The WaterBlog

A ‘Third Way’ to Combat Climate Change: Microclimates

By Femke van Woesik As the most recent IPCC report on climate change was released last month, daunting headlines stating ‘code red for humanity’ covered the front pages of many newspapers[1]. The world is on course to reach 1.5 degrees Celsius of global warming within the next two decades, and temperature extremes, including heatwaves and droughts, have and will become more frequent and intense[2]. When dealing with this climate crisis, much attention goes to mitigation and adaptation. Mitigation is an intervention to reduce the emissions sources or enhance the sinks of greenhouse gases. Adaptation is an adjustment that moderates the harm of climate change[3], for example, using crop seeds that are better adapted to climatic extremes. Even though both concepts are fundamental, there is a third way to deal with climate change: managing the microclimate. Local climates can be a powerful frontier in smoothening out the impact of global climate change and creating more resilient local ecosystems. Good management of… Continued