The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has released Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability– a contribution to IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report. This contribution highlights the relationship between the growing risks of climate change and the impact on ecosystems, and human society. Identifying the impacts of hazardous climate change on biodiversity and human well-being at a global level is a key step to strengthening mitigation actions.
Since IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report, climate change action has increased at all levels of governance, as well as amongst non-governmental organizations and citizens. The Sixth Assessment Report focuses largely on the urbanization of society, a dynamic human population, and social justice. The potential for adverse climatic consequences is defined by risk. Major components of risk as defined by IPCC are as follows:
- Vulnerability: “[T]he propensity or predisposition to be adversely affected and encompasses a variety of concepts 45 and elements including sensitivity or susceptibility to harm and lack of capacity to cope and adapt.”
- Adaptation: “[T]he process of adjustment to actual or expected climate and its effects, in order to moderate harm or exploit beneficial opportunities.”
- Resilience: “Adaptation is often organized around resilience as bouncing back and returning to a previous state after a disturbance. More broadly the term describes not just the ability to maintain essential function, identity and structure, but also the capacity for transformation.”
The full report can be found here.
For additional information, check out HSDL’s Featured Topic on Climate Change and documents related to climate change adaptation. Please note an HSDL login is required to view some of these resources.
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