Vulnerability, Impacts and Adaptation of Coastal Zones to Global Change - Vulnerability of Coastal Ecosystems and Adaptation - page 159

adaptation, also called anticipatory adaptation, is on the contrary a
strategic process based on knowledge of future climate scenarios and
their impacts on natural and human systems. Its objective is the
integration of the potential climate change impacts in management
policies on a local, regional, national and international level, in order
to moderate harm and exploit beneficial opportunities. Maladaptive
actions or maladaptation are actions that may lead to increased risk of
adverse climate-related outcomes, increased vulnerability to climate
change, or diminished welfare, now or in the future.
Adaptation is a dynamic and continuous process that seeks to
respond to the challenges posed at a local level by a climate that is in
the process of changing. It should be understood as a policy of
transition in the long-term, formulated in a cyclical fashion by the
elaboration of studies on impacts and vulnerabilities, based on
regionalized climate scenarios, on adaptation strategies, and finally on
monitoring and evaluation programs. The repetition of cycles allows
for the adaptation processes to be renewed and implemented with the
incorporation of new scientific knowledge, new methodologies and
new technology.
One of the major difficulties for adaptation is accounting for
uncertainty in decision-making. There are uncertainties in the socio-
economic scenarios, in the general circulation models used to generate
the future climate scenarios and in the way these scenarios are
regionalized to smaller spatial scales. There are also uncertainties in
the models that estimate the impacts and vulnerabilities of natural and
human systems and finally in the identification and selection of
adaptation measures. Yet, it is necessary to recognize that uncertainty
is an inevitable element in all decision-making processes. Rather than
constituting a barrier to taking decisions, the knowledge, evaluation
and integration of uncertainties increases the robustness of the
decision-making process and reduces the risk of error.
The adaptation of coastal zones to climate change is a very general
concept that reflects a vast range of activities, such as the
identification and analysis of adaptation options, the implementation
of the adaptation measures and the monitoring and evaluation of the