Year 10 Science · Unit 4 · Lesson 7

Adaptation Strategies

Foundation Worksheet

Name

Date

Class

Learning Goals

Define adaptation and distinguish it from mitigation.
Identify the three main coastal adaptation approaches: protect, retreat, and nature-based solutions.
Recognise examples of agricultural, urban and Indigenous adaptation strategies.

Warm Up

Fill the gap

Choose the correct word from the word bank to complete each sentence. Use each word once. Two words will not be used.

adaptation mitigation sea wall managed retreat mangroves cool burn drought-resistant urban heat island hard limit

1. Adjusting natural or human systems to cope with climate change that is already happening or locked in is called .

2. A concrete or rock barrier built to block waves and flooding from a coastline is a .

3. The planned relocation of people and buildings away from high-risk coastal zones, rather than defending them in place, is called .

4. As a nature-based solution, restoring dissipates wave energy and stores blue carbon while protecting the coast.

5. CSIRO has bred wheat varieties that can maintain yield under water-stress conditions that would devastate conventional crops.

6. A low-intensity fire lit by Aboriginal land managers at the right season to reduce fuel loads is called a .

7. Cities are typically 2-5°C warmer than surrounding rural areas, an effect known as the .

Your Turn

Sort it!

Write each item from the pool into the correct column of the table below.

Building a sea wall to block storm surge Installing solar panels on a hospital roof Planting drought-resistant wheat Switching a coal power plant to wind power Buying out homes in a flood zone (managed retreat) Planting new forests to absorb CO₂ Planting street trees to cool a city Restoring mangroves as a coastal buffer

Adaptation

Mitigation

Show What You Know

1. In one sentence, explain the difference between adaptation and mitigation.

Recall 2 marks

2. Name the three main coastal adaptation approaches described in the lesson.

Recall 1 mark

3. Give one example of an adaptation strategy for farming and one for cities.

Recall 2 marks

Wrap Up

In one sentence, what was the main idea of this lesson?

Answer Key (for teachers)

Warm Up, Fill the gap

1. adaptation

2. sea wall

3. managed retreat

4. mangroves

5. drought-resistant

6. cool burn

7. urban heat island

Not used: mitigation, hard limit.

Your Turn, Sort it!

Adaptation: Building a sea wall to block storm surge; Planting drought-resistant wheat; Buying out homes in a flood zone (managed retreat); Planting street trees to cool a city; Restoring mangroves as a coastal buffer.

Mitigation: Installing solar panels on a hospital roof; Switching a coal power plant to wind power; Planting new forests to absorb CO₂.

Show What You Know

1. Adaptation adjusts systems to cope with climate change that is already happening or locked in (reducing the harm), whereas mitigation reduces greenhouse gas emissions to limit how much future warming occurs (addressing the cause). [2 marks]

2. Protect (hard engineering, e.g. sea walls and levees); managed retreat; and nature-based solutions (e.g. mangrove restoration). [1 mark]

3. Farming, any one of: drought-resistant crop varieties, changed planting dates, precision irrigation, diversification/agro-ecology. Cities, any one of: cool roofs, urban greening (street trees, green roofs, parks), Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD), heat health warning systems. [2 marks]