Ecological Consequences Of Climate Change 2012

Contemporary climate change is a crucial management challenge for wildlife scientists, conservation biologists, and ecologists of the 21st century. Climate fingerprints are being detected and documented in the responses of hundreds of wildlife species and numerous ecosystems around the world. To mitigate and accommodate the influences of climate ch

This is the ninth of the books published by the Roberts Envi-ronmental Center on various aspects of global climate change, analyz-ing and summarizing a selection of the papers published in scientific technical journals over the previous year. It deals with a small subset of the biological and ecological topics that could be covered, but deals with them in enough depth that the reader should come away with a clear view of the magnitude of the potential problems associated with anthropogenic (man-made) global warming from burning fossil fuels and the subsequent climate change. I write this contemporaneously with the 2011 United Nation climate talks being held in Durban, South Africa. The mood in the climate community is not particularly good; climate change has largely been eclipsed by global economic uncertainty in the public mind-enough so that you hardly hear any-thing about it from the Republican candidates who have been debating seemingly weekly all fall, and many of whom in previous years would have been strongly denouncing the very idea of anthropogenic climate change. But to the extent that it is in the public mind, the recent release of the second round of stolen emails from climate scientists at the University of East Anglia doesn't help their credibility, or the credibility of climate change itself, with the public and the skeptics. Nevertheless, studies of the biological and ecological effects of increasing levels of greenhouse gas, global warming, and climate change are proceeding apace. The 50-some papers that are reviewed here address a wide range of concerns, some of which seem not so threatening in the short term (such as that increasing CO2 concentra-tions are offsetting the adverse effects of temperature in many plant species for the moment) and others somewhat frightening (the in-creasing size of wildfires globally, for example). In the middle are dis-turbing topics such as the shifting of ecological range of many species and a general decrease in biodiversity in many places, accompanied by inevitable extinctions, both in the terrestrial and marine environments, and the uncertain effects of climate change on human migration, This book is intended for non-scientists interested in getting a little more technical information than is possible in the popular media, but less than from trying to read papers in Science, Nature, or Proceedings of the National Academy of Scientists (PNAS) from which many of the underlying papers came. The authors have done a good job of simplifying difficult material without dumbing it down, and most readers will find it understandable and interesting.

The world's climate is changing, and it will continue to change throughout the 21st century and beyond. Rising temperatures, new precipitation patterns, and other changes are already affecting many aspects of human society and the natural world. In this book, the National Research Council provides a broad overview of the ecological impacts of climate change, and a series of examples of impacts of different kinds. The book was written as a basis for a forthcoming illustrated booklet, designed to provide the public with accurate scientific information on this important subject.

This book provides an authoritative insight on the Loss and Damage discourse by highlighting state-of-the-art research and policy linked to this discourse and articulating its multiple concepts, principles and methods. Written by leading researchers and practitioners, it identifies practical and evidence-based policy options to inform the discourse and climate negotiations. With climate-related risks on the rise and impacts being felt around the globe has come the recognition that climate mitigation and adaptation may not be enough to manage the effects from anthropogenic climate change. This recognition led to the creation of the Warsaw International Mechanism on Loss and Damage in 2013, a climate policy mechanism dedicated to dealing with climate-related effects in highly vulnerable countries that face severe constraints and limits to adaptation. Endorsed in 2015 by the Paris Agreement and effectively considered a third pillar of international climate policy, debate and research on Loss and Damage continues to gain enormous traction. Yet, concepts, methods and tools as well as directions for policy and implementation have remained contested and vague. Suitable for researchers, policy-advisors, practitioners and the interested public, the book furthermore: • discusses the political, legal, economic and institutional dimensions of the issue• highlights normative questions central to the discourse • provides a focus on climate risks and climate risk management. • presents salient case studies from around the world.

This report provides a new detailed quantitative assessment of the consequences of climate change on economic growth through to 2060 and beyond.

This latest Fifth Assessment Report of the IPCC will again form the standard reference for all those concerned with climate change and its consequences.