Adaptation

This year’s conference continues our practice of using the Luncheon Program to address practical implications of climate change on land use. This year the focus is adaptation: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change defines adaptation as the "adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli or their effects, which moderates harm or exploits beneficial opportunities".

This year’s address will discuss adaptation in the Coastal Zone although many of the same principles and methods of planning to increase adaptive capacity are similar in other land use contexts. An example of an adaptation strategy to prevent damage from climate change is shore protection (e.g., dikes, bulkheads, beach nourishment), which can prevent sea level rise from inundating low-lying coastal property, eroding beaches, or worsen flooding.

If the costs or environmental impacts of shore protection are high compared with the property being protected, an alternative adaptation strategy would be a planned retreat, in which structures are relocated inland as shores retreat.