Mitigation and Adaptation - NASA Science (2024)

FAQs

What is the concept of mitigation and adaptation? ›

In essence, adaptation can be understood as the process of adjusting to the current and future effects of climate change. Mitigation means preventing or reducing the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG) into the atmosphere to make the impacts of climate change less severe.

It is NASA policy that integrating climate considerations into the Agency's policies, strategies, master plans, and partner engagements is mandatory. To implement this policy, NASA commits to: • Identify and implement adaptation strategies to avert potential mission impacts from climate change.

Mitigation measures are those actions that are taken to reduce and curb greenhouse gas emissions, while adaptation measures are based on reducing vulnerability to the effects of climate change. Mitigation, therefore, attends to the causes of climate change, while adaptation addresses its impacts.

Examples of mitigation actions are planning and zoning, floodplain protection, property acquisition and relocation, or public outreach projects. Examples of preparedness actions are installing disaster warning systems, purchasing radio communications equipment, or conducting emergency response training.

Climate change adaptation and mitigation are both equally important and time-sensitive and we need to do both.

We then delved into the five key risk mitigation strategies: acceptance, avoidance, mitigation, reduction, and transfer. Each strategy offers a unique approach to managing risks based on their likelihood and potential impact.

Erecting buildings and infrastructure that is safer and more sustainable. Replanting forests and restoring damaged ecosystems. Diversifying crops so that they are better able to adapt to changing climates. Investigating and developing innovative solutions to prevent and manage natural catastrophes.

What is an example of adaptation? ›

In other words, an adaptation is something on their body or something they do with their bodies that help them find food, water, mates, and shelter. An example of something on the body can be like a bird's wings or feather pattern.

Enhancing sinks: Other forms of mitigation, like growing new forests and designing and building “direct air capture” systems, work by taking greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere—sometimes called “carbon removal.” These approaches are challenging to do at a very large scale, and they do not eliminate the need to ...

Definition: Mitigation means reducing risk of loss from the occurrence of any undesirable event. This is an important element for any insurance business so as to avoid unnecessary losses. Description: In general, mitigation means to minimize degree of any loss or harm.

In evolutionary theory, adaptation is the biological mechanism by which organisms adjust to new environments or to changes in their current environment.

Effective mitigation requires the participation of major greenhouse-gas emitters globally, whereas most adaptation takes place from local to national levels. The climate benefits of mitigation are global, while its costs and ancillary benefits arise locally.

Mitigation focuses on minimizing effects of something such as climate change and trying to lessen the impacts while adaptation is accepting that something is going to change and more focuses on adapting or changing something to fit within its new environment.