and tools that may be applied to assist with developing this system understanding in a climate risk assessment, and a number of these are described here. Moreover, given that adaptation planning is to a large degree about forward planning, all adaptation strategies will need to appropriately consider the implications of uncertainty on their likely effectiveness. This chapter provides a discussion of the ways in which adaptation strategies can be developed and decisions made when appraising different adaptation strategies. As such, it provides a basis upon which users can assess how they may approach adaptation as an issue of climate risk management and select and apply suitable methods. It provides a useful accompaniment to any practitioner or organization, as they proceed on their adaptation journey.