Adaptation

Climate change adaptation is "the adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli or their effects, which moderates harm or exploits beneficial opportunities."^[213] Examples of adaptation are improved coastline protection, better disaster management, and the development of more resistant crops.^[214] The adaptation may be planned, either in reaction to or anticipation of global warming, or spontaneous, i.e. without government intervention.^[215]

The public sector, private sector, and communities are all gaining experience with adaptation, and adaptation is becoming embedded within certain planning processes.^[216] While some adaptation responses call for trade-offs, others bring synergies and co-benefits.^[217] Environmental organizations and public figures have emphasized changes in the climate and the risks they entail, while promoting adaptation to changes in infrastructural needs and emissions reductions.^[218]

Adaptation is especially important in developing countries since they are predicted to bear the brunt of the effects of global warming.^[219] The capacity and potential for humans to adapt, called adaptive capacity, is unevenly distributed across different regions and populations, and developing countries generally have less capacity to adapt.^[220] In June 2019, U.N. special rapporteur Philip Alston warned of a "climate apartheid" situation developing, where global warming "could push more than 120 million more people into poverty by 2030 and will have the most severe impact in poor countries, regions, and the places poor people live and work".^[221]