Given the cross-cutting nature of climate change as a policy issue, decisions over which mitigation and adaptation measures to adopt will be determined by the social, economic and political circumstances in individual cities and guided by the weight given to climate change concerns, rather than any absolute evaluation of their effectiveness.
There are multiple drivers and potential barriers to both mitigation and adaptation and the smart option is to recognize that climate change is here and inaction now will lead to higher costs in the future. Some of those barriers are detailed below.
- Uncertainty about the nature and extent of climate change and its impacts.
- The complexity and challenges of climate change impacts, adaptation needs and the reality of reducing emissions are often more challenging than anticipated.
- Lack of consensus around certain issues, both in terms of evidence and potential solutions.
- Lack of awareness among stakeholders.
- The short planning horizons of many stakeholders compared to those of climate change.
- Resource constraints and perception of additional costs of mitigation and adaptation.
- Lack of maturity of certain markets for goods and services to support adaptation.
- Dependency on regulations, codes and standards, which do not yet reflect anticipated climatic conditions or current good practice.
- The perception that the business case for adaptation has not been proven in some sectors.
- Lack of senior management buy in and/or political support for mitigation and adaptation responses.
- Lack of awareness and in-house expertise.
- Organizational and professional inertia leading to inflexibility and resistance to change.
- Difficulties associated with changing the behavior of individuals.
- Lack of joined up policy within and between different levels of decision making (national, regional and local levels).
No comments:
Post a Comment