Adaptation Actions

Actions to reduce the impacts of climate change can be indirect or direct. Indirect actions change behaviour through education, communication, policy change and capacity building, and can be viewed as enabling conditions. Direct actions, meanwhile, involve interventions to reduce specific impacts. These range from engineered (or “grey”) solutions (static, manmade structures) to nature-based (or “green”) solutions (restoration and protection of natural habitats and agroforestry). In between these extremes are hybrid actions that include elements of both green and grey interventions, such as climate-smart agriculture (CSA) and Integrated coastal zone management (ICZM). Scroll down to discover which types of adaptation actions are included in the NDCs, and how this varies by region, income group and vulnerability to climate change.

Adaptation actions vary across income groups

Nature-based Solutions are favoured over engineered actions

Nature-based Solutions appear more regularly than engineered interventions, both in general and across all income groups except high income nations, by which NbS and engineered actions are mentioned equally. A total of 76% of all NDCs with adaptation components refer to at least one Nature-based Solution. Of these, over half (53%) mentioned NbS in the context of 3 or more different types of ecosystem.