What are the differences between climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies?

Climate change mitigation aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while adaptation strategies aim to cope with the impacts of climate change.

Mitigation strategies involve reducing the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, such as through the use of renewable energy sources, improving energy efficiency, and implementing carbon capture and storage technologies. Mitigation aims to limit the extent of climate change by reducing the amount of greenhouse gases that contribute to it.

Adaptation strategies involve adjusting to the impacts of climate change, such as through building sea walls to protect against rising sea levels, developing drought-resistant crops, and implementing water conservation measures. Adaptation aims to reduce the vulnerability of communities and ecosystems to the impacts of climate change.

Both mitigation and adaptation strategies are necessary to address the challenges of climate change. Mitigation can help to prevent the worst impacts of climate change, while adaptation can help to manage the impacts that are already occurring or are inevitable. However, there are trade-offs between the two approaches, as mitigation can be expensive and may take time to implement, while adaptation may not address the root causes of climate change. Ultimately, a combination of both mitigation and adaptation strategies will be needed to address the challenges of climate change.