Inventory of Research on the Impacts of Climate Change

• Main Authors: Cesar, H., Linden, O., Walker, R.
• Format: Book
• Language: English
• Published: IR-04-018 2004
• Subjects: Antarctic; Arctic; Antarc*; British Antarctic Survey; Climate change; Human health
• Online Access: https://pure.iiasa.ac.at/id/eprint/7428/; https://pure.iiasa.ac.at/id/eprint/7428/1/IR-04-018.pdf

Climate change is one of the greatest threats for the global environment today. Global mean temperature has risen by about 0.6 degrees C during the 20th century, greater than during any other century in the last 1000 years. Subsequently, climate change is likely to have detrimental effects on all global natural and anthropogenic systems. Climate change will have consequences for the structure and function of ecosystems and all the major global biomes. Also agricultural production and productivity will alter, and physical effects will take place on the environment affecting those that inhabit it. For example, sea level rise and climatic variations will have implications for human health, land use and coastal infrastructure. This report aims to identify the current and proposed research and assessments being undertaken by international organizations as well as the major national research groups regarding climate change and its effects on ecosystems, on agriculture (including fisheries and forestry) and on the economy and human society. The report also identifies possible gaps in this research. The IPCC, basing its assessment on peer reviewed and published scientific/ technical literature, plays a main role in summarizing climate change research and forming a worldwide consensus on future scenarios. The IPCC published its Third Assessment Report in 2001. Global research on the effects of climate change amongst the world's ecosystems is being undertaken and/or coordinated by organizations such as FAO, UNEP, UNDP, the World Conservation Union (IUCN), the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP). They work on several crosscutting projects in climate change and terrestrial ecosystems and biodiversity. The World Bank is sponsoring numerous projects worldwide to promote research in the subject. Higher latitudes are covered by bodies such as the British Antarctic Survey, the Canadian Institute for Climate Studies and the Nordic Arctic Research Programme among others. In middle latitudes, many leading research ...