Adaptation to climate change raises fundamental challenges concerning the development of integrated adaptation strategies. In the presentation, four overarching challenges and how to respond to them will be elaborated in more detail: the integration of climate change mitigation and adaptation measures; the need to address the adaptation requirements of important economic and political sectors of society, the need to address specific regional vulnerabilities and the interplay of several levels of decision making. The issue of adaptation to climate change thus presents far-reaching challenges in terms of shaping societal development and, more specifically, societal relationships with nature as a whole.