Translations:Course-v1:edz+11+2023 SP/en/block-v1:edz+11+2023 SP+type@html+block@5fb3639d9c8e448eab63ff2192e503ff/content/en
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The environmental impacts of climate change are going to be profound and complex. Additionally, the myriad of decisions that need to be made can’t be arbitrary or based on the skills or experiences that societies developed during the last 100 years of a carbon-based economy. We need to design for a sustainable future, where the environment is changing very quickly, due to extreme weather created by climate change, and the changes the world will force on human society.
Sometimes a good intended decision actually won’t address climate change or doesn’t protect a community for a long time. The IPCC identifies a high risk for <a href="https://www.weadapt.org/knowledge-base/vulnerability/maladaptation-an-introduction" target="_blank">maladaptation</a>, or adaptation attempts to create resilience to climate change but instead created unintended effects that harm society. Especially for some of the most vulnerable communities: an attempt at mitigating or adapting to climate change in the near term could result in short-term fixes that will fail or create harm in a changing world.
For example, in the United States, the Army Corp of Engineers, which does flood control in the United States, recently rebuilt a system of flood protections around New Orleans. The project cost 14 billion USD. However, this major project still <a href="https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.curbed.com%2F2021%2F09%2Flevees-louisiana-hurricane-ida-managed-retreat.html" target="_blank">leaves many communities unprotected</a> and may have been <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/after-a-14-billion-upgrade-new-orleans-levees-are-sinking/" target="_blank">designed with bad information that doesn’t protect the city against climate change in the long term</a>. These are costly mistakes, when the world has a limited amount of resources and time. For more examples of maladaptation, <a href="https://phys.org/news/2022-03-maladaptation-cope-climate.html" target="[object Object]">check out this news report</a>.
<img height="359" width="600" src="/static/SectorGateLeafInstallation.jpg" alt="One of the flood defenses for New Orleans" />
One of the flood defenses built by the Army Corps of Engineers in New Orleans. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Intracoastal_Waterway_West_Closure_Complex" target="[object Object]">From Commons</a>
Maladaptation mistakes are even more devastating outside of rich countries in Europe and North America, where national governments may not have the resources to duplicate attempts for adaptation or mitigation solutions. One of the major failures of the international climate negotiations, has been a failure to secure <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loss_and_damage" target="_blank">loss and damage funding</a>. This money, which has been agreed upon in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Agreement" target="[object Object]">Paris Climate Agreement</a>, is supposed to come from countries in Europe and North America to help the most vulnerable countries¹ adapt to the impacts of climate change. Not only did these vulnerable countries not cause the climate crises, they have less resources to adapt to it, even though they are experiencing the effects of climate change now.
Moving fast means that we can’t make a lot of mistakes, because we don’t have much time and resources. So how do we make sure that everyone who needs information to make a good decision gets it? And get it in a format that they can use?
<em><span style="font-family: 'courier new', courier;">¹ Such as small island nation states, countries in Sub Saharan Africa, and countries like India, Pakistan and Bangladesh with big populations vulnerable to climate impacts</span></em>