Adaptation strategies
How effective are adaptation strategies in building community’s resilience to climate change?
1. Adaptation strategies
a) require actions to lessen harm brought about by climate change
b) its effectiveness limited by technological, economic, social and institutional challenges
2. Adaptation strategies with structural and technological approaches
a) water and flood management
b) use of technology to produce food
3. Adaptation strategies with social and institutional approaches
a) raising awareness and education
b) national and regional policies and plans
● Adaptation strategies are efforts to adjust to climate change and its effects in order to lessen harm to people, environment and properties.
● Adaptation strategies are place- and context-specific, and there is no one-size-fits-all approach.
● Therefore, their effectiveness varies across places, and may be limited by a country's technological, economic, social and institutional challenges.
● Adaptation strategies include those involving:
○ Structural approaches.
○ Technological approaches.
○ Social approaches.
○ Institutional approaches.
Adaptation vs mitigation
Although deaths from natural disasters have been decreasing on the whole as disaster management has improved, climate change is making it much harder by spurring events well outside of previous experiences. Mitigation measures may be expensive, but any costs involved will pale in comparison to doing nothing.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/commentary/libya-flood-natural-disaster-human-climate-change-3796761
What is extreme weather?
Why is there a need to adapt to more extreme weather?
How can Singapore adapt to more extreme weather?
Weather monitoring through weather model.
Flood alert through SMS and Telegram channel.
Public education - how to respond to alert and flash flood in Singapore.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/weather-forecast-flooding-extreme-weather-3784631
70% of Singapore's coast protected by hard structures.
Dam gates to help divert storm water into the sea.
About 16% of the coast are mangroves and mudflat.
Reclaimed land are at least 4 metres above sea level.
Polder at Pulau Tekong.
Large dykes keep sea water out to reclaim land.
Set-up of the Coastal Protection and Flood Resilience Institute (CFI) Singapore
Structural adaptation strategies to build community resilience to climate change
● Structural adaptation strategies to climate change involve the construction of physical structures to ensure water and flood management.
● Examples of structural adaptation strategies include:
○ Sea walls.
■ A wall that is constructed along the coast to prevent the sea from advancing onto the land.
■ Thus it protects people, properties and environments from coastal floods.
■ Example
● East Coast Park, Singapore: Seawalls protect the coastline from sea level rise.
○ Polders.
■ Low-lying land that is surrounded and protected by barriers known as dykes.
■ Excess water is then pumped out from the polder.
■ Thus it protects people, properties and environments from sea level rise and coastal fioods.
■ Example
● The Netherlands: Has been constructing polders since the 12th century, and these have helped to protect communities from river and sea flooding.
○ Water storage tanks, drains and canals.
■ Infrastructure to store excess stormwater during periods of excessive rainfall to slow the water from rushing into canals and drains.
■ This prevents flooding in the canals and drains.
■ Example
● Stamford Detention Tank, Singapore:
○ Allows excess water to flow into the detention tank and be stored there temporarily.
○ When sensors detect that water levels in drains have fallen, then the water in the detention tank will be released back into the drains.
● Limitations of structural adaptation strategies.
○ Economic: Costly to build structures (e.g. sea walls, polders) strong enough to protect communities from flooding or sea level rise, especially for developing countries.
○ Further, they may have to be monitored and enhanced regularly to protect communities from even higher flood levels as climate change worsens.
■ Sea walls are still costly to build in Fiji even when local materials are used together with materials supplied by the government. It also requires a lot of manpower which adds to the cost of building the sea walls.
○ Social: The construction of these structures may involve the eviction of informal communities. They may resist against their eviction as they may not have anywhere suitable to go to.
○ In cities such as Jakarta and Bangkok, informal communities have been evicted or displaced to make room for the construction of flood structures. Large communities may not have suitable places to move to.
With extreme rainfall and sea levels rise projected to intensify by the end of this century, these plans have evolved to now include measures that can combat the impacts of climate change and much more.
Check out more on the Long island and how it can help us adapt to climate change.
source: https://www.ura.gov.sg/corporate/planning/Master-Plan/Draft-Master-Plan-2025/Long-Island/
Look at how Egypt uses tetrapods as sea defence against rising sea level due to climate change.
70% of Singapore's coast protected by hard structures.
Dam gates to help divert storm water into the sea.
About 16% of the coast are mangroves and mudflat.
Reclaimed land are at least 4 metres above sea level.
Polder at Pulau Tekong.
Large dykes keep sea water out to reclaim land.
Set-up of the Coastal Protection and Flood Resilience Institute (CFI) Singapore
Technological adaptation strategies in building community resilience to climate change
● Technological adaptation strategies to produce food can help communities to remain food secure despite changing climatic conditions. This increases food security and community resilience.
● Example:
○ Singapore's "30 by 30" plan:
○ Aims to increase local food supply to account for 30% of residents' nutritional needs by 2030.
○ Currently, 90% of Singapore's food is imported. This means the bulk of our food supply is dependent on the global food supply, which can be affected by climate change.
○ Due to space constraints. less than l % of our land is available for farming. This means innovative ways have to be adopted to produce more food locally in a more efficient manner.
○ Funding is provided by the government to develop high-tech farms such as:
■ High- tech vegetable farms
● Can be monitored remotely in order to ensure crops can be grown in optimal conditions.
● Vegetables can also be harvested in a shorter time.
■ High- tech egg farms
● Can be automated such that eggs can undergo checks faster. and manpower can be allocated to other needs on the farm.
■ High- tech fish farms
● High-tech water tanks can monitor water quality and check if fishes have diseases. This enables swift action to be taken to prevent the spread of diseases.
○ These technological adaptations allow for high-quality food to be produced efficiently which helps increase food security for Singapore.
● Limitations of technological adaptation strategies.
○ Economic - They can be very costly, which may not be possible in countries with limited funding.
○ As part of Singapore's "30 by 30" plan. $40 million has been used to fund nine high-tech farms to use automation and artificial intelligence to increase food production.
Social adaptation strategies to build community resilience to climate change
● Social adaptation strategies include raising awareness and educating communities on how to respond to climate change impacts.
● These allow communities to be aware of the warning signs of possible climatic hazards, and take appropriate steps to protect themselves which increases community resilience.
● Example
○ In Nepal, to cope with prolonged drought, communities are taught that they can plant more drought-resistant crops such as apples.
● Example:
○ In Singapore, the public is educated on what to do when a flash flood occurs, or how to prevent heat stress injuries during warm weather.
○ For instance, during periods of hot weather, people are advised to keep hydrated and watch for early signs of heat stress. This reduces injuries and economic losses.
● Limitations of social adaptation strategies.
○ Social - People may not be willing to change their behaviour due to a variety of reasons.
○ Example:
■ In Nepal, some communities prefer to stick to their traditional ways of adapting, such as temporary migration to find alternative employment during periods of drought, and are reluctant to try new methods, such as growing more drought-resistant crops.
Weather monitoring through weather model.
Flood alert through sms and telegram channel.
Public education - how to respond to alert and flash flood in Singapore.
Social and institutional adaptation strategies in building community resilience to climate change
● On a larger scale, institutional adaptation strategies include national policies and regional policies.
● Institutional adaptation strategies help to:
○ Organize strategies on a national or regional scale, and
○ Allows for larger- scale measures which may otherwise be impossible if communities acted on their own due to a lack of resources, expertise or funding.
● National policies.
○ Singapore has established organisations and agencies to coordinate climate action.
■ The Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment (MSE) oversees how Singapore can be more climate-resilient and creates a national framework and roadmap for climate resilience.
■ The Centre for Climate Research Singapore (CCRS) conducts research in climate science. This aims to develop understanding of the changing climate in Singapore, which is then used to support Singapore's resilience planning.
● Regional policies.
○ The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Cooperation on Environment was set up to safeguard the interests of Southeast Asia.
○ Various regional strategies have been put in place such as the ASEAN Climate Outlook Forum, which enable countries to collaboratively develop climate outlooks for the region.
○ Using the outlooks, countries can make decisions to manage and adapt to climate risks.
● Limitations of Institutional adaptation strategies.
○ lnstltutlonal/ Economic - Countries may have competing national priorities, such as urgent development projects. They may not have the capacity to draw on their national budget to finance adaptation projects.