Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Limits to adaptation

An actor-centered, risk-based approach to defining limits to social adaptation provides a useful analytic framing for identifying and anticipating these limits and informing debates over society's responses to climate change.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Acceptable, tolerable and intolerable risks in relation to adaptation limits.

References

  1. Kates, R. W., Travis, W. R. & Wilbanks, T. J. Proc. Natl Acad.Sci. USA 109, 7156–7161 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Schneider, S. H. et al. in IPCC Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability (eds Parry, M. L., Canziani, O. F., Palutikof J. P., van der Linden, P. J. & Hanson, C. E.) 779–810 (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2007).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Lenton, T. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 105, 1786–1793 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Smith, J. B. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 106, 4133–4137 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Adger, W. N. et al. Climatic Change 93, 335–354 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Moser, S. C. & Ekstrom, J. A. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 107, 22026–22031 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Adger, W. N., Barnett, J., Brown, K., Marshall, N. & O'Brien, K. Nature Clim. Change 3, 112–117 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Klinke, A. & Renn, O. Risk Anal. 22, 1071–1094 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Renn, O. Risk Governance: Coping with Uncertainty in a Complex World (Earthscan, 2008).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  10. Hall, J. W., Brown, S., Nicholls, R. J., Pidgeon, N. F. & Watson, R. T. Nature Clim. Change 2, 833–834 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Adger, W. N., Quinn, T., Lorenzoni, I., Murphy, C. & Sweeney, J. Nature Clim. Change 3, 330–333 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Verheyen, R. & Roderick, P. Beyond Adaptation: The Legal Duty to Pay Compensation for Climate Change Damage (WWF-UK, 2008).

    Google Scholar 

  13. Peng, S. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 101, 9971–9975 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. IPCC Climate Change 2001: Synthesis Report (eds Watson, R. T. et al.) (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2001).

  15. Dugmore, A. J. et al. in Adapting to Climate Change: Thresholds, Values, Governance (eds Adger, W. N., Lorenzoni, I. & O'Brien, K. L.) 96–113 (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2009).

    Book  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Mozaharul Alam, Habiba Gitay, Susanne Moser, James Thurlow, and Koko Warner for their constructive comments.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kirstin Dow.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Dow, K., Berkhout, F., Preston, B. et al. Limits to adaptation. Nature Clim Change 3, 305–307 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1847

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1847

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing