Health is an essential component of climate adaptation and should be integrated into national policies to build resilient and effective systems. We aimed to review national climate adaptation policies to assess health integration globally, regionally, nationally, and sub-nationally. In this global policy analysis, we systematically identified national climate adaptation policies for 198 countries in English and 14 other languages. We reviewed Health National Adaptation Plans (HNAPs), National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) or National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs) when NAPs did not exist, Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), and National Communications (NCs). We created a Python application to increase the accuracy of identification of health-related text and applied a standardised scoring metric that assessed five domains-health analysis, health-related actions, planned institutional leads, dedicated budgets and funding mechanisms, and measurement indicators for monitoring and evaluation (M&E)-to compare health integration across documents and countries. 197 countries, all except Libya, were found to have national climate adaptation policies (36 HNAPs, 123 NAPs or NAPAs, 200 NDCs, and 223 NCs). Across these policies, 458 (88% of 522 policies) mentioned health. 159 (81% of 197 countries) further referenced other national health policies. 191 (97%) identified populations disproportionately affected by climate change, whereas only 24 (12%) involved such populations in decision making. Six (3%) countries outlined budgets for health-related actions. Insufficient budgeting and fiscal planning emerged as the weakest aspects of health integration, and sexual and reproductive health and rights, allergies, injuries, violence, and mental health were found to be under-represented in policies. Climate adaptation policies should be comprehensive and outline clear structures to translate plans into action. We need evidence-based inclusion of diseases and health conditions linked to concrete strategies, national and sub-national measurement to track progress, and designated leads to spearhead coordination. Involvement of disproportionately affected groups further bolsters policy relevance and equity, and adequate financing is central to ensuring implementation. None.

Evolutionary and climate adaptation both describe how complex systems respond to environmental change, either via natural selection or deliberate human choices. Although adaptation in both contexts is expected to produce favorable outcomes, it can also result in maladaptation-ineffective, unintended, or harmful outcomes. As an emerging area of practice in conservation, climate adaptation could benefit from insights from evolutionary biology about when adaptation is most effective and when it fails. Here, we introduce a framework to identify parallels and distinctions between evolutionary and climate adaptation to highlight best practices and improve climate adaptation strategies. As an example of its application, we identify four common causes of maladaptation shared across evolutionary and climate adaptation contexts-lack of diversity, trade-offs and constraints, loss of signal, and shifting targets. Insights from evolutionary adaptation underscore the importance of diverse adaptation portfolios, innovative and replicable strategy combinations, integrated monitoring and knowledge-sharing mechanisms, and flexible, forward-looking refinement to mitigate the risks of maladaptation. Differences between evolutionary and climate adaptation-especially the role of goal setting, evaluation, and moral responsibility-introduce unique opportunities to confront bias, navigate complexity, and improve outcomes through intentional, inclusive decision-making that reflects conservation values and societal goals. We illustrate this framework with a case study that applies evolutionary principles to climate adaptation in practice and navigates the social dimensions of adaptation planning with intention. Approaching climate adaptation as a dynamic, learning-oriented process that acknowledges the potential for failure, much like adaptive management, enables conservation practitioners to navigate the complex challenges of climate adaptation with greater resilience and effectiveness.

Multiple psychological factors, from fear to hope, play a role in actions addressing climate change. However, an understanding of how these factors interact to shape such behaviors remains limited. This gap holds significant implications for advancing both research and climate practice. The present study aims to contribute to the overall effectiveness of climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts by providing an understanding of the factors influencing individuals' intentions to act against climate change, and casting light upon a less explored dimension - climate change boredom. Climate change boredom highlights a psychological barrier that can hinder climate action. Intention to act is a key step toward a change in behavior and effective environmental efforts. Therefore, we determined the factors that predicted climate change boredom and investigated the influence of climate change boredom on people's intention to act against climate change. Using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) on data obtained from a survey of a representative sample of Romanian people, the study found that beliefs about climate change, climate change goal commitment, self-efficacy of cooperation, perceived health impacts of climate change, living environment, and age predicted 66.8% of climate change boredom. Results showed that climate change boredom significantly hindered the intention to act against climate change. From a practical perspective, identifying predictors of climate change boredom and intention to act is important in developing strategies, policies, and communication approaches that reinvigorate individuals' and communities' motivations to participate in climate action efforts. Moreover, addressing climate change boredom is essential for ensuring long-term environmental security, as disengagement from climate issues can weaken societal resilience and hinder adaptive strategies in the face of climate threats.

Climate change threatens agricultural productivity and rural livelihoods, particularly among smallholder farmers in East Africa. In Ethiopia, rural women play critical roles in natural resource management; however, structural social, economic, and institutional barriers limit their adaptive capacity and reinforce gender inequalities. Despite growing attention to climate change adaptation strategies (CCAS), empirical evidence on its role in promoting gender empowerment remains limited. Therefore, this research aims at generating location-specific data on the contribution of CCAS to gender empowerment in the East Shewa Zone of Ethiopia. A multistage sampling procedure was employed to select 446 sample households. Data were collected through household survey, focus group discussion and key informant interviews across four districts and eight kebeles. Gender empowerment outcomes were assessed using a Gender Empowerment Index for Climate Change Adaptation Strategies (GEI-CCAS), covering social, economic, political, and agricultural dimensions, alongside a Gender Parity Index (GPI). Both descriptive and econometric model (binary logit model) were used for data analysis. The findings revealed that farmers implemented 22 climate adaptation strategies, with mixed cropping (91%) and crop calendar adjustment (89%) being the most common. Households adopting climate change adaptation strategies achieved higher empowerment outcomes than non-adopters, with greater involvement in decision-making, livelihoods, and leadership. Binary logistic analysis results indicated that, among male-headed households, gender empowerment increased with education level, livestock ownership, extension contact, annual income, training participation, and involvement in local institutions, while it decreased with greater market distance. For women-headed households, empowerment was positively influenced by education, extension access, income, training, cooperative membership, institutional participation, and irrigation access, whereas crop failure had a negative effect. Strengthening gender-responsive adaptation policies can contribute to achieving SDG 1 (No Poverty), SDG 5 (Gender Equality), SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities), and SDG 13 (Climate Action). The study recommends gender-responsive climate adaptation policies that enhance women's access to resources, climate-smart technologies, institutional services, and leadership opportunities, thereby promoting gender equality and strengthening resilience to climate change.

Climate change is the biggest health threat of the 21st century, with health outcomes worsening across most climate-sensitive health parameters. The World Health Organization's 2025 Global Action Plan on Climate Change and Health calls for health and climate issues to be better integrated in policy development as a matter of priority. Recent research indicates that climate adaptation interventions present an opportunity for substantial returns on investment when health and other outcomes are accounted for. This rapid scoping review explores a subset of the broader peer-reviewed literature assessing health co-benefits and costs of climate adaptation interventions. A search of PubMed, Scopus, and MEDLINE was carried out in August 2024 and 286 papers were screened for eligibility. 25 papers were deemed eligible for inclusion and data were extracted across multiple variables, including geographic location of study, reported cost of intervention, health outcomes and reported indicators. Most of the 25 included papers were review articles and did not quantify or monetize health co-benefits. Only two of the 25 included papers reported the cost of featured climate adaptation interventions. A quarter of the included papers discussed potentially relevant indicators for reporting adaptation health co-benefits. Nature-based solutions and interventions relating to the built environment were the most common sectors covered. Recognizing the limitations of our findings given the subset of papers included in this scoping review, there appears to be an opportunity within the peer-reviewed literature to quantify the health co-benefits of climate adaptation interventions, report on their costs and benefits, and use standardized intervention typologies or measurement frameworks to assess effectiveness. Beyond the need for a more comprehensive and systematic review, future research must better evaluate the effectiveness and health outcomes of climate adaptation interventions and planning through appropriate study designs to enable evidence-based policy decisions that optimize the benefits of adaptation action.

Climate change is intensifying the frequency, duration, and severity of heatwaves globally, posing a growing threat to human health. However, few fine-scale projections of heatwave-related excess mortality account for spatial disparities and adaptive capacity. We aimed to estimate future heatwave-related excess mortality across statistical area level 2 (SA2) communities in Australia under multiple climate scenarios. In this modelling study, we projected excess mortality rates across 2288 SA2 communities in Australia for the period 2020-2100 under four shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs) representing alternative trajectories of adaptation (SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, SSP3-7.0, and SSP5-8.5). Daily all-cause mortality data from Jan 1, 2009, to Dec 31, 2019, were obtained from the Australian Coordinating Registry and the Australian Bureau of Statistics. We estimated historical exposure-response relationships using a two-stage distributed lag non-linear model with multivariate meta-regression. Future daily temperatures were obtained from bias-corrected, downscaled projections based on Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (a global climate model intercomparison project) and combined with mortality data and SSP-specific population forecasts to estimate annual excess deaths and excess mortality rates. We assessed median percentage changes in annual excess mortality rates for 2050-59 and 2090-99 using the 2020-29 period as a reference. Two adaptation scenarios were considered: no adaptation and full adaptation. Uncertainty was quantified through Monte Carlo simulations. Heatwave-related excess mortality was projected to increase substantially across Australia under all SSP scenarios. We estimated that, in 2100, without adaptation, annual excess deaths would reach approximately 5820 under SSP5-8.5 (a scenario of a fossil fuel-intensive future with little mitigation) and the cumulative total of heatwave days across all communities would be 174 079. Heatwave-related excess mortality rates were projected to be highest in Northern Territory during 2090-99, at 33·9 deaths per 100 000 population (95% empirical CI 13·9-55·0), followed by Queensland, at 18·4 deaths per 100 000 population (7·6-29·8), and New South Wales, at 12·8 deaths per 100 000 population (5·3-20·7); projected percentage changes in excess mortality rate relative to 2020-29 ranged from 356% (in West Coast, South Australia) to 4412% (in Thamarrurr, Northern Territory). Although full adaptation substantially reduced the projected mortality burdens, considerable residual risks remained. Spatial disparities in excess mortality rates persisted across states, socioeconomic strata, and urban-rural classifications, although absolute differences were modest. This study provides a comprehensive assessment of future heatwave-related excess mortality across Australia under multiple climate change and adaptation scenarios. These high-resolution projections underscore the urgent need for integrated mitigation and locally tailored adaptation strategies to address climate-related health inequities. Australian Research Council and Australian National Health and Medical Research Council.

Climate change adaptation is a critical response to the challenges posed by climate change and is important for building resilience. Progress in adaptation efforts has been made globally, nationally, and locally through international agreements, national plans, and community-based initiatives. However, significant gaps exist in knowledge, capacity, and finance. The Adaptation Gap Report 2023, published by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), examines the status of climate change adaptation efforts globally. The report highlights the widening adaptation finance gap and the deepening climate crisis. We analyse the key themes of the report and incorporate an analysis of the wider literature and insights from COP28 to substantiate key points and identify gaps where more work is needed to develop an understanding of climate change adaptation. This paper focuses on the underfinanced and underprepared state of global climate change adaptation efforts, the widening adaptation finance gap, slow progress in adaptation, gender equality and social inclusion issues, and challenges in addressing loss and damage. We provide a way forward for climate change adaptation and offer recommendations for future actions.

<jats:sec><jats:title>Introduction</jats:title><jats:p>Adaptation to climate change (ACC) is imperative to avoid deleterious consequences of climate change in agriculture. However, the uptake of adaptation measures has been slow among farmers because of low adaptive capacity (AC) in developing countries, particularly in Pakistan. Farmers and their supporting institutions have been successful in introducing technological innovations to respond and adapt to environmental challenges. The present study intended to determine the impact of farming technologies, along with human, financial, social, physical, natural, and climate information resources that support AC and hence ACC.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods</jats:title><jats:p>The study collected data from 360 farmers in Punjab through a multi-stage random sampling technique. A binary logit model and odds ratio were used to identify the factors affecting ACC. The study also utilized correlation tests to show the correlation between each pair of variables included in the analysis.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results</jats:title><jats:p>The results indicated that physical capital such as ownership of tube wells, transportation, and sowing and harvesting tools by the farmers builds farmers’ AC and consequently determines the ACC such as change crop variety (CCV), change crop type (CCT), change planting date (CPD), soil conservation (SC), water conservation (WC), and diversification strategies (DSs). The findings also revealed that human capital (age, education, family size, and labor), financial capital (off-farm employment, access to the marketing of produce, and agricultural credit), social capital (farmers-to-farmers extensions, access to extension services, and the farm association membership), and natural capital (land ownership, tenancy status, and the location of the farm) were importantly related to farm households’ ACC strategies. The odds (likelihood) of adaptation were higher for the users of farm technology as compared to non-users.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Discussion</jats:title><jats:p>The analysis conducted in this study showed that climate information resources amplify the adaptation to climate change: technology allows farming to be much more efficient, while climate change knowledge (CCK) self-motivates farmers to adopt more ACC measures. Our findings provide evidence that suggests the need to provide credits and financial support for farming technologies that speed up the ACC in the long run, while in the short run, climate information should be spread among farming communities.</jats:p></jats:sec>

Although planning and policy instruments are important for climate change adaptation, the implementation of these measures is critical for success. This paper studies different climate change adaptation strategies by analysing the measures adopted by stakeholders in charge of government policy development and implementation to minimise the impacts of climate change in the northern tropical region of Queensland, Australia. Local government organisations are responsible for taking a leading role in climate change adaptation. State and commonwealth government agencies are primarily responsible for developing climate transition policies and guidelines, as well as providing limited financial aid to help support the local government. Interviews were conducted with local government practitioners identified from different local government authorities in the study region. Although all the government bodies made some progress in developing better climate change adaptation policies, the interview participants identified that a lot more needs to be done, especially in implementation, including devising and the application of relevant action plans, economic assessments, stakeholder participations and engagement. From a local government practitioners' viewpoint, both the water sector and local economy will face the highest immediate impacts if climate change adaptation actions are not adequately implemented at local government level in the study region. There are currently no notable legal bindings to address climate change risks in the region. In addition, financial liability assessments due to climate risks and cost-share mechanisms among different levels of stakeholders and government authorities to face and prepare for climate change impacts hardly exist. Although the interview respondents recognise their high importance. As there are uncertainties in the achievements of climate change adaptation plans, from a local government practitioners' standpoint, the local authorities should take appropriate actions to integrate adaptation and mitigation works to face and prepare for climate risks rather than focusing only on adaptation. The respondents informed that some work has been done to identify flood prone areas and a few policy documents exist that accommodate sea level rise in planning practice, but these are done in fragments with no holistic implementation, monitoring or evaluation plans put in place.

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Climate change has the potential to disrupt sustainable development initiatives, particularly in developing economies. A substantial body of literature reveals that developing economies are vulnerable to climate change, due to high dependency on climate-sensitive sectors, such as agriculture. In Ghana, a growing body of literature has revealed multiple adaptation strategies adopted by smallholder farmers to respond to and reduce climate change impacts. However, there is a dearth of literature on the effectiveness of adaptation strategies. This chapter explores the adaptation strategies of smallholder farmers and analyzed the predictors of effective adaptation. Through the technique of simple random sampling, 378 smallholder farmers were selected, and data was collected using a questionnaire survey. Descriptive and inferential statistics were performed using the SPSS software. The findings indicate that smallholder farmers adopt multiple adaptation strategies to reduce the impact of climate change. In addition, it is revealed that marital status, years of farming experience, knowledge of climate change, and education are significant predictors of adaptation. Moreover, the chapter found that marital status, weedicide application, change in staple food consumption, and planting of early-maturing crops are good predictors of effective adaptation. The chapter recommends the need to intensify adaptation strategies through agricultural extension programs and interventions that improve rural food security and livelihood. In addition, the chapter recommends strengthening the capacity of farmer organizations and rural institutions, particularly agricultural extension and advisory services.</jats:p>