![handle is hein.crs/govedgk0001 and id is 1 raw text is: C o n gr e s s o n a e s a c S e r i c
May 11, 2021
Climate Change: Defining Adaptation and Resilience, with
Implications for Policy
Congress has increased its attention to risks that climate
variability and change pose to communities, the economy,
and other dimensions of society. Legislative provisions
related to climate change have referenced resilience or
adaptation. Federal, state, and local agencies, and other
stakeholders, often intend different meanings when they
refer to resilience and climate change adaptation.
This product presents selected definitions in use for
resilience and climate change adaptation, and describes
trends and evolutions in use related to climate change. To
assist Congress as it considers proposals to enhance
adaptation and resilience, and exercises its appropriations
and oversight functions, this product seeks to clarify and
identify some of the choices implied by differences among
definitions. Terms used and definitions provided in
legislation, regulation, and guidance may shape how
executive agencies or the courts interpret congressional
direction and its implementation. Congress may wish to
consider whether to clarify terms in legislation or to give
discretion to the executive branch. Statutory language may
be broad, precise, or ambiguous.
Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience
Grammatically, adaptation is a process, action, or
sometimes the result of the action, whereas resilience is a
condition or capacity. In practice, the distinctions and
relationship between the two terms are more complicated,
with numerous definitions used for each. A CRS review of
definitions used by federal agencies and the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
indicates that there are notable differences between the two
concepts of adaptation and resilience in the context of
climate change. Additionally, there are differences among
entities in their definitions of a single term. The differences
suggest potentially important nuances that may have policy
and implementation consequences. Some agencies and
stakeholders appear to use adaptation and resilience
interchangeably or to poorly distinguish their meanings.
Over the past decade, CRS has observed a general shift
from a prevalence in federal use of the term climate change
adaptation to a rise in the term resilience in the context of
climate change. Resilience also has become more prevalent
as an objective of risk reduction more generally. The shift
in use of the terms in the context of climate change policy
may connote change in the concept or approach, a reduction
of priority for climate change adaptation, greater integration
of climate change risk management into multi-hazard
management efforts, or political sensitivity to explicit
references to climate change.
Definitions of Climate Change Adaptation
Scientific and programmatic literature defines adaptation in
various ways. Below are a few examples among the variety
of definitions. The IPCC defines adaptation as
[t]he process of adjustment to actual or expected
climate and its effects. In human systems,
adaptation seeks to moderate harm or exploit
beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, human
intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected
climate and its effects.... (Noble et al. 2014)
The U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), in
its Glossary, defines adaptation as adjustment in natural or
human systems in response to a new or changing
environment that exploits beneficial opportunities or
moderates negative effects. The Fourth National Climate
Assessment, also associated with the USGCRP, says that
[a]daptation refers to actions taken at the individual, local,
regional, and national levels to reduce risks from even
today's changed climate conditions and to prepare for
impacts from additional changes projected for the future.
The interagency U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit takes a
narrower approach, defining adaptation as the process of
adjusting to new (climate) conditions in order to reduce
risks to valued assets. The Government Accountability
Office (GAO) has defined adaptation as adjustments to
natural or human systems in response to actual or expected
climate change. The U.S. Department of Agriculture takes
a slightly different approach: Adaptation refers to the
process of finding ways to prepare for and flexibly respond
to changes in climate.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has
long used mitigation as any sustained action to reduce or
eliminate long-term risk to people and property from
natural hazards and their effects. Although not described
as adaptation, many of FEMA's mitigation efforts may
support adaptation to climate changes.
Definitions and Uses of Resilience
The IPCC, in a 2012 report on disaster risk management,
defines resilience as the ability of a system and its
component parts to anticipate, absorb, accommodate, or
recover from the effects of a potentially hazardous event in
a timely and efficient manner... The USGCRP Glossary
defines resilience as a capability to prepare for, respond to,
and recover from significant multi-hazard threats with
minimum damage to social well-being, the economy, and
the environment. The interagency U.S. Climate Resilience
Toolkit defines resilience as [t]he capacity of a
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