<aside> <img src="/icons/arrow-right_gray.svg" alt="/icons/arrow-right_gray.svg" width="40px" /> Solutions for climate adaptation are multiplying to reduce the potential impacts of climate risks. However, many solutions can lead to maladaptation.

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What is maladaptation ?

Maladaptation can be defined as designing an adaptation project that unintentionally increases vulnerability to climate stimuli instead of reducing it. It acts as an aggravating factor that undermines a system’s resilience.

Vulnerability refers to the propensity of a population or ecosystem to suffer damage due to climate variations. It is closely tied to adaptive capacity, which itself depends on several factors (such as the country's geographic exposure, financial and human resources, quality of infrastructure…).

There are two main types of vulnerabilities:

• Spatial vulnerability
  • This refers to variations in exposure to hazards based on geographic location
• Temporal vulnerability
  • This involves changes in the ability to cope with risks over time

Barnett and O'Neill (2010) identified five different types of maladaptation. According to them, a solution is considered maladaptive if, compared to alternatives, it:

• increases greenhouse gas emissions
• disproportionately burdens the most vulnerable
• entails high opportunity costs (economic, social, or environmental)
• reduces incentives for adaptation
• creates technological path dependency for future generations

Moreover, they argue that top-down approaches (typically involving infrastructure construction to reduce sensitivity or exposure) are more likely to lead to maladaptation than bottom-up approaches, which focus on enhancing adaptive capacity through no-regret measures or even soft adaptation strategies.