Imagine you’re the mayor of a coastal city faced with regular floods from rising sea levels. What would you do to take on this challenge? Would you build new roads and power plants farther inland? Or would you decide to install flood barriers to protect the city from rising waters? You might choose to restore natural defenses, such as wetlands, or create an early warning system to keep residents safe. And don’t forget to consider things like cost and efficacy when you’re making your choices!

Now, imagine all the different impacts of climate change being felt around the world—longer droughts, intense heat waves, and more severe storms, to name just a few. Feeling overwhelmed? You’re not alone. These are some of the decisions that people and communities need to make to adapt to a changing climate. Luckily, there are many different ways to respond, ways that both address the impacts of climate change and improve lives.

Exploring adaptation solutions

Adaptation solutions come in all shapes and sizes, but let’s narrow our focus to five key areas: the built world (infrastructure), agriculture, health systems, ecological systems, and water management.

Infrastructure solutions focus on making our buildings, roads, and other structures more resilient to climate change. Some areas will need roads made with heat-resistant materials and bridges built with flexible structures to withstand extreme weather. Flood-prone regions can build with water-resistant materials and use structures that float or rise with the water. The city of Rotterdam, for example, is adapting to rising sea levels by converting parking lots into water storage spaces. Buildings can also be made more climate-resilient by using techniques such as passive cooling, rainwater harvesting systems, and by creating battery storage backup systems.

Agriculture—growing crops and raising livestock for food—will need to adapt to changing climate conditions and will need to feed a growing global population. Drought- and flood-resistant crops can help ensure food can grow in areas impacted by extreme weather. Improving water management systems, using adaptive farming and land management techniques, and improving animal breeding can also increase productivity on farms. Technology, too, will be increasingly important to more-precisely monitor soil and weather conditions.

Health system solutions involve preparing and redesigning public health systems and infrastructure to better respond to heat waves, disease outbreaks, and other extreme weather. Health-care buildings such as hospitals, clinics, and nursing homes will need climate-resilient infrastructure, relying on things such as backup power systems and retrofitted facilities to remain operational during emergencies. Communities will need things like cooling centers and heat-resistant urban design to help residents stay comfortable during extreme heat. Many areas will need to strengthen disease surveillance and prevention measures, and some may need solutions like air filtration systems or community health alerts to address air quality issues from pollution or wildfire smoke.

Ecological solutions protect and restore natural systems to reduce climate impacts and preserve biodiversity. Areas facing severe tropical storms might restore wetlands and create vegetated buffer areas along coastlines to protect communities from storm surges, erosion, and rising sea levels. In southern Louisiana, for example, volunteers have planted thousands of cypress trees and native grasses to strengthen the wetlands along their coast. Strategies like forest conservation and reforestation—protecting and planting new trees—can enhance ecosystem resilience and carbon storage. Other solutions include protecting biodiversity through wildlife corridors, increasing tree cover to keep urban areas cool, and predicting ecosystem disruptions through artificial intelligence or satellite monitoring.

Water management solutions will be needed to respond to changes in the world’s water resources. During drought, we’ll need to increase water efficiency and conservation through improved irrigation techniques, water-efficient appliances, and leak detection systems. Some cities are using rooftop collection systems to gather rainwater for use in gardening and for flushing toilets. Others are using desalination technologies to convert salt water into drinking water. Smart-drainage systems and surfaces like permeable pavement can strengthen flood control and stormwater management in flood-prone areas. Protecting watersheds through reforestation and erosion control will help safeguard freshwater resources, while improving urban water systems can improve efficiency and ensure clean water.

Other benefits of adaptation

When it comes to adaptation solutions, local context is key. Each region of the world will be hit by different disasters and to varying degrees. Each region has a different local climate, geography, infrastructure, and socioeconomic environment. This means not only that adaptation solutions will need to be fitted to the region and community, but that some communities and regions will be more vulnerable because of factors like location, resources, and heavy reliance on the land.

Luckily, adaptation has the power to not only combat the direct impact of climate change, but improve lives. For example, Bangladesh is a country with few resources. It’s also vulnerable to hurricanes and storms. Flooding and saltwater intrusion, where inland water tables and wells are tainted by salt water from the ocean, can destroy crops and limit freshwater availability. In many places, communities can’t afford to rebuild after storms or invest in resilient water-management systems.

Fortunately, with a combination of foreign investment and local innovation, the people of Bangladesh are adapting. Community and household rainwater harvesting systems have been constructed to supply fresh water. New fishing practices, such as crab farming and hydroponics, were developed to supplement incomes and local food supply. Advanced weather monitoring systems are helping farmers harvest before a storm wipes out their crops. Reliable access to fresh water is improving health and nutrition, and these solutions are creating new jobs that provide stable incomes. Together these solutions are not only addressing the impacts of climate change but also introducing new technologies and practices that improve lives.