ABSTRACT
Adaptation is necessary because climate change is already happening, and the long lag times in the climate system make further climate change, and especially sea-level rise, inevitable. Adaptation is essential to cope with the climate change and sea-level rise that we cannot avoid now and in the near future, while mitigation would limit the extent of future climate change. Methods of adaptation will vary with the activity or industry, with location, and on different scales in time and space. Adaptation can have side benefits. It may also cause problems that lead to negative effects on other people or activities. Adaptation can be purely reactive, autonomous or automatic in response to some perceived change in the climate. In natural systems this is the only type of adaptation, although humans can intervene to facilitate adaptation, in which case the systems become managed. Adaptation raises serious questions about equity between countries and even within countries.
