28 October, 2021

A systematic global stocktake of evidence on human adaptation to climate change

Authors

Lea Berrang-Ford, et al. (including Emily TheokritoffNicole van Maanen, and Adelle Thomas)

Assessing global progress on human adaptation to climate change is an urgent priority. Although the literature on adaptation to climate change is rapidly expanding, little is known about the actual extent of implementation. This paper systematically screened >48,000 articles using machine learning methods and a global network of 126 researchers to identify eight priority areas for research.

Our synthesis of the resulting 1,682 articles presents a systematic and comprehensive global stocktake of implemented human adaptation to climate change. Documented adaptations were largely fragmented, local and incremental, with limited evidence of transformational adaptation and negligible evidence of risk reduction outcomes.

We identify eight priorities for global adaptation research: assess the effectiveness of adaptation responses, enhance the understanding of limits to adaptation, enable individuals and civil society to adapt, include missing places, scholars and scholarship, understand private sector responses, improve methods for synthesising different forms of evidence, assess the adaptation at different temperature thresholds, and improve the inclusion of timescale and the dynamics of responses.

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