Regional Impacts - Climate Resilient Agriculture for Ensuring Food Security - page 101

5.6.1 Adaptation

Many cities in North America have initiated
“no regret” actions based on historical experi-
ence. Businesses in Canada and the USA are
also investing in adaptations relevant to changes
in water resources, though few of these appear to
be based on future climate change projections.
Examples of these types of adaptations include
the following:
• Insurance companies are investing in research
to prevent future hazard damage to insured
property and to adjust pricing models.
• Ski resort operators are investing in lifts to
reach higher altitudes and in equipment to
compensate for declining snow cover.
• New York has reduced total water consumption
by 27 % and per capita consumption by 34 %
since the early 1980s.
• In the Los Angeles area, incentive and
information programs of local water districts
encourage water conservation.
• With highly detailed information on weather
conditions, farmers are adjusting crop and
variety selection, irrigation strategies, and
pesticide applications.
• The city of Peterborough, Canada, experienced
two 100-year fl ood events within 3 years; it
responded by fl ushing the drainage systems
and replacing the trunk sewer systems to meet
more extreme 5-year fl ood criteria.
• Recent droughts in six major US cities, including
New York and Los Angeles, led to adaptive
measures involving investments in water
conservation systems and new water supply/
distribution facilities.
• To cope with a 15 % increase in heavy precipita-
tion, Burlington and Ottawa, Ontario, employed
both structural and nonstructural measures,
including directing downspouts to lawns in
order to encourage infi ltration and increasing
depression and street detention storage.
• A population increase of over 35 % (nearly
one million people) since 1970 has increased
water use in Los Angeles by only 7 %, due
largely to conservation practices.
• The Regional District of Central Okanagan
in British Columbia produced a water man-
agement plan in 2004 for a planning area
known as the Trepanier Landscape Unit,

Although North America has considerable
capacity to adapt to the water-related aspects of
climate change, actual practice has not always
protected people and property from the adverse
impacts of fl oods, droughts, storms, and other
extreme weather events. Especially vulnerable
groups include indigenous peoples and those
who are socially or economically disadvantaged.
Traditions and institutions in North America
have encouraged a decentralized response frame-
work where adaptation tends to be reactive,
unevenly distributed, and focused on coping with
rather than preventing problems. Examples of
adaptive behavior infl uenced exclusively or
predominantly by projections of climate change
and its effects on water resources are largely
absent from the literature. A key prerequisite for
sustainability in North America is “mainstream-
ing” climate issues into decision-making.
The vulnerability of North America depends
on the effectiveness of adaptation and the distri-
bution of coping capacity; both of which are currently
uneven and have not always protected vulnerable
groups from the adverse impacts of climate vari-
ability and extreme weather events. The USA and
Canada are developed economies with extensive
infrastructure and mature institutions, with impor-
tant regional and socioeconomic variation. These
capabilities have led to adaptation and coping
strategies across a wide range of historical
conditions, with both successes and failures. Most
studies on adaptive strategies consider imple-
mentation based on past experiences.
North American agriculture has been exposed
to many severe weather events during the past
decade. More variable weather, coupled with out-
migration from rural areas and economic stresses,
has increased the vulnerability of the agricultural
sector overall, raising concerns about its future
capacity to cope with a more variable climate.
North American agriculture is, however, dynamic.
Adaptation to multiple stresses and opportunities,
including changes in markets and weather, is a
normal process for the sector. Crop and enterprise
diversifi cation, as well as soil and water conservation,
are often used to reduce weather-related risks.