PrintAdaptive Capacity Summary
In summary, adaptive capacity is the capacity of a community to cope with, recover from, and adapt to hazard events. Coastal communities around the world are focusing on ways to adapt to increased risk in the face of amplified coastal hazards such as extreme weather and sea level rise. Adaptive capacity involves any action taken either to reduce or avoid risk or damage from hazard events or to reduce or avoid people’s or places’ exposure and/or sensitivity to hazard events. There are several types of strategies that reduce or avoid exposure or sensitivity. They include the ideas of mitigation, adaptation, and resilience. While those terms mean slightly different things than adaptive capacity, all of the terms consider the capacity to cope with, deal with, and adapt to hazard events.