The Andean Glacier and Water Atlas

Adaptation, often understood as “adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli or their effects” (IPCC, 2007), is essential for healthy societies and ecosystems in the face of climate change. While covering a multitude of actions, from the individual to governmental level, adaptation measures aim to moderate harm or beneficially exploit opportunities resulting from climate changes (IPCC, 2007). It includes reactive and proactive forms of both public and private initiatives, and they often tend to be on-going processes. Adaptation needs to be based on careful analysis of the underlying socio-economic factors of vulnerability to climate change in order to avoid maladaptation; that is, “any adaptation responses that address immediate risks but increase future risks, because they create conditions that ultimately raise vulnerability” (McGray et al., 2007). The Andean region is undergoing climatic changes that will have far-reaching impacts on the environment and consequently the lives of many Andean people. Communities will need to tackle challenges resulting from climate change, such as water scarcity, Addressing water challenges

unpredictable water availability and also risks of flooding due to glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs). Improving natural water storage in Andean ecosystems As the water storage capacity of glaciers decreases, it will become essential to maximize other opportunities for water storage. For example, the Andean wet páramos ecosystems, which can be found in the highlands of western Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and northern Peru, have been shown to be very important for hydrological storage (Buytaert et al., 2006). Finding ways to support and enhance the natural hydrological storage and regulation capacity of ecosystems, with measures such as ecosystem restoration and adaptation are therefore important. Ecological restoration is defined as “the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, or destroyed” (SERI, 2006). The aim of restoration is to achieve function of the original ecosystem by re-establishing the complex

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