Adaptation

In the early days of climate research in ecology, our focus was on assessing impacts. This research was critical for understanding how greenhouse gases and our changing climate affects the living world around us. And yet, for many of us, diagnosing those impacts was not enough. If we really understood how ecosystems are built and respond to change, we should be able to reduce those impacts through smart natural resource management – and we call those new interventions or management techniques “adaptation.” That word refers to the way that we (humans) adapt to changing conditions by altering our approaches to ecosystem management.

I was one of the early adaptation researchers among ecologists and natural resource folks, and there was quite a lot of resistance to doing things differently in the beginning. Change is uncertain and uncomfortable. There’s always the possibility that we’ll cause more harm than good, especially if our intervention techniques are new and untested. Fast forward to today and we’ve built a field called “climate change adaptation” that’s using science to design and test smart management decisions – decisions that are being deployed in forests and grasslands and rivers and lakes all around the world.  

Expert: Jessica Hellmann, Executive Director of the Institute on the Environment and Distinguished McKnight University Professor, University of Minnesota Twin Cities

People often believe adaptation comes at the expense of mitigation – the actions that prevent the addition or removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. On the contrary, investments in both adaptation and mitigation are needed, critical and often complementary. Adaptation is a critical and necessary component of achieving global, national and state climate goals. Over the coming decades, accelerating adaptation implementation – from upsizing culverts and weatherizing homes to ecosystem restoration – is critical to protecting people and the environment. University of Minnesota Climate Adaptation Partnership research demonstrates the annual costs of inaction in Minnesota are eight to 15 times larger than the costs of climate adaptation. Adaptation brings multiple benefits, including improved human health, agricultural productivity and food security.

Expert: Heidi Roop, Director of the University of Minnesota Climate Adaptation Partnership and Associate Professor and Extension Specialist, College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, University of Minnesota Twin Cities

A changing climate requires that communities build resilience against environmental harms. This requires careful planning that helps people adapt to new conditions. From a public health perspective, adaptation can be straightforward and may involve adjusting behavior to minimize harm during extreme events. For example, teaching people when to reduce outdoor activity during a wildfire smoke event can help decrease severe outcomes like an asthma attack. Small actions like this can keep people safe and communities resilient.

Expert: Jesse Berman, Associate Professor of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota Twin Cities

I research how to better restore diverse plant communities and the benefits they provide to people and nature. I study adaptation because effective restoration requires addressing the ongoing impacts of climate change. For example, new prairie plantings are succumbing to drought, changing springtime hydrology is harming irreplaceable species like wild rice and loss of winter is increasing the abundance of invasive species. Adaptation research is essential because climate change is shuffling the players, changing the rules and moving the targets of restoration.

Expert: Dan Larkin, Professor and Extension Specialist, College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, University of Minnesota Twin Cities