This module addresses how we ‘do’ adaptation once we have assessed and identified the hazards and risks to which we need to adapt. Adaptation encompasses an enormous range of possibilities that are highly context-specific, so this module focuses on good practice and guiding frameworks and principles.

Content includes methods for identifying, prioritising and selecting adaptation options, ensuring that adaptation actions are appropriate to local contexts, and robust decision-making under uncertainty. Adaptation and its governance at different scales is discussed, with the focus of this content adapted to the audience where appropriate. This aspect of the training can also extend to different ways of financing adaptation where this topic is relevant to the audience, with an emphasis on how to deliver sustainable finance at the local scale where most adaptation takes place.

Throughout this module, the importance of inclusion, participation and local ownership for just, effective and sustainable adaptation is emphasised. Close attention is paid to risks of ‘maladaptation’ that inadvertently increases risk, and how to avoid it.

Key questions addressed in this module include:

• How do we know if we are really doing climate change adaptation, and does it matter?
• How do we decide which adaptation options to pursue?
• Who decides which options to pursue and who is involved in their implementation?
• How do we adapt to evolving & uncertain hazards over long timescales?
• How do we know when we need to move from incremental to ‘transformational’ approaches?
• How do we ensure that adaptation is just and inclusive?
• How do we avoid accidentally making things worse (maladaptation)?
• How to we create enabling environments for just, effective and sustainable adaptation?

This module consists of two sessions and one exercise, with around 60-90 minutes allocated for each, depending on the level of tailoring for specific audiences. It is the fourth of five modules in our Adapting to Climate Change Course. For more detail on the content of this and other modules, download the course outline (pdf).