For billions of people, mountain meltwater is essential for drinking water and sanitation, food and energy security, and the integrity of the environment. But today, as the world warms, glaciers are melting faster than ever, making the water cycle more unpredictable and extreme. And because of glacial retreat, floods, droughts, …
Fisheries and aquaculture play an important but often unsung role in economies around the world, in both developed and developing countries. This document reviews: the predicted impacts of climate change on physical and ecological features of aquatic systems and their impacts on the fisheries and aquaculture sector; the role of …
Climate Resilient Cities: A Primer on Reducing Vulnerabilities to Climate Change Impacts and Strengthening Disaster Risk Management in East Asian Cities is prepared as a guide for local governments in the East Asia Region to better understand the concepts and consequences of climate change; how climate change consequences contribute to …
Climate change is one of the most serious threats the world faces. It will affect all of us, but will have a disproportionate impact on millions of poor rural people. Climate change is a challenge to everyone working in development and will make it more difficult to achieve the Millennium …
This paper contains detailed discussions on climate change strategies. It looks at climate change related issues in several sectors including forestry, energy (biofuels), waste management, and groundwater, as well as key institutional and industry developments in response to climate change challenges. The paper summarises current policy responses from around the …
Climate change will result in additional food insecurities, particularly for the resource poor in developing countries who cannot meet their food requirements through market access. Communities must protect themselves against the possibility of food-shortage emergencies through appropriate use of resources in order to preserve livelihoods as well as lives and …
This volume is the result of a trade and climate change seminar held in Copenhagen in June 2008. Following the structure of that seminar, it explores six themes that link trade and investment to climate change, for each asking where trade policy might be of service to climate change objectives. …
Climate change will have a disproportionate impact on poor developing countries - compared to the expected net effects in developed regions - due to a combination of more severe climatic impacts in areas that are already vulnerable today, coupled with inadequate resources, technology and organizational capacity to adapt to them. …
This technical paper addresses the issue of freshwater. Sealevel rise is dealt with only insofar as it can lead to impacts on freshwater in coastal areas and beyond. Climate, freshwater, biophysical and socio-economic systems are interconnected in complex ways. Hence, a change in any one of these can induce a …
Biofuels are being promoted as energy sources that could reduce both dependence on imported oil and fossil fuel emissions. Currently, a large percentage of biofuels are produced from food crops, a situation that some experts say is leading to food insecurity around the world. Not only are more crops being …
Biofuels are held up as a relatively easy solution to the twin problems of petroleum dependence and carbon emissions. But new research suggests that fuels such as corn-based ethanol may cause as many problems as they solve. Clearing new land and converting existing cropland to certain fuel feedstocks can actually …
Energy policies are in transition worldwide based on a convergence of factors including static oil production coupled with increased demand, a desire for energy independence, and growing awareness of climate change. Making energy choices that improve human health, the environment, and economic development is possible if we understand the complex …
What should we do about climate change? The question is an ethical one. Science, including the science of economics, can help discover the causes and effects of climate change. It can also help work out what we can do about climate change. But what we should do is an ethical …
The Garnaut Climate Change Review was required to examine the impacts of climate change on the Australian economy, and to recommend medium- to long-term policies and policy frameworks to improve the prospects of sustainable prosperity. This draft report describes the methodology that the Review is applying to the: evaluation of …
This report offers a comprehensive analysis of a suite of climate policy initiatives associated with a cap and trade program with the goal of identifying those empirical and design issues that most influence the economic consequences of their enactment. Empirically, present-value policy costs heavily depend on the actual outcomes of …
"IF THE best way to create the future is to invent it, we say the second-best way is to finance it." John Doerr is only half joking. He is one of the most influential venture capitalists in Silicon Valley, and he knows a thing or two about financing the future. …
Anyone clinging to the notion that we can wipe the slate clean of all our climate mistakes by deflecting the sun's rays with space mirrors is in for a disappointment. Dan Lunt of the University of Bristol, UK, and colleagues carried out the most detailed climate-modelling study to date on …
The Australian mining giant, Rio Tinto, has warned that the government must road-test carbon emissions trading before introducing it, or face economic risk. In its submission to the government's climate change review committee, the mining company said that the country needs more time to prepare for emissions trading. The government …
