Editing IPCC:AR6/WGII/Cross-Chapter-Paper-5 (section)

==== CCP5.2.7.2 Synthesis of Observed Adaptation ====

<div id="h3-4-siblings" class="h3-siblings"></div>

Extending from recent assessments of observed adaptation in high mountain areas ( [[#Hock--2019|Hock et al., 2019]] ; [[#McDowell--2019|McDowell et al., 2019]] ) new evidence for the geographically larger space for mountains assessed in this CCP is available from a mountain-specific reanalysis of the GAMI data set, which contains 423 articles reporting adaptation in mountains ( [[#Berrang-Ford--2021|Berrang-Ford et al., 2021]] ; [[#McDowell--2021b|McDowell et al., 2021b]] ) (SMCCP5.3), some of which also include those reported in Section CCP5.2. In these articles, adaptation measures in mountains are reported from all regions worldwide, with a preponderance from Asia and Africa. Of all reported adaptations, 91% involve individuals or households, frequently engaged in smallholder agriculture and/or pastoralism; local governments are also often involved (31%), as are sub-national or local civil society actors (29%), while private-sector involvement remains scarce (below 10%). Food, fibre and other ecosystem products (76%) and poverty, livelihoods and sustainable development (55%) are by far the most often reported adaptations in mountains, followed by water and sanitation (28%) and health, well-being and communities (26%) ( [[#McDowell--2021b|McDowell et al., 2021b]] ) (SMCCP5.3.2).

Adaptation measures most commonly found include farming-related changes (e.g., resilient or drought-tolerant crop varieties, irrigation techniques, crop storage and livestock insurance schemes), infrastructure development, Indigenous knowledge, community-based capacity-building and ecosystem-based adaptation ( ''high confidence'' ) ( [[#McDowell--2021b|McDowell et al., 2021b]] ) (SMCCP5.3.2). Nature-based solutions (NbS) are an adaptation component in the nationally determined contributions (NDCs) of many mountain countries around the world ( [[#UNEP--2021|UNEP, 2021]] ). Furthermore, Indigenous knowledge and local knowledge are often reported as informing adaptation efforts, and Indigenous Peoples, marginalised people and gender issues are recognised in several national adaptation strategies, but autonomous responses are often insufficiently understood ( [[#Mishra--2019|Mishra et al., 2019]] ).

The GAMI-based reanalysis for mountains indicates that food security (75%), poverty (47%), consumption and production (36%), terrestrial and freshwater ecosystem services (19%) and clean water and sanitation (18%) are important aspects of vulnerability that adaptations address, with an emphasis on responses to climate-related shocks and stressors ( [[#McDowell--2021b|McDowell et al., 2021b]] ) (SMCCP5.2). The reanalysis also shows that more than 80% of adaptations in mountains are behavioural/cultural in nature, and more than 50% are ecosystem-based or technological or infrastructural.

About a third of the assessed adaptation activities are in the planning and early implementation stage, and around a fifth are in a stage of advanced implementation ( [[#McDowell--2021b|McDowell et al., 2021b]] ) (SMCCP5.3.2). Several lines of evidence converge, indicating that most observed adaptations in mountains are incremental in nature and not transformative ( ''high confidence'' ) ( [[#Mishra--2019|Mishra et al., 2019]] ; [[#McDowell--2021b|McDowell et al., 2021b]] ) (SMCCP5.3.2). Nevertheless, some adaptation measures such as NbS were found to have important transformative potential in mountains if different knowledge types are combined, and community engagement and ecosystem management processes are in place ( [[#Palomo--2021|Palomo et al., 2021]] ).

Overall, and consistent with the findings in SROCC, the systematic monitoring and evaluation processes that have been implemented to track adaptation progress remain limited, and there is ''limited evidence'' and prevailing uncertainties on the extent to which observed adaptation efforts reduce risks ( [[#Hock--2019|Hock et al., 2019]] ; [[#McDowell--2021b|McDowell et al., 2021b]] ; [[#UNEP--2021|UNEP, 2021]] ) (SMCCP5.3.2).

Limits to adaptation are found in a majority (&gt;80%) of the assessed adaptation studies; around half of the studies reported soft limits, and less than a third identified both hard and soft limits to adaptation ( ''high confidence'' ) ( [[#McDowell--2021b|McDowell et al., 2021b]] ) (SMCCP5.3.2). Soft limits are frequently related to governance, economics and social/cultural constraints and can be overcome in principle through targeted efforts to address social conditions that impede adaptation planning and action. Hard limits are more frequently described as biophysical, such as precipitous declines in water supply. Examples of adaptation limits include lack of access to credit and markets, fixed livelihoods, insufficient awareness of climate risk, poor access to technology, the erosion of existing skills and knowledge, social inequities, lack of trust and social cohesion, inequitable gender norms and perceptions of conflict or scarcity. Furthermore, land tenure insecurity, poor integration of adaptation programmes across governing scales and a lack of decision-making power among vulnerable groups, along with inadequate funding for government-implemented adaptation programmes, are reported to limit adaptation ( [[#Mishra--2019|Mishra et al., 2019]] ; [[#McDowell--2021b|McDowell et al., 2021b]] ) (SMCCP5.3.2). Hard limits imply that further adaptation action is unfeasible, ineffective or unacceptable, resulting in inevitable losses and damages in mountain areas ( ''medium evidence, medium agreement'' ) ( [[#Huggel--2019|Huggel et al., 2019]] ).

Overall, adaptation in mountain regions is taking place in various ways, in different sectors, scales, levels, quality, and effectiveness ( ''high confidence'' ). Most responses are incremental, with asymmetries of power among state, institutions and individuals, costs or capital requirements of adaptation, lack of coordinated planning, resistance to institutional change, household risk aversion, and lack of access to information inhibiting more transformational responses (SMCCP5.3.2). Aside from poverty reduction, there is ''limited evidence'' of adaptations effectively remediating the underlying social determinants of vulnerability (e.g., gender, ethnic identity).

<div id="CCP5.3" class="h1-container"></div>

<span id="ccp5.3-projected-impacts-and-risks-in-mountains"></span>