The adaptation vs mitigation of climate change debate #bad09
I completed my doctorate under the guidance of one of the best climate change experts in the world. However, as surprising as that may sound to most people, I did not write a PhD thesis on climatic change. Having said that, I am by no means unfamiliar with the research that has been conducted in the field. I used much of the theory and analytical methods around the climate change literature.
I built a framework to study how industrial restructuring happens in cities, and how industries adapt to multiple stressors. The framework itself it’s applicable to other issues. I have been puzzled by the debate around the issue of where the policy focus should be: on adaptation or mitigation. I by no means advocate that we continue with the ridiculous patterns of air pollution generation that our society embarks. But that doesn’t mean that I think that emission reduction is the only way to go.
I have been a firm believer of concentrating climatic policy efforts on adaptation rather than mitigation. However, I have never said NOT to focus on mitigation. But since climatic change is already happening, wouldn’t it be a smarter strategy to learn how to adapt to this ever-changing weather and to extreme climatic events?
Moreover, I like to remind people that climate change is NOT the only environmental problem we face, nor the biggest itself. It’s a political issue, for sure (look at the IPCC/Al Gore Nobel Prize 2007 win). It’s an issue that affects everyone globally. But it’s not the only one.
Finally, I would like to emphasize that I find the debate on adaptation vs. mitigation somewhat futile and irrelevant. We need to do both. We probably need to do more adaptation now simply because extreme climatic events are already happening, but that doesn’t mean that people should continue to have wasteful or polluting consumptive ways. We need a mix of policy instruments that achieve both goals of mitigating impacts and adapting to them.
This is my entry for Blog Action Day ’09, with a theme of Climate Change.
