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The significance of climate change is reflected in global level efforts such as Conference of Parties and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reporting. The global level platform develops consensus on evidences and pathways to climate change mitigation and adaptation. Unfortunately, these efforts often lack social-cultural dynamics to climate change. This study adopted a desktop survey to establish the place of socio-cultural dynamics in climate change discourse. In this study, it is argued that socio-economic security and attributes, cultural-orientation and inter-group dimensions are key determinants to implementation of climate change programmes. To successfully design and implement climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies, first address socioeconomic securities of communities, bring on board sub-national considerations and package climate change impacts as a threat to nationalism.

Climate change becomes a widely acknowledged and inevitable global challenge of 21st century. For developing countries like Ethiopia, it intensifies existing challenges of ensuring sustainable development. This study examined factors affecting climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies by taking in Protection Motivation Theory. The study draws on mixed research approach in order to assess the subjective understanding about climate change threats and identify the factors determining responses to climate change. While qualitative data were collected through focus group discussions and interviews, quantitative information was collected using semi structured survey from 296 randomly selected farmers from different agro-ecologies. Qualitative data was dominantly analyzed using content analysis while descriptive and inferential statistics were applied to analyze quantitative data. Almost all respondents (97%) perceived that climate change is occurring and threatening their wellbeing. Dwindling precipitation, increasing temperature and occurrence of human and animal disease were perceived to represent climate change. From nationally initiated strategies, farmers were found to largely practice soil and water conservation and agricultural intensification, which they perceived less costly and compatible to their level of expertise. The result of binary logistic regression revealed that perceived severity of climate change, perceived susceptibility to climate change threat, perceived own ability to respond, response efficacy and cost of practices predicted farmers motivation to practice climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies. Thus, building resilient system should go beyond sensitizing climate response mechanisms. Rural development and climate change adaptation policies should focus on human capital development and economic empowerment which would enable farmers pursue context specific adaptation and mitigation strategies thereby maintain sustainable livelihood.

There are great uncertainties in the projected economic impacts of climate change1, arising from uncertainties in the climate response2, the climate change mitigation pathway3 and the socioeconomic development pathway4. Although the relative contributions of these factors are important for climate change related decision-making, they are poorly understood. Here, we show to what extent the projected economic impacts of climate change can be attributed to these three factors. Our modelling framework consisting of global, multisectoral impact models coupled with an integrated assessment model enables us to estimate the global total economic impacts of climate change while incorporating these uncertainty sources. Whereas the most pessimistic pathway without mitigation would result in a net economic impact equivalent to 6.6% (3.9–8.6%) of global gross domestic product at the end of this century, the pathways with stringent mitigation would limit the impact to around or less than 1%. Although the uncertainties are great, the climate change mitigation pathway is the dominant factor and socioeconomic developments can also contribute to alleviate the impacts of climate change. These results suggest that decisions on mitigation and development have a great influence in determining the economic impacts of climate change, regardless of the uncertainties in the climate response. Understanding which factors influence future economic impacts from climate change is important for informing mitigation and adaptation strategies. This study demonstrates that projected economic impacts are primarily attributed to variation in socioeconomic development and future emissions trajectories, rather than uncertainties in the climate response.

During the last 50 years, construction of dams in the western United States declined. This is partly because of increasing recognition of diverse and unintended social-ecological consequences of dams. Today, resource managers are recognizing the wide array of tradeoffs and are including a more diverse group of stakeholders in decision making for individual dams. Yet decisions at the regional scale maintain a focus on a limited number of resources and objectives, leading to inefficient and inequitable outcomes. Social-ecological changes compounded by climate change challenge this management paradigm. Increasing water demands for humans and the environment and renewed interest in hydropower present opportunities for operations that include climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies while considering tradeoffs and equitable responses at the regional scale.

Bioeconomy is a new perspective for fighting climate change. Africa is warming faster than the global average, and climate change remains a major threat on the continent for coming decades. The development of sustainable bioeconomy is extremely important in Africa to accelerate mitigation and adaptation to climate change. However, this concept is not well diffused on the continent. The objective of this chapter is to present the current state of bioeconomy in Africa and the readiness of the member countries to adopt bioeconomy as climate action, with particular attention to the state of production determinants of a bioeconomy. The main factors and trends (both positive and negative), relating to building strategic capacity towards employing bioeconomy for climate action on the continent, are outlined. The findings and recommendations will assist both the academia and policymakers in Africa to integrate bioeconomy into their national and regional climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies and action plans.

The rising temperature makes the weather becoming more extreme. Understanding how extreme hot temperature-heat wave events (HWEs)-are likely to alter individual heat exposure and sensitivity is crucial for developing climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies. Despite the importance, little is known about the real-time impacts of HWEs on individual daily life in developing nations, like China. To fill this gap, we adopt over 1544 thousand Weibo (Chinese Twitter) social media data, coupled with meteorological conditions people face when posting, to assess the heat exposure and people's sensitivity to HWEs across 31 mega-cities in China. The results show the hotspot of Weibo heat is coincident with the extremely hot temperature, with a correlation of 0.7 (p 0.05). The intensities, frequencies, and durations of HWEs in both geographical and social media space have high spatial heterogeneity. Its spatial variation can be explained by the type of climate zone and the unique geographical environment. The cities with extreme hot weather are more likely to adapt to the heatwave and less sensitivity to HWEs. The proposed framework, which integrates the real-time social media semantic analysis, statistical method, and spatial techniques, provides a new paradigm to assess the HWEs exposure and sensitivity analysis in China.

Around 70 Mha of land cover changes (LCCs) occurred in Europe from 1992 to 2015. Despite LCCs being an important driver of regional climate variations, their temperature effects at a continental scale have not yet been assessed. Here, we integrate maps of historical LCCs with a regional climate model to investigate air temperature and humidity effects. We find an average temperature change of −0.12 ± 0.20 °C, with widespread cooling (up to −1.0 °C) in western and central Europe in summer and spring. At continental scale, the mean cooling is mainly correlated with agriculture abandonment (cropland-to-forest transitions), but a new approach based on ridge-regression decomposing the temperature change to the individual land transitions shows opposite responses to cropland losses and gains between western and eastern Europe. Effects of historical LCCs on European climate are non-negligible and region-specific, and ignoring land-climate biophysical interactions may lead to sub-optimal climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies., Land cover change contributes to regional climate trends. Here, the authors use high-resolution land cover maps and state-of-the-art climate modelling to assess land cover change effects across Europe over 1992-2015, showing widespread cooling after agricultural abandonment but also different, region-specific effects.

Starting from institutional theory, this study aims to explore the effects of coercive, normative and mimetic pressures on businesses climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies. In order to test these hypotheses, the study relies on an econometric model by using data from 487 Italian manufacturing companies collected by a questionnaire-based survey. The empirical model based on a multivariate regression reveals that companies which perceive normative and mimetic pressures are more likely to have a higher climate change sensitivity. Moreover, companies with a higher climate change sensitivity are more likely to adopt both mitigation and adaptation strategies. The article provides several contributions. First the study contributes to the debate among institutional scholars by clarifying which institutional pressures exert a more incisive effect on pushing companies to adopt climate actions. Second, it highlights how internal factors play a mediating role between institutional pressures and business climate responses.

This chapter uses data on Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) to examine the nature of climate change mitigation and adaptation actions being pursued in African countries and assesses the extent to which preferred mitigation and adaptation priorities advance the cause of sustainable development on the continent. The prospective synergies between mitigation and adaptation approaches and sustainable development are assessed. Also, the pathways through which resource constraints and institutional and policy environment affect Africa’s ability to mitigate and adapt to climate change are examined, as well as the degree to which these constraints are being addressed. It is argued that Africa’s ability to benefit from sustainable development synergies embedded in the mitigation and adaptation strategies in the INDCs will be greatly limited by institutional and policy environment that hinders funding, capacity building, and technological innovation systems development. The slow pace of efforts to address these impediments further erodes confidence that climate adaptation in Africa will be effective at sufficiently contributing to a reduction in climate change risks to the continent.

The growing recognition of the contribution of urban areas to adaptation and mitigation strategies implemented in response to climate change has led to several policy initiatives. Among others, the “Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy” is the most acknowledged, providing local governments with the opportunity to overcome the mitigation-adaptation dichotomy and enhance urban resilience. In this context, the main aim of this paper is to analyse the synergy between adaptation and mitigation actions in some European Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plans at an urban level. We will do this through: (1) the proposal of a novel classification model of climate change mitigation and adaptation measures, which will be capable of classifying, in a common way, the best practices carried out at an urban level; and (2) a comparison of the best climate change management practices carried out by two European countries (Italy and Spain). The classification model is based on three urban sectors: (1) Urban Adaptation and Health (UA&H), (2) Transport & Infrastructure (T&I), and (3) Energy (NRG). Urban management measures have been classified as soft (more focused on environmental information), gray (more focused on buildings), and green (more focused on nature-based solutions). The overall comparative analysis between Italy and Spain shows that in large and medium-sized Italian cities, mainly soft (52%) and green (28%) adaptation measures have been integrated into local energy-environmental planning in combination with mitigation actions. However, in both countries, decisions regarding the type of measures to be implemented are taken independently of the size of the city. This paper, in line with other research, highlights the importance of nature-based solutions as a first step in the integration process between adaptation and mitigation strategies at an urban level.

This chapter offers an extensive overview of climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies. The Australian carbon farming policy as one of the means to tackle the wicked problem of climate change has been discussed in detail. This chapter also explores the role of landholders as change agents in the uptake of carbon farming policies.

Building community adaptive capacity to tackle climate change risks in the tourism sector is challenging. It is limited by poverty, poor communication and knowledge, low levels of institutional capacity and a lack of support from government or tourism authorities. Using Bali as a case study, this chapter aims to demonstrate how tourism businesses could implement mitigation and adaptation strategies through their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives, as well as help host communities to enhance their capacity to tackle climate change risks. In-depth interviews, focus group discussion (FGD), and observations were used to collect data. The findings of this study indicate that the CSR of tourism industries could enhance community adaptive capacity to climate change through environmental, economic and social responsibility. It is also concluded that the tourism industry's CSR initiatives can play an importance role in empowering communities to tackle environmental challenges.

This paper examined possible mitigation and adaptation measures in small-scale fisheries, aquaculture and the fishing communities in Nigeria to cope with the impact of climate change. It is recognized that mitigation measures in fisheries are limited but must consider options on the inputs, equipments and methods employed in fishing and fish processing activities. Several opportunities for options in the country's artisanal fisheries and aquaculture, and by the fishing communities to reduce their vulnerability change impacts, and protect the livelihoods and food security have been identified. The areas of research on climate change to enhance knowledge on the socioeconomic , biolog1cal and ecological impacts, and to guide decision on mitigation and adaptation in fisheries and aquaculture and the fishing communities, are also outlined. Proper integration of fisheries and aquaculture into the national policy on climate change and the political will for implementation are key to effective climate change mitigation and to ensure sustainable fisheries, and protect the livelihoods and food security in the country.

Continued unsustainable human activities have ushered in a new climate regime where storms have become more intense, droughts periods are now longer, floods are incessant and the occurrence of wild fires more frequent. Mitigating the effects of climate change is crucial for minimizing the occurrence of hazards associated with climate change. Adapting to this new climate era is important for the continued existence of life on planet earth. This paper presents a review of climate mitigation and adaptation strategies with specific focus on the construction industry. It discusses the following climate mitigation and adaptation strategies: use of green energy, use of sustainable building materials, construction of high rise buildings and living building elements, use of innovative designs and construction methods and recycling of urban waste. The paper also argues that developing countries are most vulnerable to climate change effects but certain factors limit them from mitigating and adapting to climate change.

A regional-scale case study has been carried out to assess the possible climatic benefits of forest cover increase in Europe. For the end of the 21st century (2071-2090) it has been investigated, whether the projected climate change could be reduced assuming potential afforestation of the continent. The magnitude of the biogeophysical effects of enhanced forest cover on temperature and precipitation means and extremes have been analyzed relative to the magnitude of the climate change signal applying the regional climate model REMO. The simulation results indicate that in the largest part of the temperate zone potential afforestation may reduce the projected climate change through cooler and moister conditions, thus could contribute to the mitigation of the projected climate change for the entire summer period. The largest relative effect of forest cover increase can be expected in northern Germany, Poland and Ukraine. Here, the projected precipitation decrease could be fully compensated, the temperature increase could be relieved by up to 0.5 °C, and the probability of extremely warm and dry days could be reduced. Results can help to identify the areas, where forest cover increase could be the most effective from climatic point of view. Thus they can build an important basis of the future adaptation strategies and forest policy.

The objective of the study is to observe the characteristic variability of rainfall pattern in the city located in every rainfall type, local (Kendari), monsoon (Manado), and equatorial (Palu). The result will be compared to determine which has the most significantly precipitation changing due to climate change impact. Rainfall variability in Indonesia illustrates precipitation variation thus the important variability is the variability of monthly rainfall. Monthly precipitation data for the period of 1961-2010 are collected from Indonesian Agency for Meteorological, Climatological, and Geophysical Agency. This data is calculated with the normal test statistical method to analyze rainfall variability. The result showed the pattern of trend and variability of rainfall in every city with the own characteristic which determines the rainfall type. Moreover, there is comparison of rainfall pattern changing between every rainfall type. This information is useful for climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies especially in water resource management form precipitation as well as the occurrence of meteorological disasters.

The three well known “pillars” of a successful policy are effectiveness, efficiency, and equity. But getting the optimal blend of these often conflicting ingredients is particularly challenging when climate change is involved. It induces short and very long-term impacts and global and local effects, and it affects welfare of societies as a whole, but with important asymmetries across social groups. Moreover, the climatic, environmental and social dimensions which are affected are complexly intertwined; their evolution is characterised by non-linearity, irreversibility and inherent unpredictability. Climate change impacts are thus highly uncertain. On their turn, the cost of mitigation and adaptation policies may be better, but yet far from being fully known.

As policymakers and stakeholders increasingly consider relative merits and complementarities of climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies, it is important to improve analytical capacities to support this process. Because a single analytical approach is unlikely to fit all needs, this paper explores potentials for an integrated analytical framework that incorporates both top–down and bottom–up approaches.

Generating policy-relevant scenarios is instrumental for understanding and developing policy measures. These are especially relevant to the power sector. Practitioners have been working on policy-relevant scenarios for the ex-ante assessment of policy measures in a meaningful way for end-users related to climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies. This paper presents a method for generating such policy relevant scenarios by focusing on the actor-contingent elements of the scenarios, i.e., the developments that are within the control of system actors to change or bring about. Several scenario techniques focusing on systematic-formalized or quantitative approaches have been published on this front over the past few years. Here, we introduce a methodology that is best suited for the assessment of the expected effect of different policy measures on the involved stakeholders’ behavior as well as for the analysis of the interactions between different policy measures as reflected on their impact on the strength and direction of the provided incentives. The applicability of our methodology is demonstrated for the case of the Greek power market. It was further evaluated in view of the challenges related to the issues of generation capacity adequacy and increased fiscal deficit. The strategic implications of the proposed approach concern the demonstration of the benefits from adopting a policy assessment methodology that focus on stakeholder expectations and interactions.

Historically, global efforts at dealing with climate change have narrowly focused on mitigation. However, recent studies suggest that mitigation and adaptation efforts need to be combined. This article aims to present evidence from local strategies to address climate change that can be eventually 'upscaled' and that can permeate the international climate change agenda. This research is focused on the Bahian semiarid region, characterised by severe and frequent droughts. The local populations, using their local knowledge systems, of which social technologies are a clear manifestation, have experienced new ways of dealing with their reality. This empirical analysis provides basic understanding of possible trade-offs and synergies between local mitigation and adaptation strategies at the community level. Results suggest that trade-offs can be avoided and synergies exploited, at least in the near-term and over limited spatial scale. Some of the identified local strategies could be replicable in other semiarid regions in Latin America and all around the world.

This report presents the results of the World Bank funded project on Costing Adaptation through Local Institutions (CALI). The objectives of the CALI project are to: (1) identify the costs of adaptation through local institutions, and (2) investigate which institutions support households in adapting to climate variability, what efforts and costs are needed to realize the adaptation options, and how they facilitate adaptation to climate variability. The study has been carried out in Mali, Ethiopia, and Yemen. This report discusses the results for Mali.

Cities face significant impacts from climate change, both now and into the future. These impacts have potentially serious consequences for human health, livelihoods, and assets, especially for the urban poor, informal settlements, and other vulnerable groups. Climate change impacts range from an increase in extreme weather events and flooding to hotter temperatures and public health concerns. Cities in low elevation coastal zones, for instance, face the combined threat of sea-level rise and storm surges. The specific impacts on each city will depend on the actual changes in climate experienced (for example, higher temperatures or increased rainfall), which will vary from place to place. Climate change will increase the frequency at which some natural hazards occur, especially extreme weather events, and introduce new incremental impacts that are less immediate. However, few climate impacts will be truly unfamiliar to cities. Cities have always lived with natural hazards, such as earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, and flooding. In some situations, cities will experience an increase in the frequency of existing climate-related hazards, such as flooding. Climate change considerations can be integrated with disaster risk reduction (DRR) in cities. DRR efforts already familiar to many may be used as a platform from which to develop climate change adaptation plans. In practical terms, disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation can be integrated in many instances, although cities should also consider incremental or gradual changes in climate that affect government operations or community life in less immediate and visible ways than conventional disasters. Approaches to collecting information on climate change impacts in a city can range from highly technical and resource-intensive, to simple and inexpensive. Technically complex assessments are likely to require collaboration with external experts, if a city is not large or well-resourced with sufficient in-house capacity.

This chapter explores the issues in estimating the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the tourism industry and related activities in Australia. A production-based approach is employed and its rationale is explained. The scope of tourism consists of the economic activities of tourism-characteristic and tourism-connected sectors as defined in the Australian Tourism Satellite Account (TSA). The GHG emissions have been estimated for 2003–04, the latest year for which detailed industry GHG emissions data are available in a form suitable for this type of estimate. Tourism's GHG emissions are compared with other industries in the Australian economy. The policy implications of the results are discussed. It should be possible to adopt a broadly similar method for any destination with a TSA, enabling tourism stakeholders to play an informed role in assessing appropriate climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies for their destination.

Human-induced changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels will have severe consequences for oceans, concluded a 31 May report from the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU). The WGBU wrote the report, which was released in English on 26 July, in order to draw attention to the need to develop climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies and to contribute to the development of a European Union ocean policy.