Difference Between Adaptation And Mitigation:
Climate change is considered one of the most challenging concerns that we face today. When it comes to climate change, the terms adaptation and mitigation play a pivotal role. Adaptation refers to the process of preparing our planet for forthcoming climatic change. Whereas mitigation refers to the lowering of greenhouse gas emissions and stabilizing their concentration in the atmosphere. Here, let us explore the difference between adaptation and mitigation in detail.
Adaptation
Adaptation is predicting the negative consequences of climate change and taking necessary action to minimize or prevent the damage it can cause. This involves adjusting to the current or anticipated climatic conditions. For example:
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Adaptation strategies include extensive infrastructure modifications, such as the construction of defense against the rising sea level.
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It is also done by developing crops that can withstand drought and utilize water resources more wisely.
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It also includes behavioral changes, such as people cutting back on food waste.
Thus the process of adjusting to the present and future effects of climate change can be viewed as the essence of adaptation.
Although all carbon emissions were to stop immediately, the atmosphere would already have accumulated enough greenhouse gases to result in considerable changes. Thus according to the majority of climate experts, at least some adaptation to climate change will be mandatory.
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Mitigation
Mitigation refers to lessening the severity of climate change impacts by preventing or lowering greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions into the atmosphere. Mitigation can be accomplished by reducing the sources of these gases. For example:
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You can increase the proportion of renewable energies or implement a cleaner transportation system. Developing energy-efficient equipment can also help.
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It can also be done by improving the storage of these gases, such as by expanding forests.
In a nutshell, mitigation refers to human action that lowers GHG emission sources and/or improves sinks. This allows the ecosystems to adjust to climate change naturally. It will also ensure that the food supply is not endangered, and promotes sustainable economic growth.
This mitigating or reducing climate change also entails minimizing behaviors or activities that contribute to climate change. Thus just like adaptation, mitigation may also include certain changes in lifestyle.
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Difference Between Adaptation and Mitigation
The goal of both adaptation and mitigation to climate change is to lessen any negative consequences that they might have on the global ecosystem and the existing state of society. They also call for changes in how communities are constructed as well as how energy is currently used and consumed. Additionally, in some situations, they are both quite disputed. Now here are some differences between these concepts.
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Adaptation
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Mitigation
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Climate change adaptation aims to mitigate the harmful effects of future climatic changes without necessarily stopping the climate change itself.
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Mitigation aims to lessen the adverse effects of climate change by actually preventing it or limiting how much it changes.
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It involves foreseeing climate change and taking actions or measures to reduce or prevent them.
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It mainly involves reducing or removing greenhouse gases from atmosphere.
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Measures - Building buffer zones, and flood barriers, developing warning systems, and drought-resistant crops, and using scarce water resources in a better way.
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Measures - Using new technologies or energy-efficient old technologies, clean energy sources, carbon sinks, and certain behavioral changes.
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They have short-term benefits.
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They often have long-term benefits.
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It is more region-specific or localized.
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It has a global responsibility and is thus not localized.
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Some climate change mitigation strategies also aid in climatic adaptation. The blue space and urban green infrastructure are examples of adaptation and mitigation advantages. They include green walls, urban agriculture, street trees, and rooftops which act as both mitigations as well as adaptation. Thus mitigation and adaptation are the two ideal ways to respond to climatic changes.
