It is defined, in human systems, as the process of adaptation to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate damage or exploit opportunities.

Greenhouse gas emissions are still rising globally. The concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere will rise over the next several decades, despite our promise to reducing net global emissions to zero by 2050, and average world temperatures will rise.

Risks of all kinds will increase as the climate warms. Everyone will be impacted by everything from increased frequency of extreme weather events like heatwaves, droughts, or floods to coastal erosion brought on by increasing sea levels.

Therefore, adaptation planning generally involves an iterative risk management process. We distinguish: anticipatory adaptation from reactive adaptation, autonomous adaptation from planned adaptation and incremental adaptation from transformational adaptation. Adaptation is necessary to increase the resilience of ecosystems to climate change.

Cape Verde’s National Adaptation Plan intends to increase and accelerate the efforts to protect nature, people and livelihoods against the unavoidable impacts of climate change.