Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
with the effects of climate change. Adaptation policies concern a range of policy areas including:
flood protection, changes in agricultural production techniques, fresh water conservation, the
construction of sea defences, responses to extreme weather events and the treatment of climate
sensitive health issues, inter alia(see
Plate 3.2).
In 2010 the United Nations developed the Cancun
Adaptation Framework to fund and support international climate adaptation measures. Increasing
emphasis is now being placed on the development of so-called enhanced adaptation. Enhanced
adaption focuses less on the implementation of adaptation schemes (like modern flood defences)
and more on the development of local communities' ability to adapt to changing climatic
circumstances. Such policies tend to focus on educational programmes and the promotion of
indigenous practices.
While national government now tend to promote a mix of mitigation and adaptation policies,
there are some tensions between the two policy areas. Those devoted primarily to mitigation efforts
are concerned that too much investment in adaptation measures could result in less capacity existing
to actually tackle climate change. Those who are now prioritizing adaptation methods argue that a
narrow focus on mitigation policies could result in the already-existing plight of many climate-
vulnerable people being ignored.
Key readings
Christoff, P. (2010) 'Cold climate at Copenhagen: China and the United States at COP15', Environmental Politics
19: 637-656
Sandberg, A. and Sandberg, T. (2010) (eds) Climate Change - Who's Carrying the Burden? The Chilly Climates
of the Global Environmental Dilemma, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Ottawa
Whitehead, M. (2013) 'Neoliberal urban environmentalism and the adaptive city: Towards a critical urban theory
and climate change', Urban Studies 50: 1348-1367
created by the concentration of ever-greater
numbers of industrial premises within rapidly
expanding cities throughout the world (see
Chapter 6)
. On these terms, air pollution was
associated with a range of artisanal activities that
generated various public 'nuisances' in large
medieval cities such as London and Paris. The
smoke produced by the burning of coal and
charcoal, the smells and odours emanating
from slaughterhouses, and the acidic chemical
compounds released from tanneries, collectively
produced these atmospheric nuisances. But what
made these air pollution activities problematic
was that they were no longer occurring within
isolated rural locations, but within bustling, and
often overcrowded, urban communities where
they posed a threat to human health and wellbeing.
In relation to London, it appears that the King's
Royal Proclamation banning the burning of sea
coal was, in the long term at least, unsuccessful. In
1661 the diarist John Evelyn published his famous
observations on London's air pollution problems,
Fumifugium, or the Inconvenience of the Aer and
lamented the enduring air pollution problems of
the city of London and the impacts that they were
having on the general spirits of the population. The
atmospheric problems documented by Evelyn
would only get worse during the coming centuries
with the onset of the industrial revolution in
Britain. The industrial revolution of the late
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries would have a
profound impact on first Britain's and, ultimately,
other countries' atmospheres. The industrial
