Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change - 2626 Words

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) highlighted in its 5th Assessment Report both the unequivocal warming and apparent human influence on the climate system. Anthropogenic (human-induced) climate change was proven by the increasing atmospheric concentration of the greenhouse gases, radiative forcing, and observation over warming and the climate system. It is also emphasized that to reduce changes in the climate system will require substantial and continuous reductions of greenhouse gas emissions (IPCC, 2014). Climate change is perceived as a critical problem or external shock for many sociotechnical systems. This problem forces response from the system to adapt, which leads to resilience (maintaining the status quo),†¦show more content†¦Transformational adaptation typically deals with changes or innovation in technology, but it is also common that the changes are behavioral shift or cultural change, which affect the way individuals and community react to the climate change issue (Kates et al., 2012, O’Brien, K., 2012). The term ‘radical’ and ‘transformational’ will be used interchangeably in this essay. This essay begins with an extensive description of characteristic of radical change and followed by discussion of the preference to enforce radical than incremental change to tackle the impact of climate change, both sections including specific examples from the previous or current adaptation strategy employed in some regions across the world. Shortly after, radical change which applied through the case of technological change will be explained separately. The last part of the essay will briefly discuss difficulties in implementation of radical change and practical steps to be considered during the implementation phase. Finally, a conclusion will be drawn based on the overall essay discussion. 2. Characteristic of radical change Kates et al. (2012, p. 7156) defines three classes of transformational adaptation, which are those that are adopted at a much larger scale, that are truly new to a particular region or resource system, and that transform places and shift locations. The later section will concisely discuss each class, followed by an example of each class. 1)