The Earthscan Reader on Adaptation to Climate Change

adaptation to climate change has finally come into its own. The cause of adaptation hasbeen kept alive for almost two decades by a relatively small group of scholars, experts and researchers, many of whom are represented in this volume. Now with the wider recognition of the importance of adaptation many more people are being drawn into adaptation science and the adaptation advocacy movement. The purpose of this Readeris to provide this growing number with a careful selection of some of the seminal textsdrawn from the literature of the past two decades.There is currently no other single knowledge source that provides an account oadaptation that adequately reflects the progress and trends in adaptation science,highlights the controversies and policy debates, and, more importantly, outlines themany questions that remain to be answered, while identifying the most influentialconcepts and thinkers. There is much uncertainty about adaptation to climate change -what the concept means or should mean, how adaptation can be effectivelintroduced, facilitated and managed, for whom, when and where. These questionsapply both within the processes of the United Nations Framework Convention onClimate Change (UNFCCC) and in other domains. While not attempting to offer acompletely comprehensive guide, the selection of material in this Reader endeavourto provide an inroad to all those interested in understanding the background to thecurrent state of adaptation science. The selection reflects the great diversity of viewsabout adaptation to climate change, especially in its relationship to disasters and todevelopment. In presenting these difficulties the Reader sets out to be intentionally provocativeand to challenge the expanding adaptation community to contribute to the growingfund of knowledge. This is not an inconsiderable task. Thus, the Reader also adopts ahistorical perspective and includes material that represents the evolution of thinkingand concepts of adaptation.In this necessarily limited selection from the literature we have tried to provide arepresentative sample that reflects the range of past and current thinking. The selectionprocess involved an extensive list of potential material that was narrowed down basedon personal preferences, with advice and consultation with many IntergovernmentalPanel on Climate Change authors and others involved inthe UNFCCC adaptationcommunity. The longer list is presented in the bibliography of regrettably excludedtexts. The most recent synthesis of the adaptation literature may be found in theWorking Group II volume of the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (IPCC, 2007) .