Cities struggle to address the immediate needs of their population while addressing longer-term needs associated with climate adaptation, emissions reduction and sustainable development. Some cities are moving forward to transformative adaptation, addressing drivers of vulnerability, building robust systems and anticipating impacts. Besides government-led adaptation planning and action, individuals, communities and enterprises have been incrementally adapting to climate change autonomously over time. Municipalities from Argentina, Peru, Chile, Equator, Brazil and Costa Rica are developing and implementing their Local Climate Action Plans, experimenting with and revealing best practices in adaptation. Both anticipatory adaptation measures-choosing safe locations, building structurally safe houses, choosing elevated places to store valuables, building on stilts-and reactive adaptation measures are used, the latter incorporating measures such as relocation, slope stabilisation, afforestation and greening of riverbanks. With variations, these cities have included mechanisms to work across sectors and actors on the understanding that it is collective planning and actions that will ensure that long-term programmes continue independently of particular city administrations.
IPCC
Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability
IPCC Report