2025-2026 Academic Catalog

Jun 27, 2025

2025-2026 Academic Catalog

SSJ 367 - Climate Change Adaptation Planning and Implementation

Since the late 1990s, as the limitations of greenhouse gas mitigation efforts (e.g., CDM and REDD+) became apparent, climate adaptation has emerged as a critical focus in both scientific research and policy making. Today, many policy makers and scholars recognize climate change adaptation as essential to for addressing the environmental and social impacts of climate change. This course explores the complexities of climate adaptation by engaging with its socio-ecological, political, and ethical dimensions. Adaptation is not only a technical or scientific challenge, but also a social process that interacts with existing inequities and power dynamics. To navigate this complexity, we structure our class inquiry around three core questions:

First, what is adaptation, what are people and systems adapting to and how do adaptation strategies differ across contexts? People are not necessarily affected by climate change directly, but by the hazards generated by the climate system, such as droughts, flooding, and extreme weather events. Such climate hazards impact people both directly and indirectly, through the ways in which they alter aspects of life ranging from the provisioning of food to the location of settlements. The course will introduce frameworks to enhance adaptive capacity and reduce exposure and vulnerability to climate hazards across a wide range of social-ecological contexts.
Second, who benefits and who loses from a particular adaptation strategy? Adaptation efforts are often politically contentious because they reinforce power structures and perpetuate injustice. The course will provide tools to identify who is most exposed and vulnerable to climate hazards and anticipate whether adaptation strategies address or exacerbate pre-existing inequities.
Third, who decides where and how adaptation should take place and who bears the cost of adaptation measures? Whether managing sea level rise by building new coastal protection infrastructure or planned relocation, adaptation is enabled/hindered by governance systems and includes monetary and non-monetary costs. The course will explore adaptation policy and finance measures.

Formerly IDCE 367. Students who have already passed IDCE 367 cannot receive credit for SSJ 367 and should not take this course.

Anticipated Terms Offered: Annually