Climate Change: Global Risks, Challenges and Decisions

by Edited by Katherine Richardson , Will Steffen , Diana Liverman

• ISBN13: 9780521198363
• ISBN10: 0521198364
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-03-31
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Providing an up-to-date synthesis of all knowledge relevant to the climate change issue, this book ranges from the basic science documenting the need for policy action to the technologies, economic instruments and political strategies that can be employed in response to climate change. Ethical and cultural issues constraining the societal response to climate change are also discussed. This book provides a handbook for those who want to understand and contribute to meeting this challenge. It covers a very wide range of disciplines - core biophysical sciences involved with climate change (geosciences, atmospheric sciences, ocean sciences, ecology/biology) as well as economics, political science, health sciences, institutions and governance, sociology, ethics and philosophy, and engineering. As such it will be invaluable for a wide range of researchers and professionals wanting a cutting-edge synthesis of climate change issues, and for advanced student courses on climate change.

Table of Contents

List of contributors

Foreword

Preface

List of acronyms and abbreviations

Climatic Trends:

Identifying, monitoring and predicting change in the climate system

The oceans and the climate system

Sea level rise and ice sheet dynamics

Carbon cycle trends and vulnerabilities

Defining 'Dangerous Climate Change':

The impact of climate change on human societies

Impacts of climate change on the biotic fabric of the planet

Tipping elements: jokers in the pack

Linking science and action: targets, timetables and emission budgets

Equity Issues:

The equity challenge and climate policy: responsibilities, vulnerabilities and inequality in the response to climate change

A long-term perspective on climate change: values and ethics

Mitigation and Adaptation Approaches:

Low-carbon energy technologies as mitigation approaches

Economic approaches and instruments

Geopolitics and governance

Adapting to the unavoidable

Meeting the Challenge:

Integrating adaptation, mitigation and sustainable development

Mobilising the population

The human-Earth relationship: past, present and future

Index

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.