Many decisions concerning long-lived investments already need to take into account climate change. But doing so is not easy for at least two reasons. First, due to the rate of climate change, new infrastructure will have to be able to cope with a large range of changing climate conditions, which will make design more difficult and construction more expensive. Second, uncertainty in future clima...

In this paper, we propose a scenario framework that could provide a scenario ‘‘thread’’ through the different climate research communities (climate change – vulnerability, impact, and adaptation and mitigation) in order to support assessment of mitigation and adaptation strategies and climate impacts. The scenario framework is organized around a matrix with two main axes: radiative forcing leve...

Climate change will likely have significant effects on forest ecosystems worldwide. In Mediterranean regions, such as that in southwestern Oregon, USA, changes will likely be driven mainly by wildfire and drought. To minimize the negative effects of climate change, resource managers require tools and information to assess climate change vulnerabilities and to develop and implement adaptation ac...

Climate change adaptation – to be politically feasible and socially acceptable – will not happen without broad public support. Yet, to date, the public has been barely engaged in finding effective solutions. Municipal and county staff, as well as community organizations that have taken the lead to date with climate planning, list building political and public support as one of the greatest barr...

Lessons learned, opportunities, and barriers to scaling up health adaptation were identified from evaluation reports and other materials from three multinational health adaptation projects covering 14 low- and middle-income countries and from qualitative data collected through a focus group consultation and interviews with key informants purposively selected for their expertise and role in heal...

NATURE CLIMATE CHANGE | VOL 2 | JULY 2012 | www.nature.com/natureclimatechange As Earth’s climate continues to change at an unprecedented rate1, people face mounting impacts. Ongoing research since the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s 2007 assessment report underscores the urgent need for rapid progress on national and global adaptation efforts2. From sea-level rise to heightened hur...

Risk management is a well established tool for climate change adaptation. It is facing new challenges with the end of climate stationarity and the need to meaningfully engage people in governance issues. The ways in which conventional approaches to risk management can respond to these challenges are explored. Conventional approaches to risk management are summarized, the manner in which they ar...

Climate change affects human health, and climate change adaptation aims to reduce these risks through infrastructural, behavioral, and technological measures. However, attributing direct human health effects to climate change adaptation is difficult, causing an ethical dilemma between the need for evidence of strategies and their precautionary implementation before such evidence has been genera...

International policy is placing increasing emphasis on adaptation to climate change, including the allocation of new funds to assist adaptation efforts. Climate change adaptation funding may be most effective where it meets integrated goals, but global geographic priorities based on multiple development and ecological criteria are not well characterized. Here we show that human and natural adap...