Climate change policy has typically emphasized mitigation, calling for reducing emissions and shifting away from fossil fuels. Yet while these efforts have floundered, floods, wildfires, droughts, and other disasters are becoming more frequent and potent. As the risks escalate, we must ask how to adapt to a changing climate. How might farmers modify their practices to maximize food security? Can coastal cities protect their infrastructure from rising seas? Are there strategic ways for developing countries to combine climate resilience with economic growth and poverty reduction? For people and societies around the world, these questions are not theoretical: adaptation is already underway. This book offers a concise overview of climate adaptation governance. In clear, accessible language, Lisa Dale describes key strategies that governments, communities, and the private sector are now deploying. She presents the theory and practice that underlie climate adaptation efforts at local and global scales, providing illuminating case studies that foreground the problems facing developing countries. Dale analyzes the effectiveness of a range of policy interventions, drawing out principles of good governance and discussing how practitioners can navigate complex tradeoffs. She emphasizes equity and inclusion, considering how climate adaptation policy can account for the needs of historically disadvantaged groups. Written for a wide audience, this book is an invaluable introduction for all readers interested in how societies can meet the challenges of an altered climate.

This book focuses on the role of higher education institutions in addressing climate change mitigation and adaptation challenges, contributing to the development of this fast-growing field. Further, it includes the results of empirical research and offers ideas regarding on-going and future research initiatives. The contributions also • showcase the research and projects on issues pertaining to climate change at universities from across the globe; • document and promote ideas and experiences acquired in the execution of research projects, especially successful initiatives and best practices; and • introduce methodological approaches and projects that offer a better understanding of climate change across society and economic sectors. The book is structured around two parts: lessons learned from climate change research, education, studies and projects. Each part focuses on mitigation and adaptation respectively, with many responses of the two modalities overlapping. This book is a valuable resource for researchers and practitioners in the fields of environment, human geography, business and economics, as well as academics and students, as it presents education, communication and awareness-raising projects on matters related to climate change at universities in both industrialised and developing countries, often in cooperation with government bodies, NGOs and other stakeholders.

This open access volume draws on a multidimensional model of educational change, the book reviews the field of climate change education and identifies some of the areas in which past efforts have fallen short in supporting effective pedagogical change at scale. It then formulates an approach to engage university students and faculty in partnering with schools and adult education institutions and directly contribute innovative curricula on climate change. The approach is illustrated with several case studies which present curricula developed to support school-based innovation in the Middle East and in Guatemala, and adult education in Haiti and Pakistan, and educators preparation at the university level. The approach followed to develop innovative curriculum follows five steps: 1) What are the specific impacts of climate change in this jurisdiction? How do they impact various human populations? 2) What knowledge, dispositions and behaviors could mitigate the impact of climate change and are there ways in which changes in the behaviors of populations in this jurisdiction could slow down climate change? 3) What are the means of delivery to reach each of the specific populations in this jurisdiction who needs to be educated on climate change? 4) What curriculum can help educate each population? 5) What role can the institution we are collaborating with play in advancing climate change education in that jurisdiction? The various chapters of the book present the conceptual foundation of these programs and illustrate how these programs respond to specific characteristics of local contexts. These programs focus in schools, non-formal settings and educator preparation institutions. The chapters offer examples of general value beyond the specific contexts for which they were designed, as they illustrate how in order to be optimally useful climate change education needs to be firmly grounded in the specifics of a context and responsive to that context.

This book introduces innovative approaches to pursue climate change adaptation and to support the long-term implementation of climate change policies. Offering new case studies and data, as well as projects and initiatives implemented across the globe, the contributors present new tools, approaches and methods to pursue and facilitate innovation in climate change adaptation.

This book analyzes how climate change adaptation can be implemented at the community, regional and national level. Featuring a variety of case studies, it illustrates strategies, initiatives and projects currently being implemented across the world. In addition to the challenges faced by communities, cities and regions seeking to cope with climate change phenomena like floods, droughts and other extreme events, the respective chapters cover topics such as the adaptive capacities of water management organizations, biodiversity conservation, and indigenous and climate change adaptation strategies. The book will appeal to a broad readership, from scholars to policymakers, interested in developing strategies for effectively addressing the impacts of climate change.

In recent decades there has been a growing awareness of how intricate the interactions are between human beings and the environment. Fortunately, progress has been made in understanding this relationship, and new technologies have been effective in addressing environmental problems. However belatedly, there has been an acknowledgment of the incompatibility of the world's finite resources with humankind's increasingly greater needs for them, and of how such a challenge demands broadened collaboration among engineers, social scientists, politicians and financial powers. Global agreement that the essential issues of the twenty-first century cannot be solved by any one discipline has led to the concept of sustainability. The transdisciplinary contributions selected for inclusion in this book address these concerns with an overview of the diverse fields of study related to sustainability. This collection of work is intended to pave the way for further collaboration among scientists and nations as well. Chapter “Economy and Environment: How to Get What We Want” is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

The global scientific and policy community now unequivocally accepts that human activities cause global climate change. Although information on climate change is readily available, the nation still seems unprepared or unwilling to respond effectively to climate change, due partly to a general lack of public understanding of climate change issues and opportunities for effective responses. The reality of global climate change lends increasing urgency to the need for effective education on earth system science, as well as on the human and behavioral dimensions of climate change, from broad societal action to smart energy choices at the household level. The public's limited understanding of climate change is partly the result of four critical challenges that have slowed development and delivery of effective climate change education. As one response to these challenges, Congress, in its 2009 and 2010 appropriation process, requested that the National Science Foundation (NSF) create a program in climate change education to provide funding to external grantees to improve climate change education in the United States. To support and strengthen these education initiatives, the Board on Science Education of the National Research Council (NRC) created the Climate Change Education Roundtable. The Roundtable convened two workshops. Climate Change Education Goals, Audiences, and Strategies is a summary of the discussions and presentations from the first workshop, held October 21 and 22, 2010. This report focuses on two primary topics: public understanding and decision maker support. It should be viewed as an initial step in examining the research on climate change and applying it in specific policy circumstances.