Local responses to too much and too little water in the greater Himalayan region
Box 1: Definitions in the field of adaptation
Responding: Any action in response to stress. Responses do not have to be adaptive or sustainable. They
do not have to be part of a strategy but can be spontaneous. Although responding can be a
synonym for adaptation, it does not imply that sensitivity or exposure (vulnerability) is reduced.
Coping: Short-term actions to ward off immediate risk, rather than to adjust to continuous or permanent
threats or changes – strategies usually rely on selling or using up assets and reserves. Coping
strategies are often the same set of measures that have been used before. When using coping
strategies as the response to stress, it is possible that vulnerability will increase in the long term.
Adaptation: A process of adjusting to changes in variables that influence human well-being and survival.
Adaptation takes place with different actors at different levels of consciousness, purpose, and
timing. Adaptation goes hand-in-hand with development processes and also needs to reflect other
changes, not just climate-induced changes. In general, to be successful, adaptation should be
sustainable in the long-term.
Maladaptation: Responses to change can result in ‘maladaptation’ when the strategy fails to reduce risk and
increases vulnerability in the long term.
Resilience: The extent to which a system is able to absorb the adverse effects of a hazard, or the recovery
time for returning after a disturbance. Highly resilient systems can endure or bounce back quickly,
despite high stress.
Vulnerability: How likely an individual or a system is to be harmed by a defined hazard. Vulnerability is a
combination of sensitivity, exposure, and capacity to respond to a specific stress. It is relative to
the stress and is not the same for everyone.
Impact: The way a human or natural system is affected by environmental change, including extreme
events.
Risk: In the context of environmental change, risk refers to the threat posed by a change, i.e. the
probability of an adverse impact. Climate change risk is a function of the magnitude of an
individual hazard and/or change and the degree of vulnerability of a system to that hazard and
/or change. Unless a system is vulnerable to the hazard, there is no risk.
Figure 2: The shift from coping to adapting
Livelihood strategies, Responses to water stress Adaptation to climatic
including coping and hazards enhanced extremes and uncertainty
mechanisms by climate change
Livelihoods already have strategies to reduce risk posed by climate variability and coping mechanisms to deal with
water-related hazards (floods, drought). This mode of response may not be sufficient when climate change enhances
stresses and extremes. The shift to sustainable livelihoods therefore requires improved actions but must be couched in an
appropriate policy context that goes beyond the local level.
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