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Cross-sectoral interactions of adaptation and mitigation measures

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Abstract

Adaptation and mitigation are complementary strategies for addressing the impacts of climate change, yet are often considered separately. This paper examines the literature for evidence of the interactions of adaptation and mitigation measures across the agriculture, biodiversity, coasts, forests, urban and water sectors, focusing on Europe. It found that often adaptation and mitigation synergies and conflicts were not explicitly mentioned within a sector, let alone between sectors. Most measures, however, were found to have an effect on another sector, resulting in neutral, positive (synergies) or negative (conflicts) interactions within and between sectors. Many positive cross-sectoral interactions involved biodiversity or water and thus these could represent good starting places for the implementation of integrated, cross-sectoral strategies. Previous studies suggest that adaptation and mitigation are undertaken on different time and geographical scales; this study found many local scale measures which could facilitate integration between both adaptation and mitigation. It is important that cross-sectoral interaction of adaptation and mitigation measures are explicitly recognised if they are to be mainstreamed into policy, so that positive outcomes are enhanced and unintended consequences avoided.

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Notes

  1. http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2013/sbsta/eng/02.pdf

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Acknowledgments

The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Commission Seventh Framework Programme under Grant Agreement No. 244031 (The CLIMSAVE Project; Climate change integrated assessment methodology for cross-sectoral adaptation and vulnerability in Europe; www.climsave.eu). CLIMSAVE is an endorsed project of the Global Land Project of the IGBP.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Pam M. Berry & Gillian Simpson

  2. University of Southampton, Southampton, UK

    Sally Brown

  3. Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China

    Minpeng Chen

  4. University of the Aegean, Aegean, Greece

    Areti Kontogianni & Michalis Skourtos

  5. Halcrow Group Ltd, Burderop Park, Swindon, SN4 0QD, UK

    Olwen Rowlands

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  1. Pam M. Berry
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Correspondence to Pam M. Berry.

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This article is part of a Special Issue on “Regional Integrated Assessment of Cross-sectoral Climate Change Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability” with Guest Editors Paula A. Harrison and Pam M. Berry.

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Berry, P.M., Brown, S., Chen, M. et al. Cross-sectoral interactions of adaptation and mitigation measures. Climatic Change 128, 381–393 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-014-1214-0

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