Adaptation measures need to happen faster

Madam,

$daptation is not happening nearly as fast as it is needed. :e have focused extensively on the causes of climate change, as well as the emissions and mitigation strategies, but we can no longer delay focusing on the conseTuences, and that means focusing on adaptation.

I wrote this on a flight to Mendoza, a beautiful province of $rgentina, known internationally for its wine, its dramatic landscapes, its ski resorts, and a thriving energy industry. 8nfortunately, my trip was unrelated to any of these things as Mendoza is facing µa new climate normal¶ with its water levels remaining below the historical average for the 0th year in a row.

If we don't move Tuickly into adaptation mode, the Mendoza I know today is not going to be there in the future, and the same applies to many of the places we know and love around the world. 7o put it another way, µit¶s adaptation stupid¶.

ADAPTATION

$daptation is mainly about water because climate change is the driving force behind the extremes and uncertainty in the water cycle. 7he number of weather-related disasters ± floods, droughts, storms and extreme temperatures ± has increased by a factor of five over the past 50 years, claiming, on average, the lives of 5 people and causing 86 0 million in economic losses every day. 7his is the µnew normal¶ and we have to deal with it.

:e are in the edition of the

th

&limate &23, and two conclusions are self-evident. 2n the one hand, climate change is happening, and its conseTuences are very significant, and on the other hand, we have failed to secure real commitment to reduce emissions and even less so to start adapting our economies to the impacts of climate change.

:hile most people understand the need for cutting emissions of greenhouse gases, they do not realise, or in some cases accept, that we're on an unavoidable climate change traMectory and must adapt to avoid wide-scale suffering as its impacts intensify.

6witching to adaptation mode reTuires us to do several things. 7o start with, we need a new and more ambitious adaptation agenda that prizes efficiency through developing and adopting new technologies in areas like data gathering and intelligence, infrastructure maintenance and collective intelligence. 7he need for efficiency can also be translated at an economic level through reduced water footprints across industries and the building of more and better infrastructure like dams and desalination plants.

6cience, knowledge and data are central to framing this agenda. :e need many more institutions working on linking the water cycle changes with the economy on critical issues such as food, energy, industrial water demand and health.

ALLOCATION

$s for the allocation of public and private resources, the multilaterals and the Green &limate )und are making some headway but have yet to significantly impact the speed at which we adapt to climate change. :e need to upgrade their resources and enhance their capacity to allocate funds.

1ew water markets must be part of the adaptation agenda of the future to allow private sector companies to invest in more ambitious and deal-breaking proMects. 7his can include payment for saving water and reducing the histological footprint, for creating new infrastructure or technological capacities for dealing with climate change, as well as developing blended financing to foster private investment, among other policies.

INVESTMENTS

$t the end of the day, it is a matter of valuing water. I am not talking about selling and buying water in a private market, but of sending the right signals for aligning behaviours and for inducing investments. It is a basic tenet of efficiency that you don't care about overconsumption or even reducing leakage if you don't have to pay the real price for it.

If we are to adapt to this µnew normal¶, we must have institutions within our governments that have the clout and decision-making power to renovate the water utilities so that the management of water at city and metropolitan levels can adapt to the conseTuences of climate change, from diminishing resources to having to implement circular economy measures to reduce the energy and ecological footprints.

$t international level, we need to move from a primarily scientific discussion that has been so positive for installing and understanding climate change to an implementation agenda. :e need engineering, entrepreneurs, and financial institutions to realise that this is a new central profit-making economic activity in the next decades and, therefore to adapt capitalism along these lines.

Pablo Bereciartua