La notion d’adaptation est revenue sur le devant de la scène scientifique et politique. Longtemps considérée comme taboue car risquant de détourner des efforts de l’atténuation du changement climatique, elle apparait nécessaire tant l’atténuation ne suffit pas à limiter les impacts du changement climatique.
définition¶
L’adaptation est un processus qui permet de transformer un système pour accompagner un changement, dans le but de limiter les effets adverses de celui-ci.
En d’autres termes, il s’agit d’un ajustement permettant de réduire la vulnérabilité d’un système tout en accroissant sa résilience.
C’est un processus, c’est à dire un ensemble d’actions.
« adaptation is broadly understood as a process to limit and manage the [[impacts]] of climate change which includes assessing risks, reducing vulnerabilities and preparing for and responding to extreme weather events. »
Porter et al. (2020), p. 23
Adaptation policies consist in a set of actions that aim to act on the effects of climate change.
Pellegrino & Di Paola (2023), p. 221
Qui constituent un ajustement à un changement.
SIDS are recognized as a special grouping of developing countries. Located in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, Caribbean, and Pacific regions, they comprise 58 countries that are disproportionately vulnerable to climate change and its impacts.
Robinson (2020), p. 1
Et permettent de réduire la vulnérabilité et d’accroitre la résilience
As a result, many adaptation actions are designed and implemented for the purposes of reducing vulnerability as well as increasing resilience through “strengthening socioeconomic systems and livelihoods” (Hay, 2013, p. 309; Robinson & Wren, 2020).
Robinson (2020), p. 5
En d’autres termes, c’est la capacité d’un système à se transformer pour atteindre ce nouvel état de résilience.
“adaptive capacity”—the “ability of systems, institutions, humans, and other organisms to adjust to potential damage, to take advantage of opportunities, or to respond to consequences” (IPCC, 2014, p. 1758).
historique¶
La place de l’adaptation dans le débat a connu une accélération rapide et récente depuis les années 2010.
« The theory and practice of climate change adaptation and adaptation planning has evolved rapidly, particularly since the Fourth (2009) and Fifth (2014) IPCC Assessment Reports. »
Porter et al. (2020), p. 23
En effet, l’adaptation constituait avant ce tournant un tabou dans la politique climatique. Elle pouvait être considéré comme un détournement de moyens depuis l’atténuation, ou une incitation à ralentir l’action climatique du fait de la confiance dans une capacité d’adaptation ultérieure (“on s’adaptera bien !”). (Voir dichotomie atténuation / adaptation, plus bas).
« Ever since the perceived taboo on adaptation to climate change has been lifted (Pielke et al., 2007), »
Swart et al. (2014), p. 1
La fin de ce tabou tient notamment à la latence de l’application du protocole de Kyoto : l’atténuation seule ne permettra pas de limiter suffisamment les effets adverses du changement climatique.
Due to delays in the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol, however, adaptation emerged as the only viable option for furthering climate change policy. So, whereas thinking originally suggested that there could be a choice between whether to mitigate emissions or to adapt to the changes, this perspective has largely disappeared from the mainstream.
Cette fin du tabou marque une montée en puissance
scientifique
In the years of drafting the UNFCCC, scientists working on adaptation issues considered adaptive capacity to be a measure of the limits to responding to climate change,52 in line with the Club of Rome’s 1972 report The Limits to Growth.53
Schipper (2006), p. 7
politique dans les small island developing state
On the policy front, adaptation appeared primarily on the agenda of small island developing States (SIDS), although the 1992 World Conference on Environment and Development61 underscored a four-track approach for managing climate change, of which the final one mentioned strategies for adaptation: (1) improved monitoring and assessment of the evolving phenomena; (2) increased research to improve knowledge about the origins, mechanisms and effects of the phenomena; (3) the development of internationally agreed policies for the reduction of the causative gases; and (4) adoption of strategies needed to minimize damage and cope with the climate changes, and rising sea level.62
Schipper (2006), p. 7
[[Caractéristiques]]¶
Issu de structures coloniales
Puisque l’adaptation vient d’un système colonial, on ne peut pas la penser en dehors de ce cadre. Or, c’est ce cadre qui a causé les problèmes que l’adaptation cherche à résoudre.
L’adaptation est une pratique fortement locale et territorialisée. Elle doit être pensée dans ce cadre.
J’en retiens deux choses :
en effet, seul un modèle local (question de l’échelle) permet de bien prendre en compte l’adaptation
d’autre part, il faut que ce soit community-driven, ce qui pose vraiment la question de mon positionnement dans ce processus + renforce l’intérêt de la modélisation d’accompagnement
Le positionnement du concept d’adaptation se comprend mieux en explicitant la dichotomie entre adaptation et atténuation
Dans un premier temps, on peut considérer que ce sont des concepts dichotomiques et exclusifs, qui recouvrent des pratiques et des approches distinctes.
While mitigation focuses on the source of climate change, adaptation addresses its consequences. The relationship between adaptation and mitigation is such that, in theory, the more mitigation that takes place, the less adaptation will be needed, and vice versa.
Schipper (2006), p. 3
Bien que distincts, ils n’en sont pas moins concurrent, à la fois dans la production scientifique, dans le discours diplomatique ou le débat public.
This has also implied that literature and research on each of the two responses have advanced at different speeds: much more work has been carried out on mitigation,49 creating a lack of understanding and consensus about adaptation.
Schipper (2006), p. 5
De cette distinction entre les notions apparaissent trois positions différentes autour de l’axe adaptation - atténuation.
Broadly, three schools of thought14 can be discerned from the literature over time with regard to responding to climate change: the ‘limitationist’ view, where action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (mitigation) is the core of efforts;15 the ‘adaptationist’ view, where no explicit action is required as the ‘invisible hand of either natural selection or market forces’ will ensure that societies will adjust to the changes; and the more recently expressed ‘realist’ view, where climate change is considered a fact, uncertainty of impacts acknowledged, and adaptation is considered a ‘crucial and realistic response option along with mitigation’.
Schipper (2006), p. 2
L’adaptation a ainsi été perçue comme une vue défaitiste qui limite l’action sur l’atténuation.
For one, adaptation was viewed as a ‘defeatist’ option, and support for it was considered an acknowledgement that climate change impacts would require adjustments beyond normal behaviour,26 as well as an admission that mitigation would be insufficient or ineffective. In the context of building support for a mitigation framework, a focus on adaptation was therefore seen as unconstructive.
Schipper (2006), p. 3
accepter les impacts, ça veut dire les reconnaitre ?
fais appel à des choses qui n’existent pas encore
D’où l’intérêt de la prospective : voir le futur avant qu’il ne soit là pour agir dessus
un concept hautement politique, très lié aux questions de développement
Une caractéristique intrinsèque, qui ne nécessite pas d’ajustement ni de politique publique à proprement parler
In looking at how to address climate change, some have made the case that individuals and society will be able to adapt to changes in climate just as they have since humankind’s first appearance on Earth, and, thus, explicit policy on adaptation is not necessary.
Une approche qui pouvait prédominer au début, quand on croyait à l’atténuation et qu’il y avait de l’incertitude sur l’extent du changement climatique
The former argument that adaptation could be left aside to ‘happen’ could be justified rather easily in the early stages of political negotiation when there was considerable hope that policy action could mitigate climate change12 for two main reasons: there was faith in the extent to which mitigation would be possible and effective; and there was uncertainty over the extent to which climate change would occur and thereby how to adapt.
exemples¶
références¶
- Porter, L., Rickards, L., Verlie, B., Bosomworth, K., Moloney, S., Lay, B., Latham, B., Anguelovski, I., & Pellow, D. (2020). Climate Justice in a Climate Changed World. Planning Theory & Practice, 21(2), 293–321. 10.1080/14649357.2020.1748959
- Pellegrino, G., & Di Paola, M. (Eds.). (2023). Handbook of the Philosophy of Climate Change. Springer International Publishing. 10.1007/978-3-031-07002-0
- Robinson, S. (2020). Climate Change Adaptation in SIDS: A Systematic Review of the Literature Pre and Post the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report. WIREs Climate Change, 11(4), e653. 10.1002/wcc.653
- Swart, R., Biesbroek, R., & Lourenço, T. C. (2014). Science of Adaptation to Climate Change and Science for Adaptation. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 2. 10.3389/fenvs.2014.00029
- Schipper, E. L. F. (2006). Conceptual History of Adaptation in the UNFCCC Process. Review of European Community & International Environmental Law, 15(1), 82–92. 10.1111/j.1467-9388.2006.00501.x