Adaptive capacity: identifying the challenges faced by municipalities addressing climate change in Mexico

Abstract

In many countries, administrative and economic planning occurs at the municipality level. We believe that relevant policies for adapting to climate change can be initiated at this level. Thus, this article assesses the adaptive capacity of Mexican municipalities and populations to address climate change to measure the challenge that climate change represents. The method was developed as follows. We selected 19 indicators organized into four categories: human, social, financial, and natural. The information was standardized, and we used empirical formulas to obtain an adaptive capacity index. The index was mapped, and the distribution showed the spatial capacity for the adaptation of Mexican municipalities. We discuss the contributions these indicators made to the adaptive capacity and show that the human capital variables were the most relevant for defining the adaptive capacity of municipalities. We also applied this index to the observed climate exposure and sensitivity of Mexican municipalities to climate change. Thus, we propose a matrix to measure the dimensions of the challenges posed by climate change in terms of both decision-making and policy management for increasing the adaptive capacity of municipalities and populations within a nation.