Adaptation Strategies

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Land-use Changes

Adaption strategies are when we adopt new methods to survive. In terms of climate change this refers to adjusting to take opportunity of the changes and cope with the negative impacts.

Water management

Israel is the only nation in the world that is increasing its amount of green land.
Smart irrigation uses minimal amounts of water whilst ensuring optimum yield productivity. This has lead to less water usage, as well as less fertiliser and pesticides, whilst increasing crop yield by 15%.
The country also uses desalination but this is very energy exhaustive.
One key way that Israel has been able to continue to thrive with its increasing population is by reusing treated black water (sewage) for farms.

Resilient agriculture

Use of crops that are suited to the changing climate ensures that crop yield is kept high.
There is also the use of conversion cropping. This is the growing of crops that require no ploughing and requires less fertiliser.
These crops require less labour, which is economically beneficial for the farmer.
Further benefits of conversion crops include improved yields and soil health. The environmental benefits will promote better yields in the future and therefore continue to economically support the farmer.

Land-use planning

Zoning is a method that allocates different land-uses to different areas.
The areas closest to an environmental hazard will be of the lowest value and have few or no people.
The areas furthest from the potential hazard will have the highest value or the highest density of people.
Planning would need to consider zoning as a method, whilst incorporating changes that promote resilience from the hazards of climate change such as sea level rise and storms.

Geo-engineering

Geo-engineering is adaptation through altering the physical environment to protect humans from the effects of climate change.

Flood risk management

Urban areas can be made more resilient to floods by making the infrastructure more flood proof. This can include raising floors and using water-resistant material.
Managing the timing of water release from reservoirs is crucial in protecting communities downstream.
Another non-geo-engineering option is relocating those who live in vulnerable flood planes or zoning the urban area. However, this may cause property values to fall, resulting in issues for homeowners.

Solar radiation management

There are several protective geo-engineering projects that could manage the extent of the solar radiation the earth receives. However, all methods pose unpredictable impacts and, currently, the concerns outweigh the solutions. Some examples are:
Spraying seawater into the atmosphere, which could ultimately form clouds to reflect the solar radiation. However, the impacts on the precipitation and changes in temperature at a regional level are unclear.

Solar radiation management 2

Adding sulphur into the stratosphere could also reflect solar radiation into space. However, this could impact the ozone layer and influence acid rain to occur.
Space-based reflectors such as small discs in orbit that reduce the solar radiation. However, this would be very expensive and would require an international agreement for this to be pursued.