Researchers from the Grantham Research Institute at the London School of Economics identified 658 national laws and policies related to climate adaptation, many of which explicitly acknowledge the potential risks caused by the increasing incidence and severity of extreme weather events.
Although adaptation has typically received less attention than emissions reduction efforts in policy circles, recognition of the urgent need to enhance climate resilience is growing as impacts of climate change are already being experienced, the researchers said.
More than 90 countries have at least one law addressing adaptation, while the issue was addressed at the policy level in at least 170 countries, the study found.
The analysis also found that most adaptation laws and policies came into force between 2009 and 2016, with 85 countries passing a total of 133 adaptation laws and policies in 2012-13.
However, the researchers said the total recorded number of policy interventions was likely to be an underestimate, since many relevant measures overlapped with measures to improve disaster risk management or drive sustainable development.
More detailed analysis of laws and policies was carried out for 100 countries. It found floods and droughts were explicitly mentioned in laws and frameworks in 80 countries, while wildfires, heatwaves, and muslides or landslides were mentioned in 50 nations.
Slow-onset impacts such as soil erosion were mentioned by 60 countries, but ocean acidification was acknowledged by less than 10.
The analysis was published in an updated Climate Change Laws of the World database - launched at a side event on global trends in climate legislation and litigation at the UN climate summit in Madrid.
