# Climate Adaptation **Domain:** Environmental Science / Governance **Doc Type:** Concept Node **Classification:** Infrastructure Concept **Maturity:** Foundational **Related:** [[Climate Change]], [[Climate Adaptation Planning]], [[Climate-Resilient Territories]], [[Resilience]], [[Vulnerability]], [[Adjustment Costs]] --- ## Definition **Climate Adaptation** refers to **the process of adjustment of ecological, social, and economic systems to altered climate conditions—including changes in temperature, precipitation, sea level, and extreme weather frequency—to reduce vulnerability, maintain function, and enable continuation of valued activities under new climatic constraints**. Adaptation occurs at individual, community, national, and global scales. --- ## General Context Climate adaptation encompasses diverse activities: agricultural adjustment (crop selection, irrigation), infrastructure modification (seawalls, cooling systems), population relocation, resource conservation, and behavioral change. Adaptation is universal and ongoing, but modern anthropogenic climate change is creating adaptation pressures faster than many systems can adjust. Adaptation differs from mitigation (reducing greenhouse gas emissions); both are necessary for climate stability. --- ## Ecological Systems Context Climate adaptation includes ecological adjustment—ecosystem migration, species range shifts, and conservation management—to maintain ecosystem function and biodiversity under novel climates. --- ## Governance Context Governance adaptation includes new institutions, decision procedures, and resource allocation mechanisms to manage climate-driven scarcity and displacement. --- ## Key Insight Climate adaptation is **the assumption that climate change is inevitable and that human systems must accommodate rather than prevent it**—a framing that can obscure mitigation responsibility and normalize injustice. --- ## See Also [[Climate Science]], [[Climate Modeling]], [[Climate Systems]], [[Climate Finance]], [[Climate Justice]]