Ten Innovative Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Around the World

The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, the first of the three instalments of the 6^th Assessment report, shows an indisputable link between human-caused emissions and the warming climate and accelerating climate impacts.

The updated climate models have shown a more accurate picture of future climate conditions, which is highly dependent on the actions we take as humans.

The report says that the increasing weather extremes trend is due to the high concentration of carbon emissions in the atmosphere, causing the earth to heat up. Unless we have drastic and rapid emissions reduction up to zero, extreme climate events will continue.  

Right now, the global average temperature is already 1.26°C higher compared to 1850, and half of this increase has just happened since the year 2000. In the 2015 Paris Agreement, the international community agreed to limit warming to 2°C and even to 1.5°C, a critical threshold that scientists believed to be the “tipping point” or a point where the irreversible effects of climate change will become unstoppable.

With a temperature rise of 1.5°C, scientists predict that the following will happen: melting of all artic sea ice, large scale deaths of coral reefs, thawing of methane-rich permafrost, and when extreme climate events – severe cyclones, typhoons, droughts, heatwaves, intense rainfall, will happen frequently.

But meeting the 1.5°C targets is not an impossible feat but difficult, nevertheless. The IPCC report tells us that this target is still within our reach, and there is still time to act on it.  

Ten climate adaptation and mitigation examples that people around the world are doing to fight climate change.

Thankfully, there are ongoing efforts around the world to reduce emissions through innovative solutions.

The Thomson Reuters article compiled ten examples of climate adaptation and mitigation efforts worldwide, which can be replicated in other regions or areas globally to tackle climate change.

To know more about what they are doing, click the stories below.

1. Pokemon-style app aims to save Indonesia’s forests

“An Indonesian crowdsourcing app is tapping into the competitive spirit of its users by creating Pokemon Go-type games to help map land across the sprawling archipelago and protect forests and indigenous people.”

2. Artificial intelligence tools warn and watch

“Artificial intelligence (AI) and digital tools are increasingly being seen as a way to predict and limit the impacts of climate emergencies. The technology is being used to send natural disaster alerts in Japan, monitor deforestation in the Amazon, and design greener, smart cities in China.”

3. Zanzibar’s women sea farmers grow sponges to stay afloat

“Locals say they have already seen fish stocks depleting over the past year on the Tanzanian island. Zanzibari women are now learning how to swim and farm natural sponges that can withstand climate shocks and protect their income.”

4. Wind-powered cargo ships

“Two centuries after the first coal-powered steamships crossed the Atlantic Ocean, a Swedish company is designing a futuristic throwback: a huge, wind-driven cargo ship that could help end the fossil fuel era and limit climate change.”

5. High-tech stretchy yarn that generates electricity Smart solar pumps stop Africa from running dry

“High-tech solar pumps mapping underground freshwater reservoirs across Africa are collecting data that can help prevent them running dry. The solar pumps are being used by thousands of small-scale farmers in 15 African nations, including Kenya and Uganda, as a cleaner, cheaper option to diesel and gasoline-powered ones.”

6. Goat and sheep fire brigade

“With the threat of worsening wildfires on their doorstep, some European farmers are stepping up an old agricultural practice: using sheep and goats to graze dense forests to reduce the severity of wildfires.”

7. Firefighters use tech to predict blazes better

“With the threat of worsening wildfires on their doorstep, some European farmers are stepping up an old agricultural practice: using sheep and goats to graze dense forests to reduce the severity of wildfires.”

8. India’s women battle extreme heat with a touch of paint

“Simple measures, like women painting a tin roof with white reflective paint in an Indian slum, are helping people stay cooler during deadly heatwaves.”

9. High-tech stretchy yarn that generates electricity

“An international team of green-minded scientists developed a stretchy yarn made of carbon nanotubes – tiny strands of carbon atoms up to 10,000 times smaller than a hair – that produces electricity from natural sources.”

10. Bogota crowdsources a green transport future to hit climate goals

“As Colombia’s capital aims for net-zero by 2050, it is asking residents what changes they want – and more bike lanes, electric buses and cable cars are now in the plans.”