Editing IPCC:AR6/WGII/Chapter-8 (section)

=== FAQ 8.5 | How do present adaptation and future responses to climate change affect poverty and inequality? ===

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''Present adaptation can help to reduce the current and possibly future impacts of climate change. Future responses to climate change can reduce poverty and inequality, and even help transition toward climate-resilient livelihoods and climate resilient development. Pro-poor adaptation planning is necessary to ensure future risks for the poor are being accounted for and the inequality underlying the poverty is being addressed.''

There are many ways in which poverty and inequality are influenced by climate change. The livelihood sources of the poor are likely to be affected and cumulative effects of losses and damages, and may influence future poverty. There are cases when present adaptation worsens future poverty and exacerbates inequality—this is called maladaptation. The risks of maladaptation are greater in societies characterised by high inequality, and in many cases the poor and most vulnerable groups are the ones most adversely affected.

Effective decision making in adaptation should be informed by past, present and future climate data, information and scenarios to cater for reliable plans and actions for climate-resilient livelihoods. Adaptation lessons from the past play an important role in decision making regarding responses to climate change. There is an emerging debate on the role of learning, particularly forward-looking (anticipatory) learning, as a key element or important aspect for adaptation and resilience in the context of climate change. Memory, monitoring of key drivers of change, scenario planning and measuring anticipatory capacity are seen as crucial ingredients for future adaptation and resilience pathways, and, hence overcoming maladaptation. Moreover, climate resilient development calls for ensuring synergies between adaptation, mitigation and development are maximised, while trade-offs, especially those affecting the poor, are minimised.

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