Introducing the main challenges and opportunities of developing local, regional and global strategies for addressing climate change, this book explains the dilemmas faced when converting strategies into policies. Providing a synthesis of the findings of the three-year European Commission ADAM (Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies) research project and written by many leading interdisciplinary climate change research teams, European strategies for tackling climate change are placed within a global context. The book illustrates the differences between adaptation and mitigation, offers regional and global case studies of how adaptation and mitigation are inter-linked, and suggests six different metaphors for the strategic options to make climate change work for us, rather than against us. Offering practical solutions to climate change – both adaptation and mitigation – within the policy contexts in which these solutions have to be implemented, this book is valuable for researchers in varied related fields, as well policymakers in government, industry and NGOs.
• Provides an introduction to important and yet unpublished research without being technically demanding • Allows readers to understand the challenges of adaptation alongside those of mitigation, illustrated with regional and global case studies of how adaptation and mitigation inter-link • Leading climate change experts cover topics not much covered in IPCC assessments, to give readers a complete overview
Contents
List of contributing authors; Foreword; Preface; Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; Part I. Concepts and Scenarios: 1. Climate policy and inter-linkages between adaptation and mitigation Henry Neufeldt; 2. Climate change appraisal in the EU: current trends and future challenges Duncan Russell; 3. Scenarios as the basis for assessment of mitigation and adaptation Detlef P. van Vuuren; 4. National responsibilities for adaptation strategies: lessons from four modelling frameworks Asbjørn Aaheim; 5. Learning to adapt: re-framing climate change adaptation Jochen Hinkel; Part II. Strategies Within Europe: 6. How do climate policies work? Dilemmas in European climate governance Frans Berkhout; 7. Transforming the European energy system Gunnar S. Eskeland; 8. A risk management approach for assessing adaptation to changing flood and drought risks in Europe Reinhard Mechler; 9. Mainstreaming adaptation in regional land use and water management Saskia E. Werners; Part III. Strategies Beyond Europe: 10. Global climate governance after 2012: architecture, agency and adaptation Frank Biermann; 11. The economics of low stabilisation: implications for technological change and policy Brigitte Knopf; 12. Mainstreaming climate change in development cooperation policy: conditions for success Joyeeta Gupta; 13. Insurance as part of a climate adaptation strategy Joanne Linnerooth-Bayer; Part IV. Synthesis: 14. What can social science tell us about meeting the challenge of climate change? Five insights from five years that might make a difference Anthony Patt; Appendix: description of models; Index.
Review
Review of the hardback: 'Hulme and Neufeldt present detailed research on adaptation and mitigation strategies at a crucial time for European climate policy … will have a significant appeal for researchers and policy makers … this book could have an effective contribution to societies worldwide.' The Geographical Journal
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