Climate Change

Integrating issues of climate modelling, ecological and human dimensions of climate change, and policy implications, this volume addresses the critical problems of climate change from a Southern Hemisphere perspective. However, the spatial focus in the book is not defined just by latitude, but also by geopolitical criteria: encompassing the developing world, the tropics north of the equator, as well as regions south of the equator. The book begins by examining the geographic and geopolitical plurality of the Earth, including north and south distinctions and the science/policy plurality. A hemispheric perspective on coupled climate modelling is then discussed, providing a state-of-the-art summary of climate modelling as it pertains to the Southern Hemisphere. In addition, the book examines the interaction of humanity, the biosphere and the atmosphere, discussing the biospheric effects of climate change, possible climatic impacts of biospheric change, particularly tropical deforestation and the human health implications of climate and climate change.

Partial table of contents: GLOBAL CHANGE PLURALITIES. North-South: Where Is the Divide? (R. Graetz & M. Wilson). Bridging the Climate Gaps (A. Henderson-Sellers). HEMISPHERE CLIMATE: GLOBAL MODELS. Coupled Climate Systems Modelling (K. Trenberth). Southern Hemisphere Climate: Comparing Models with Reality (P.Whetton, et al.). Modelling Climatic Variability (N. Nicholls). Palaeoclimatic Modelling: A Western Pacific Perspective (J.Chappell & J. Syktus). CLIMATE CHANGE: ECOLOGICAL AND HUMAN DIMENSIONS. Global Change and Terrestrial Biosphere: The Present and FutureFocus (R. Graetz). Human and Physical Aspects of Tropical Deforestation (A.Henderson-Sellers, et al.). Contextualizing the Effects of Climate Change in Pacific IslandCountries (J. Campbell). POLICY PERSPECTIVES. Climate Science and Politics: The Road to Rio and Beyond (R.Taplin). From Rio to Berlin: Managing Climate Change (D. Victor & J.Salt). The Natural Debt: North and South (K. Smith). Index.