Adaptation to climate change and mitigation strategies in cultivated and natural environments. A review

This paper reviews recent scientific literature addressing climate change adaptation and mitigation measures developed by the scientific community. The review analyses more than one hundred papers regarding forests, agriculture and water resources. Its aim is to be used as a basis for supporting future research and long-term mitigation and adaptation planning. Mitigation possibilities are mainly focused on producing energy from renewable resources, reducing CO, emissions from fossil fuels and using biomass specifically produced or different types of wastes. Other mitigation strategies are contrasting or governing land use changes or sequestring C into the soil. Adaptation to climate change will need anthropic intervention, to help the adapting capability of different environments. Most of the papers reviewed underline the need to act immediately to have the desired results, and to take into account, during the design of the strategy, the society and the local authorities, which may be able to help at identifying the vulnerabilities and the appropriate measures for each region.