Maladaptation
An adaptation response that increases climate risk or vulnerability, now or later.
Example
A protective intervention might divert floodwater towards a more vulnerable neighbourhood.
The catch
Assess distributional effects and longer-term consequences.
In more depth
Maladaptation, explained.
Maladaptation often comes from solving one risk well and ignoring the side effects. A seawall can encourage new building behind it, and the losses grow larger if it is ever overtopped. Air conditioning protects people from heat yet, on a fossil-heavy grid, adds emissions and dumps waste heat into the street. Irrigation can rescue a harvest while draining the aquifer the next drought will depend on.
IPCC AR6 reports growing evidence of maladaptation across sectors and regions, and notes that it often falls hardest on marginalised groups. Good climate adaptation keeps options open, involves the people affected and checks results over time. Use the word for outcomes. A measure that has not yet caused harm is better described as carrying a risk of maladaptation.