Editing IPCC:AR6/SRCCL/Chapter-4 (section)

==== 4.8.5.1 Limits to adaptation ====

<div id="section-4-8-5-1-limits-to-adaptation-block-1"></div>

SLM can be deployed as a powerful adaptation strategy in most instances of climate change impacts on natural and social systems, yet there are limits to adaptation (Klein et al. 2014 <sup>[[#fn:r1157|1157]]</sup> ; Dow, Berhout and Preston 2013 <sup>[[#fn:r1158|1158]]</sup> ). Such limits are dynamic and interact with social and institutional conditions (Barnett et al. 2015 <sup>[[#fn:r1159|1159]]</sup> ; Filho and Nalau 2018 <sup>[[#fn:r1160|1160]]</sup> ). Exceeding adaptation limits will trigger escalating losses or require undesirable transformational change, such as forced migration. The rate of change in relation to the rate of possible adaptation is crucial (Dow et al. 2013 <sup>[[#fn:r1161|1161]]</sup> ). How limits to adaptation are defined, and how they can be measured, is contextual and contested. Limits must be assessed in relation to the ultimate goals of adaptation, which is subject to diverse and differential values (Dow et al. 2013 <sup>[[#fn:r1162|1162]]</sup> ; Adger et al. 2009 <sup>[[#fn:r1163|1163]]</sup> ). A particularly sensitive issue is whether migration is accepted as adaptation or not (Black et al. 2011 <sup>[[#fn:r1164|1164]]</sup> ; Tacoli 2009 <sup>[[#fn:r1165|1165]]</sup> ; Bardsley and Hugo 2010 <sup>[[#fn:r1166|1166]]</sup> ). If migration were understood and accepted as a form of successful adaptation, it would change the limits to adaptation by reducing, or even avoiding, future humanitarian crises caused by climate extremes (Adger et al. 2009 <sup>[[#fn:r1167|1167]]</sup> ; Upadhyay et al. 2017 <sup>[[#fn:r1168|1168]]</sup> ; Nalau et al. 2018 <sup>[[#fn:r1169|1169]]</sup> ).

In the context of land degradation, potential limits to adaptation exist if land degradation becomes so severe and irreversible that livelihoods cannot be maintained, and if migration is either not acceptable or not possible. Examples are coastal erosion where land disappears (Gharbaoui and Blocher 2016 <sup>[[#fn:r1170|1170]]</sup> ; Luetz 2018 <sup>[[#fn:r1171|1171]]</sup> ), collapsing livelihoods due to thawing of permafrost (Landauer and Juhola 2019 <sup>[[#fn:r1172|1172]]</sup> ), and extreme forms of soil erosion, (e.g., landslides (Van der Geest and Schindler 2016 <sup>[[#fn:r1173|1173]]</sup> ) and gully erosion leading to badlands (Poesen et al. 2003 <sup>[[#fn:r1174|1174]]</sup> )).

<span id="resilience-and-thresholds"></span>