Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies

A Presentation by Asif Kabani

Structure of Presentation
Defining Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation

Mitigation Strategies

Adaptation Strategies

Nicholas Stern on Climate Mitigation and Adaptation

Issues and Problem

The Way Forward – Commitment

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Defining Climate Mitigation and
Adaptation

What is Climate Mitigation ?

What is Climate Adaptation ?

[Brainstorming] – use Flash Cards

And Flip Chat by Participants.

One Word – one by one

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Documentary

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/environment/global-warming-environment/way-forward-climate/

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Climate mitigation

Climate mitigation is any action taken to permanently

eliminate or reduce the long-term risk and hazards of
climate change to human life, property.

Note:
The International Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) defines mitigation as:
“An anthropogenic intervention to
reduce the sources or enhance the
sinks of greenhouse gases.” Climate
Mitigation and Adaptation

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 Climate Adaptation
Climate adaptation refers to the ability of a system to adjust to
climate change (including climate variability and extremes) to
moderate potential damage, to take advantage of opportunities,
or to cope with the consequences.
Note: The IPCC defines adaptation as the,
“adjustment in natural or human systems to a
new or changing environment. Adaptation to
climate change refers to adjustment in natural or
human systems in response to actual or
expected climatic stimuli or their effects, which
moderates harm or exploits beneficial
opportunities. Various types of adaptation can
be distinguished, including anticipatory and
reactive adaptation, private and public
adaptation, and autonomous and planned
adaptation.” Asif Kabani, Skype: kabaniasif
Climate Mitigation and Adaptation
Reading Handout
The terms “adaptation” and “mitigation” are two important terms that are fundamental in the climate
change debate. The IPCC defined adaptation as adjustment in natural or human systems in response
to actual or expected climatic stimuli or their effects, which moderate harm or exploits beneficial
opportunities. Similarly, Mitchell and Tanner (2006) defined adaptation as an understanding of how
individuals, groups and natural systems can prepare for and respond to changes in climate or their
environment. According to them, it is crucial to reducing vulnerability to climate change. While
mitigation tackles the causes of climate change, adaptation tackles the effects of the phenomenon.
The potential to adjust in order to minimize negative impact and maximize any benefits from changes
in climate is known as adaptive capacity. A successful adaptation can reduce vulnerability by building
on and strengthening existing coping strategies.
In general the more mitigation there is, the less will be the impacts to which we will have to adjust,
and the less the risks for which we will have to try and prepare. Conversely, the greater the degree of
preparatory adaptation, the less may be the impacts associated with any given degree of climate
change. For people today, already feeling the impacts of past inaction in reducing greenhouse gas
emissions, adaptation is not altogether passive, rather it is an active adjustment in response to new
stimuli. However, our present age has proactive options (mitigation), and must also plan to live with
the consequences (adaptation) of global warming. The idea that less mitigation means greater climatic
change, and consequently requiring more adaptation is the basis for the urgency surrounding
reductions in greenhouse gases. Climate mitigation and adaptation should not be seen as alternatives
to each other, as they are not discrete activities but rather a combined set of actions in an overall
strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
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 Mitigation Strategies

Who are the stakeholder of Mitigation Strategies?

Use flip chart

Each participants write one/two stakeholders

on Flip chart

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 Mitigation Strategies
Climate change involves complex interactions between
climatic, environmental, economic, political, institutional,
social, and technological processes. It cannot be addressed or
comprehended in isolation of broader societal goals (such as
equity or sustainable
development), or other existing or
probable future sources of stress.

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Mitigation Strategies

In the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) three

conditions are made explicit when working towards the goal of greenhouse gas
stabilization in the atmosphere:

1. That it should take place

within a time-frame sufficient
to allow ecosystems to adapt
naturally to climate change;
3. That economic development
2. That food production is not
should proceed in a
threatened and;
sustainable manner

To eliminate or reduce the risk of climate change to human life and property, both
policy instruments and technology must be used in the context of sustainable
development.

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Mitigation Strategies

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Mitigation Strategies – Example Asif Kabani, Skype: kabaniasif
Adaptation Strategies

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate

Change refers to adaptation in several of its articles: Article
4.1(f): All Parties shall “Take climate change considerations
into account, to the extent feasible, in their relevant social,
economic and environmental policies and actions, and
employ appropriate methods, for example impact
assessments, formulated and determined nationally,
with a view to minimizing adverse effects on the
economy, on public health and on the quality of the
environment, of projects or measures undertaken
by them to mitigate or adapt to climate change.”

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 Nicholas Stern on Climate Mitigation
and Adaptation
Climate
Nicholaschange and the
Herbert Stern, transition
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on Climate everyandpolitical party, not
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reduce the
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and 2010from greenhouse
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emissions but also to stimulate an
exciting period of growth, creativity and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Stern,_Baron_Stern
innovation.
_of_Brentford
(Statement from Nicholas Stern on a green investment bank,
2 February 2010 )

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Nicholas Stern on Climate Mitigation
and Adaptation

For developing countries, good adaptation and good development policy are very
strongly intertwined, and it is right that climate change should now become central
to national planning processes and to development assistance.

International support for adaptation will come in large part through the delivery of
the commitments made by rich countries to double aid by 2010 and the
commitments made by many countries to meet the target of 0.7% of GNI by 2015.

This will deliver an increase of hundreds of billions of dollars.

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Issues and Problem

But there are limits to adaptation. Small

island developing states threatened by sea
level rise have fewer options to adapt.

Sea defenses are particularly costly for low-

lying islands , and may do little to protect
the tourism and fisheries that sustain the
local economy.

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Issues and Problem

Development and diversification are still important strategies

wherever possible, but ultimately the international
community will have to find ways to support alternative
responses, including the managed resettlement of some
people in these states. This will bring many challenges,
particularly for those people that must move.

There will be much greater pressures if unabated climate

change leads to sea level rise that threatens much larger
populations in low-lying coastal areas. (from the Stern
Review postscript, January 2007)

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 The Way Forward – Commitment
Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change addresses a wide
range of timely environment, economic and energy topics including global
climate change, stratospheric ozone depletion, acid deposition, and
aquatic ecosystems, species extinction and loss of biological diversity,
deforestation and forest degradation, desertification, soil resource
degradation, land-use change, sea level rise, destruction of coastal zones,
depletion of fresh water and marine fisheries, loss of wetlands and riparian
zones and hazardous waste management.
The journal provides a forum to review, analyze and stimulate the
development, testing and implementation of mitigation and adaptation
strategies at regional, national and global scales. One primary goal of this
journal is to contribute to real-time policy analysis and development as
national and international policies and agreements are discussed and
promulgated.
Related subjects » Atmospheric Sciences -
Environmental Management - Global Change -
Climate Change
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Case Study – Group work
Make Small Groups

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The migration management cycle
The migration management cycle illustrates the
types of programmatic intervention for each of
the phases (http://www.iom.int/Template/migration-
climate-change-environmental-degradation/interactive-
factsheet/index.html)

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Reading References

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Asif Kabani, Skype: kabaniasif
Topics Presentation Relevant to you
By: Author on Climate Change

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 Quote by David Suzuki, celebrity scientist, alarmist extraordinaire: 2011 quote:
"Humanity is facing a challenge unlike any we’ve ever had to
confront. We are in an unprecedented period of change."

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 Sustainable Transition to Green Economy

By: Asif Kabani [kabani.asif@gmail.com] Asif Kabani, Skype: kabaniasif