There is suggestive evidence that provides medium confidence that many proactive adaptation actions offer significant benefits that exceed their costs. However, because of a small sample size and insufficient evaluation, it is in general hard to know the extent to which this is true in any particular case. There is strong agreement that evaluating adaptation involves consideration of a wide range of measures of social well-being.
' contributors: [] evidence: "Both limited field applications and literature reviews highlight adaptation co-benefits, including those associated with equity considerations.{{< tbib '83' '971185c1-a31f-4c15-8454-57f273b4ed33' >}} Near-term benefits are assessed from observations of adaptation results, as well as from comparisons to similar situations without such responses; longer-term benefits are generally assessed from projections.
" files: [] gcmd_keywords: - definition: 'Any measurement or statistic of, related, or based on the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.' href: https://data.globalchange.gov/gcmd_keyword/cdbe5ef5-408d-489d-b6ff-4482ce4a99c7.yaml identifier: cdbe5ef5-408d-489d-b6ff-4482ce4a99c7 label: ECONOMIC RESOURCES parent_identifier: fb93d937-c17c-45d0-a9e3-ca5c8a800ca8 uri: /gcmd_keyword/cdbe5ef5-408d-489d-b6ff-4482ce4a99c7 - definition: 'The science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals.' href: https://data.globalchange.gov/gcmd_keyword/da2c70fd-d92b-45be-b159-b2c10cb387c6.yaml identifier: da2c70fd-d92b-45be-b159-b2c10cb387c6 label: PUBLIC HEALTH parent_identifier: fb93d937-c17c-45d0-a9e3-ca5c8a800ca8 uri: /gcmd_keyword/da2c70fd-d92b-45be-b159-b2c10cb387c6 - definition: 'A concept in political ecology or environmental policy related to defining the elements needed to achieve sustainability. All human activities--political, social and economic—should be understood and managed as subsets of the environment and ecosystems. Governance includes not only government, but also business and civil society, and emphasizes whole system management. To capture this diverse range of dynamic forces, environmental governance often necessitates founding alternative systems of governing, for example watershed based management.' href: https://data.globalchange.gov/gcmd_keyword/d81b77be-0177-4e26-942c-aa911239482d.yaml identifier: d81b77be-0177-4e26-942c-aa911239482d label: ENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNANCE/MANAGEMENT parent_identifier: fb93d937-c17c-45d0-a9e3-ca5c8a800ca8 uri: /gcmd_keyword/d81b77be-0177-4e26-942c-aa911239482d - definition: 'The use of economics in the study of society. More narrowly, contemporary practice considers behavioral interactions of individuals and groups through social capital and social "markets" (not excluding for example, sorting by marriage) and the formation of social norms. In the latter, it studies the relation of economics to social values.' href: https://data.globalchange.gov/gcmd_keyword/a96e6cd6-0f35-491d-8198-7551d03e1cbc.yaml identifier: a96e6cd6-0f35-491d-8198-7551d03e1cbc label: SOCIOECONOMICS parent_identifier: fb93d937-c17c-45d0-a9e3-ca5c8a800ca8 uri: /gcmd_keyword/a96e6cd6-0f35-491d-8198-7551d03e1cbc href: https://data.globalchange.gov/report/nca4/chapter/near-term-adaptation-needs-and-increased-resiliency/finding/key-message-28-4.yaml identifier: key-message-28-4 ordinal: 4 parents: [] process: 'The scope for this chapter was determined by the Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4) Federal Steering Committee, which is made up of representatives from the U.S. Global Change Research Program member agencies. The scope was also informed by research needs identified in the Third National Climate Assessment (NCA3). Authors for this NCA4 chapter were selected to represent a range of public- and private-sector perspectives and experiences relevant to adaptation planning and implementation.
This chapter was developed through technical discussions of relevant evidence and expert deliberation by chapter authors during teleconferences, e-mail exchanges, and a day-long in-person meeting. These discussions were informed by a comprehensive literature review of the evidence base for the current state of adaptation in the United States. The author team obtained input from outside experts in several important areas to supplement its expertise.
' references: - href: https://data.globalchange.gov/reference/971185c1-a31f-4c15-8454-57f273b4ed33.yaml uri: /reference/971185c1-a31f-4c15-8454-57f273b4ed33 regions: [] report_identifier: nca4 statement: 'Proactive adaptation initiatives—including changes to policies, business operations, capital investments, and other steps—yield benefits in excess of their costs in the near term, as well as over the long term (medium confidence). Evaluating adaptation strategies involves consideration of equity, justice, cultural heritage, the environment, health, and national security (high confidence).
' uncertainties: 'Benefits are based on understanding the relevant systems so that one can compare similar cases and construct counterfactuals. Such understanding is excellent for many engineered systems (for example, how a storm drain performs under various rainfall scenarios) but is less robust for many biological systems. Benefit–cost ratios can have large uncertainties associated with estimates of costs, the projection of benefits, and the economic valuation of benefits. In addition, because expected differences in benefit–cost ratios are sufficiently large and the number of current examples is sufficiently low, there are large uncertainties in applying results from one case to another.
' uri: /report/nca4/chapter/near-term-adaptation-needs-and-increased-resiliency/finding/key-message-28-4 url: ~