The adaptation challenge in the Arctic

• Published in: Nature Climate Change
• Main Authors: Ford, James D, McDowell, Graham, Pearce, T
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Nature Publishing Group 2015
• Subjects: FoR 0401 (Atmospheric Sciences); FoR 0406 (Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience); FoR 0502 (Environmental Science and Management); climate-change adaptation; governance; Arctic; Climate change
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1038/NCLIMATE2723

It is commonly asserted that human communities in the Arctic are highly vulnerable to climate change, with the magnitude of projected impacts limiting their ability to adapt. At the same time, an increasing number of field studies demonstrate significant adaptive capacity. Given this paradox, we review climate change adaptation, resilience and vulnerability research to identify and characterize the nature and magnitude of the adaptation challenge facing the Arctic. We find that the challenge of adaptation in the Arctic is formidable, but suggest that drivers of vulnerability and barriers to adaptation can be overcome, avoided or reduced by individual and collective efforts across scales for many, if not all, climate change risks.