Mitigation and Adaptation - NASA Science (2024)

FAQs

What is mitigation and adaptation? ›

In essence, adaptation can be understood as the process of adjusting to the current and future effects of climate change. Mitigation means preventing or reducing the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG) into the atmosphere to make the impacts of climate change less severe.

Mitigation – reducing climate change – involves reducing the flow of heat-trapping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, either by reducing sources of these gases (for example, the burning of fossil fuels for electricity, heat, or transport) or enhancing the “sinks” that accumulate and store these gases (such as the ...

Mitigation: An anthropogenic intervention to reduce the sources or enhance the sinks of greenhouse gases (IPCC, 2001a). • Adaptation: Adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli or their effects, which moderates harm or exploits beneficial opportunities (IPCC, 2001a).

Examples of mitigation actions are planning and zoning, floodplain protection, property acquisition and relocation, or public outreach projects. Examples of preparedness actions are installing disaster warning systems, purchasing radio communications equipment, or conducting emergency response training.

There are four common risk mitigation strategies: avoidance, reduction, transference, and acceptance.

We then delved into the five key risk mitigation strategies: acceptance, avoidance, mitigation, reduction, and transfer.

Erecting buildings and infrastructure that is safer and more sustainable. Replanting forests and restoring damaged ecosystems. Diversifying crops so that they are better able to adapt to changing climates. Investigating and developing innovative solutions to prevent and manage natural catastrophes.

Mitigation measures are translated in, for example, an increased use of renewable energy, the application of new technologies such as electric cars, or changes in practices or behaviours, such as driving less or changing one's diet.

Although mitigation and adaptation are both necessary now, the less we choose to mitigate today, the more adaptation we'll need later — adaptation that will become progressively less effective as storms simply overwhelm seawalls, for example.

While hazard mitigation planning seeks to reduce harm from human, technological, and natural hazards, climate adaptation is focused on climate-related conditions and hazards.

What is an example of an adaptation? ›

Examples include the long necks of giraffes for feeding in the tops of trees, the streamlined bodies of aquatic fish and mammals, the light bones of flying birds and mammals, and the long daggerlike canine teeth of carnivores.

Mitigating climate change means reducing the flow of heat-trapping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. This involves cutting greenhouse gases from main sources such as power plants, factories, cars, and farms. Forests, oceans, and soil also absorb and store these gases, and are an important part of the solution.

Adaptability is a manifestation of adaptation, which is the ability to absorb hazard impacts and to prepare for and recover from them; adaptation in most cases is a proactive action to the anticipated hazards so that potential negative effects or risks can be alleviated in advance.

Hazard mitigation describes actions taken to help reduce or eliminate long-term risks caused by hazards or disasters, such as flooding, earthquakes, wildfires, landslides, or tsunamis.