Adaptation and adaptation ethics within the framework of ethical dimensions of climate change

Standards are the criteria constructed for the evaluation of products, processes, actions, and people. Governments, businesses, international organizations, societies, and individuals have their own standard-setting methods. There are standards on life and on all areas of life. One of the oldest standards designed for the individual and his behaviour is ethics. Ethics has been shaped by thinkers in various fields for thousands of years. Currently, ethical standard-setting endeavours are not merely fulfilled by philosophers. NGOs, universities, states, and even international organizations are also working on this area. In the face of a global problem such as climate change, it is a fact that there are walls and difficulties that economy and politics cannot overcome. For ethics, since it is not bound by the conflicting and aggressive spirit of politics and the economy, it is relatively easier to cross borders and form a global convergence point. The search for a global solution against global climate change and the global problems it created have inevitably led humanity to ethics. Consequently, it is observed that ethical standards are established at a scale that even includes states. Climate change has different consequences in almost every part of the world and these consequences create winners and losers. This situation makes climate change an ethical area of problem. Nevertheless, it is seen that it is a very challenging effort to ethically address a multidimensional problem such as climate change. In this thesis, although climate change is explored in terms of its ethical dimension, for a successful climate policy, clearly an integrated approach should be developed with many different perspectives such as economy, health, justice, politics etc. Climate change has reached such an extent that humanity cannot disregard or avoid its effects. That is why it is impossible to be content with merely reducing emissions and increasing sinks. It has become an obligation to develop adaptation standards against prime environmental problems arising from climate change. Although there are different approaches on how to adapt to climate change, ethical standards of adaptation should also be determined. The objective of this study is to analyse adaptation to climate change within an ethical framework. Because climate change challenges the ethical traditions of humanity. It fundamentally shakes the social institutions and lifestyles of thousands of years. It makes its presence felt in every scale, from our daily habits to international relations. It is also a highly complex, contradictory, compelling, and transformative process and affects all lives. Experiencing such a process, humanity will follow a path to adapt and that path must be examined from an ethical point of view. Because facing such a problem without considering ethics could lead to great mistakes and may cause people who are already under unfavourable conditions to become worse, to waste adaptive capacity, and even to result the adaptation efforts to become maladaptation. Examining adaptation to climate change in an ethical context is not a subject that has been adequately addressed in the Turkish academic literature. In this respect, this thesis sheds light on a previously unexamined area. It is also thought that this study will be a guide for future research in this field.