This volume is based on plenary presentations from Challenges of a Changing Earth, a Global Change Open Science Conference held in Amsterdam, The Neth- lands, in July 2001. The meeting brought together about 1400 scientists from 105 co- tries around the world to describe, discuss and debate the latest scientific - derstanding of natural and human-driven changes to our planet. It examined the effects of these changes on our societies and our lives, and explored what the future might hold. The presentations drew upon global change science from an exceptionally wide range of disciplines and approaches. Issues of societal importance the food system, air quality, the carbon cycle, and water resources were highlighted from both policy and science perspectives. Many of the talks presented the exciting scientific advances of the past decade of international research on global change. Several challenged the scientific community in the future. What are the visionary and creative new approaches needed for studying a complex planetary system in which human activities are in- mately interwoven with natural processes? This volume aims to capture the timeliness and excitement of the science p- sented in Amsterdam. The plenary speakers were given a daunting task: to reproduce their presentations in a way that delivers their scientific messages accurately and in sufficient detail but at the same time reaches a very broad audience well beyond their own disciplines. Furthermore, they were required to do this in just a few pages.
Recenzijos
Praise for Will Steffen's, Challenges of a Changing Earth
American Meteorological Society
"This book presents a state-of-the-science overview of global change and its consequences for human societies. It highlights four areas of critical importance: food, water resources, air quality, and the carbon cycle. From both science and policy prespectives; discusses the new scientific approaches needed to study the Earth system in the future; and summarizes recent advances in understanding in global change science."
Daugiau informacijos
Springer Book Archives
I Opening.- 1 Opening Address.- 2 Challenges of a Changing Earth.- II
Achievements and Challenges: Part IIa Food, Land, Water, and Oceans.- 3
Toward Integrated Land-Change Science: Advances in 1.5 Decades of Sustained
International Research on Land-Use and Land-Cover Change.- 4 Climate
Variability and Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics: Implications for Sustainability.- 5
Food in the 21st Century: Global Climate of Disparities.- 6 Equity Dimensions
of Dam-Based Water Resources Development: Winners and Losers.- IIb Out of
Breath: Air Quality in the 21st Century.- 7 Atmospheric Chemistry in the
Anthropocene.- 8 Fires, Haze and Acid Rain: The Social and Political
Framework of Air Pollution in ASEAN and Asia.- IIc Managing Planetary
Metabolism? The Global Carbon Cycle.- 9 Carbon and the Science-Policy Nexus:
The Kyoto Challenge.- 10 Industry Response to the CO2 Challenge.- IId
Summary: Global Change and the Challenge for the Future.- 11 Global Change
and the Challenge for the Future.- III Advances in Understanding: Part IIIa
Global Biogeochemistry: Understanding the Metabolic System of the Planet.- 12
Ocean Biogeochemistry: A Sea of Change.- 13 The Past, Present and Future of
Carbon on Land.- 14 Can New Institutions Solve Atmospheric Problems?
Confronting Acid Rain, Ozone Depletion and Climate Change.- IIIb Land-Ocean
Interactions: Regional-Global Linkages.- 15 Emissions from the Oceans to the
Atmosphere, Deposition from the Atmosphere to the Oceans and the Interactions
Between Them.- 16 The Impact of Dams on Fisheries: Case of the Three Gorges
Dam.- 17 Global Change in the Coastal Zone: The Case of Southeast Asia.- IIIc
The Climate System: Prediction, Change and Variability.- 18 Climate Change
Fore and Aft: Where on Earth Are We Going?.- 19 Climate Change Past,
Present andFuture: A Personal Perspective.- 20 The Changing Cryosphere:
Impacts of Global Warming in the High Latitudes.- 21 The Coupled Climate
System: Variability and Predictability.- IIId Hot Spots of Land-Use Change
and the Climate System: A Regional or Global Concern.- 22 Hot Spots of
Land-Use Change and the Climate System: A Regional or Global Concern?.- 23
Africa: Greening of the Sahara.- 24 The Role of Large-Scale Vegetation and
Land Use in the Water Cycle and Climate in Monsoon Asia.- 25 Can
Human-Induced Land-Cover Change Modify the Monsoon System?.- 26 The Amazon
Basin and Land-Cover Change: A Future in the Balance?.- IV Looking to the
Future: Part IVa Simulating and Observing the Earth System.- 27 Virtual
Realities of the Past, Present and Future.- 28 Coping with Earth System
Complexity and Irregularity.- 29 Simulating and Observing the Earth System:
Summary.- IVb Does the Earth System Need Biodiversity?.- 30 Marine
Biodiversity: Why We Need It in Earth System Science.- 31 Does Biodiversity
Matter to Terrestrial Ecosystem Processes and Services?.- 32 Biodiversity
Loss and the Maintenance of Our Life-Support System.- IVc Can Technology
Spare the Planet?.- 33 Maglevs and the Vision of St. Hubert - Or the Great
Restoration of Nature: Why and How.- 34 Industrial Transformation: Exploring
System Change in Production and Consumption.- 35 Will Technology Spare the
Planet?.- IVd Towards Global Sustainability.- 36 Challenges and Road Blocks
for Local and Global Sustainability.- 37 Research Systems for a Transition
Toward Sustainability.- 38 Summary: Towards Global Sustainability.- IVe
Closing Session.- 39 Closing Address.- 40 The Amsterdam Declaration on Global
Change.
Daugiau apie elektronines knygas