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Adaptation to Sea-Level Rise and Sustainable Development Goals

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Life Below Water

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals ((ENUNSDG))

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Synonyms

Adjustment; The act of adapting; The state being of adapted

Definition

Adaptation is defined as the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate and its effects. In human systems, adaptation seeks to moderate or avoid harm or exploit beneficial opportunities. In some natural systems, human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate and its effects (IPCC 2014).

Introduction

Climate change is one of the world’s greatest environmental challenges. It is now plain that the emission of greenhouse gases, associated with industrialization and economic growth from a world population that has increased sixfold in 200 years, is causing global warming at a rate that is unsustainable (Blair 2006). The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports that by 2100 anthropogenically induced climate change is likely to lead to a rise in global temperatures of 1.5 Â°C to 2 Â°C above pre-industrial levels (IPCC 2018; Sinay and Carter 2020). The term sea-level rise...

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Acknowledgments

The author is grateful to Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability Studies, School of Habitat Studies, and the management of Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India, for the generous support and encouragements.

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Khan, A.S. (2022). Adaptation to Sea-Level Rise and Sustainable Development Goals. In: Leal Filho, W., Azul, A.M., Brandli, L., Lange Salvia, A., Wall, T. (eds) Life Below Water. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98536-7_138

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