adaptive capacity.docx

7/26/2019 Adaptive Capacity.docx

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Adaptive Capacity

Adaptive capacity refers to the potential, capability, or ability of a system to adapt

to climate change stimuli or their eects or impacts. Adaptive capacity greatly

inuences the vulnerability of communities and regions to climate change eects

and hazards (Bohle et al., 1!" #o$ning et al., 1" %elly and Adger, 1" &ileti,1" %ates, '). *ulnerability has been described as the +capacity to be

$ounded+ (%ates et al., 1-). uman activities and groups are considered sensitive

to climate to the degree that they can be aected by it and vulnerable to the

degree that they can be harmed (/ayner and &alone, 1). Because vulnerability

and its causes play essential roles in determining impacts, understanding the

dynamics of vulnerability is as important as understanding climate itself (0iverman,

1" andmer et al., 1).

ith regard to climate change, the vulnerability of a given system or society is a

function of its physical e2posure to climate change eects and its ability to adapt to

these conditions. Chambers (1) distinguishes bet$een these t$o aspects ofdierential vulnerability3 physical e2posure to the hazardous agent and the ability to

cope $ith its impacts. 4hus, vulnerability recognizes the role of socioeconomic

systems in amplifying or moderating the impacts of climate change and

+emphasizes the degree to $hich the ris5s of climate catastrophe can be cushioned

or ameliorated by adaptive actions that or can be brought $ithin the reach of

populations at ris5+ (#o$ning, 11).

4he signi6cance of climate variation or change depends on the change itself and

the characteristics of the society e2posed to it (Ausubel, 11a" /ayner and &alone,

1" &unasinghe, '). 4hese characteristics of society determine its adaptive

capacity and its adaptability. Adaptive capacity refers to the ability to prepare forhazards and opportunities in advance (as in anticipatory adaptation) and to respond

or cope $ith the eects (as in reactive adaptation).

7tudies of similar hazardous events recurring at dierent times in a given region

sho$ vastly dierent conse8uences because of societal transformations that

occurred bet$een the events. 9or e2ample, rainfall and temperature uctuations in

$estern :urope have far milder eects on human $ell;being today (society

generally is less vulnerable) than they did in the medieval and early modern

periods, essentially as a result of enhanced adaptive capacity that reects changes

in practices, economics, and government programs (Abel, 1" Blai5ie et al.,

1!" %undze$icz and 4a5euchi, 1). &artens et al. (1) describe potential

adaptations to deal $ith increases in disease incidence associated $ith climate


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change but note that in most poor developing countries, socioeconomic, technical,

and political barriers $ill mean that the changed health ris5s $ill not be addressed.

+ ?n developing countries overall social, environmental, and economic vulnerability

enhances the eects of droughts and other climatic events. @verpopulation (relative

to current productivity, income, and natural resources), poverty, and landdegradation translate into a poor capacity to face any 5ind of crisis. oor people

have no insurance against loss of income. ea5 economic structures mean

diculties in maintaining obs during an economic failure. #egraded marginal lands

become totally unproductive $hen precipitation decreases. As a result, these

regions have diculty in facing climatic crises, although such crises are recurrent.

Any e2treme climatic event can become a social catastrophe $hen combined $ith

the social;political characteristics of the region. 9or e2ample, the droughts and

internecine $ars in :thiopia interact to increase the adverse eects of both.

Although developing regions are more vulnerable to climate changes than are

developed countries, the degree of vulnerability varies in each speci6c region.+

(&agalhDes, 1=)

/esearch on comparative adaptive capacity and vulnerability is evolving, and its

diculties are $ell recognized (Bohle et al., 1!" #o$ning, 1=" andmer et al.,

1" %elly and Adger, 1). :stimates of adaptive capacity tend to be based on

premises such as the position that highly managed systems (such as agriculture),

given sucient resources, are li5ely to be more adaptable (and at a lo$er cost) than

less managed ecosystems (7trzepe5 and 7mith, 1-" Burton, 1=" 4oman and

Bierbaum, 1=). ?t is also $idely accepted that systems $ith high levels of capacity

to cope $ith historical andEor e2isting stresses can be e2pected to have high

adaptive capacity for stresses associated $ith climatic change (Ausubel, 11a).

7uch premises have formed the basis for broad assessments of sensitivity and

adaptability (F7GA7, 1'). @f course, sensitivity and adaptive capacity vary

according to the climate change;related stress being considered. 4hus, adaptive

capacity to gradual changes in mean temperature may be high (or not much

needed), but adaptive capacity to changes in the magnitude or fre8uency of

e2treme climatic conditions may not be so high (Appendi and 0iverman, 1=).


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4he present conditions of Bohol museums and e2isting proects related

$ill be gathered in the Gational &useum in Bohol. ?ntervie$s $ith the local

authority of such oce $hile the '1> earth8ua5e in Bohol shall be studied by

gathering data in ne$spapers, $ebpages of the hilippine local government,

dialogs $ith the various local agencies, inspection of dierent areas in Bohol

and survey to the local people. 4hese information $ill be used to recognize the

dierent problems and issues that currently e2ist in the area. After identifying

the dierent diculties and considering all relevant data at hand, data analysis$ill be the ne2t procedure. 7ubse8uently, the concept of architectural

phenomenology $ill be used as the guiding theory in constructing an

earth8ua5e museum that $ill address the various problems identi6ed. ?t is the

researcherHs hypothesis that this proect can address speci6c concerns of Bohol

through architecture.

4he study $ill use both 8ualitative and 8uantitative research in order to meet the

goal of the proect.

4he 8ualitative aspect of the study $ill include identifying the present conditions in

natural disaster preparation and a$areness, currently related or ongoing proects

and prospective or future calamity prevention plans. 7peci6c local agencies such as

G#&&/C, AIA7A J ?0*@C7 and other natural disaster related agencies $ill be

visited and be consulted in order to compile pertinent and appropriate data related

to the proect. Additionally, data on ne$spapers, articles, ne$s and $ebpages of the

hilippine local government $ill be referred to. &oreover, inspection on dierent

prospective sites $ill be done in order to select the most feasible location of the

study. 4hese information $ill be used to recognize the dierent problems and issues

at hand and $ill be the basis on as to ho$ the proect can bridge or narro$ the gap

of the situation. @n the other hand, the 8uantitative component $ill be seen as thee2pression of severity of the natural disasters in the country. Iraphs, charts, tables

and the li5e $ill be utilized to eectively perceive the impact and eects of a

disaster.

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