In the face of ecosystem stress, humans endeavor to protect, restore, and sustain what they value by mitigating deleterious environmental change and adapting to its unwanted outcomes. Human intervention can be directed at the human causes or consequences of ecosystem stress.
Mitigation measures aim to prevent, limit, delay, or slow the rate of undesired impacts on environmental systems. They include direct modification of environmental systems (e.g., installing artificial coral reefs to provide essential fish habitat); reducing proximate human causes of ecosystem stress (e.g., regulating a fishery to prevent depletion of stocks); and intervening with social drivers (e.g., providing education and financial assistance to promote agricultural practices that reduce nitrogen inputs).
Adaptive responses aim to reduce or eliminate deleterious consequences of environmental degradation for human well–being. They include blocking impacts of environmental degradation on human values (e.g., improving diagnosis and treatment of illness caused by harmful algal blooms); adjusting to experienced impacts (e.g., evacuating a flooded area); and modifying human systems to reduce anticipated impacts (e.g., establishing early warning systems for hazards).
National Research Council (1992). Global Environmental Change: Understanding the Human Dimensions. Washington, DC: The National Academy Press.
