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OCR for page 659
Page 659
Individual Statement by a Member of
the Adaptation Panel
JANE LUBCHENCO
Panel member Jane Lubchenco believes that "the report [of the
Adaptation Panel] does not adequately address the potential
environmental and global consequences of the different adaptation
strategies it recommends, nor does it adequately acknowledge that
these consequences must be taken into consideration. The report
does address the most obvious and immediate financial costs of some
of the adaptations, but does not really consider other costs. Of
particular concern are indirect costs, i.e., those emerging as
consequences of interactions among the individual sectors
considered in the report or as consequences of adaptation measures.
The implicit message of the report is that humans can adapt to the
predicted climate changes without worrying about these other
costs.
"This complacent tone is unwarranted in light of (a) the
uncertainties about responses of natural systems to climate change,
(b) the reliance of human systems on these natural systems (i.e.,
interactions among the different sectors considered in the report),
(c) the unexamined environmental consequences of recommended
adaptations, and (d) the substantial difficulties anticipated for
developing nations to adapt to climate change. I concur that the
adaptation strategies suggested in the report may be quite
reasonable and should possibly be pursued. However, the limitations
to and costs of these adaptations must be made explicit. The areas
in which adaptations cannot be made, or at least, not easily made
(for example those identified in the sections dealing with
unmanaged ecosystems), are so fundamentally important to the global
system that mitigation—not adaptation—becomes
paramount.
"In summary, I disagree with the report's implicit message, that
'we can adapt with little or no problem.' I believe that even the
incomplete analysis of the Adaptation Panel supports the
recommendations of the Synthesis Panel to adopt effective but
inexpensive actions to slow the onset of greenhouse warming."
OCR for page 660
Representative terms from entire chapter:
adaptation panel
