Barriers and limits to adaptation: Cautionary notes

In this chapter, we provide a synthesis of the empirical chapters of this collection by examining what they reveal about the limits and barriers to climate change adaptation and the risk of maladaptation. The concept of adaptation is therefore central to this chapter. While there are many definitions and typologies of adaptation (e.g. Smit et al., 2000), adaptation here is understood as the process of adjusting to climate change. Adaptation takes one or more of four forms: Reducing the exposure of entities at risk; reducing the sensitivity of entities at risk; increasing the capacity of entities at risk to avoid risks; and taking advantage of new opportunities created by a changing climate. Research and policy on adaptation have evolved, slowly, away from conceptual explanations, typologies, frameworks and wish-lists to include more serious consideration of the challenges of implementing adaptation given existing political and policy environments. In this vein, Adger and Barnett (2009) identify four reasons for thinking that adaptation may not happen as easily or effectively as initially envisaged. First, they argue that the scale of the change in climate, the interconnectedness and cascading nature of potential impacts and the possibility of significant surprises may be such that the time available for adaptation to take effect is less than previously imagined. The second reason for concern is that no amount of adaptive capacity – that is, potential for adaptation – ensures that adaptation will actually happen. There are, in effect, barriers that impede adaptation from taking place. Third, they suggest that adaptation actions that have been taken thus far indicate that adaptation decisions can be ineffective, if not actually make things worse, at least for some groups within and between generations. Finally, they argue that there are limits to what adaptation can achieve in the sense that there can be impacts of climate change (or of climate change policies) that involve irreversible losses of things individuals care about. In short, Adger and Barnett (2009) are not sanguine about adaptation given barriers that impede best practices, limits to what can be achieved by purposeful actions and adverse consequences that increase risks. It is these barriers, limits and maladaptations that are the focus of this chapter.