Adaptation strategies = strategies that responds to the impacts of climate change
○ Attempts to make populations less vulnerable
○ Strategies are local to respond to localised impacts
● If mitigation stopped all CO 2 emissions, adaptation would still be needed
○ Manage naturally occurring impacts of climate change
○ Manage impacts of climate change that have already occurred
Changes in agricultural systems:
● Agriculture needs to adapt to effects of climate change
○ Moving production to another location → due to changing temperatures and extreme weather
○ Increasing irrigation due to decreasing precipitation
○ Changing crops and varieties grown
○ Changing time of year crops are planted
■ eg/ drought resistant crops
■ eg/ livestock that has more guaranteed income
Managing water supply:
● Reducing demand
○ Boris Johnson developed a Water Strategy to reduce London’s water demand
○ By 2030 all homes should have been offered a free retrofit package of water-efficient devices
■ Tap aerators
■ Dual flush
■ Shower timers
■ Aerator shower heads
● Increasing supply
○ Thames Water opened a desalination plant in 2010 to increase water supply
■ Water is taken from River Thames at low tide (least salty)
■ Reverse osmosis is used to produce water for 400,000 homes
● Requires a lot of energy
Reducing risk of rising sea levels:
● Thames Barrier has been closed over 100 times since built in 1984
○ Able to stop tidal surges entering london
● Barrier was designed with the expectation it would be breached once every 1000 years
○ 50 cm rise in sea level would increase risk to once every 100 years