Adaptation Futures 2016: Practices and Solutions

The Adaptation Futures 2016 conference, held in Rotterdam, convened over 1,700 experts to address the urgency of climate adaptation. The synthesis highlights a critical gap where risks are being created faster than they are reduced, calling for more radical and experimental adaptation strategies. Key findings emphasize the necessity of diverse partnerships, the integration of the private sector, and a shift in monitoring from measuring process to measuring progress. The report details thematic outcomes across ten areas, including urban infrastructure, food security, public health, and the Arctic, while advocating for a reinforcing relationship between research 'on' and 'for' adaptation.

• There is a dangerous imbalance between the speed of environmental change and the pace of adaptation efforts, suggesting that current approaches are insufficient and need to be more radical and experimental.
• Adaptation monitoring and evaluation must transition from a focus on reporting processes to a focus on learning and outcomes, incorporating both quantitative data and qualitative narratives to understand what truly matters to beneficiaries.
• Effective adaptation requires breaking down silos and forming diverse partnerships across different levels of governance and sectors, including linking adaptation with poverty eradication and disaster risk reduction.
• The private sector is a critical but underutilised actor in adaptation, providing technology, insurance, and investment, though a mismatch in time horizons between long-term adaptation benefits and short-term investment returns remains a barrier.
• Successful adaptation depends on a mutually reinforcing relationship between 'research on adaptation' (theoretical understanding of the process) and 'research for adaptation' (applied problem-solving), with social sciences playing a key role in bridging the gap.
• In urban environments, the urban heat island effect is a specific risk requiring a combination of green infrastructure, information campaigns, and medical response procedures, as sustainable cities are not automatically climate-resilient.
• Ecosystem-based adaptation is most effective for high-frequency, low-intensity events but may be insufficient for high-intensity disasters, such as major typhoons.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2017). Adaptation Futures 2016: Practices and Solutions. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/Adaptation-Futures-2016-Conference-Synthesis.pdf

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Adaptation Futures 2016: Practices and Solutions. 2017. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/Adaptation-Futures-2016-Conference-Synthesis.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Adaptation Futures 2016: Practices and Solutions |date=2017 |url=https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/Adaptation-Futures-2016-Conference-Synthesis.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2017adaptation, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Adaptation Futures 2016: Practices and Solutions}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2017}, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/Adaptation-Futures-2016-Conference-Synthesis.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }