This document is part of Technical Report (ref: EUR 21758 EN) from the Joint Research Centre and presents part of the modelling work conducted by DG JRC/IPTS as a contribution to the DG ENV Communication on post-2012 climate policy analysis (June 2005). The analyses with the POLES and GEM-E3 models show that the costs of abatement policies, both in marginal terms and total terms, can be significantly reduced if emissions trading and project based mechanisms are used.

The annual report includes an overview of the diffusion of environmentalism in Japan and the world during FY 2003. The report details the environmental issues and the environmental conservation measures by the Japanese government in FY 2003.

This report includes case studies on urban development and the carbon cycle in the Americas. The authors intend to demonstrate the consequences of different pathways of urban development on the carbon cycle, and identify points of management and intervention aimed at designing less-carbon intensive development.

This report provides information for policy makers, scientists and engineers in the field of climate change and reduction of CO2 emissions. It describes sources, capture, transport, and storage of CO2, as well as the costs, economic potential, and societal issues of the technology, including public perception and regulatory aspects.

This treaty governs mechanisms designed to ensure long-term conservation and sustainable use of certain species of fish, including tuna, swordfish, and marlin.

This publication discusses global environmental efforts, successes, and setbacks of 2004.

Change in the coastal zone has always been an integral topic in the APN’s research framework, and that there are serious coastal problems and issues in the Asia-Pacific region that need to be addressed. With this in mind, the 8th APN Inter-Governmental Meeting, held in Hanoi in March 2003, endorsed the initiation of a two-year APN Global Change Coastal Zone Management Synthesis. The APN Coastal Zone Management Synthesis identified research gaps and needs for future coastal zone research in the Asia-Pacific region. Products and outputs of the synthesis are available in electronic and printed formats, the first a Coastal Zone Management Synthesis Report, the second a substantial publication, a book emphasising research gaps and a broad research agenda for the region.

Recent years have seen a greatly increased understanding of how global environmental change will affect crop and animal productivity and these results pave the way for broader analyses of global environmental change impacts on food production. However, there is a need to think beyond productivity and production - food security is the ultimate concern, as it is of greater relevance to societal well-being and hence policy-making. To address this broader concept of food security, research and policy formulation needs to be set within the context of food systems, rather than just food supply. This will allow a more thorough understanding of the links between food security and the environment, and make clearer where technical and policy interventions in food systems might be help them adapt to global environmental change.

Western Development is an important strategy of China Government. The ecological environment in the western region of China is very fragile, and any improper human activity or resource utilization will lead to irrecoverable ecological degradation. Therefore, the integrated ecosystem assessment in the western region of China is of great significance to the Western Development Strategy. This project, Integrated Ecosystem Assessment of Western China (MAWEC), will provide very important scientific foundations for both the central and local governments to make decisions on ecological construction, thus assuring the successful implementation of the Western Development Strategy. Meanwhile, MAWEC as one of the MA sub-global assessments is contributing to strengthen capability in boosting the development of the ecological science, interaction between different subjects, and combination between scientific research and practice, and pushing forward international cooperation in the relevant fields.

The iLEAPS Science Plan and Implementation Strategy defines the scientific objectives and key research issues of the land-atmosphere project of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme. It also outlines a strategy for addressing the key research questions. The scope of iLEAPS research spans from molecular level processes - such as synthesis of volatile organic compounds in vegetation - to Earth System science issues, climate and global change. iLEAPS research emphasises the importance of connections, feedbacks and teleconnections between the numerous processes in the land-atmosphere interface. Due to the complexity and wide range of scientific issues, iLEAPS stresses the need for increased integrative approaches and collaboration, involving scientists from various disciplines, experimentalists and modellers, and international research projects and programmes.

This report summarizes the Expert Meeting on Emission Scenarios to help inform the fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC.

Coastal zones play a key role in Earth System functioning, by contributing significantly to the life support systems of most societies. Human activities modifying riverine hydrology and riverine material fluxes to the coastal zone, have increased in both scale and rate of change in the last 200 years. The underlying processes that drive changes to coastal systems occur at a multiplicity of temporal and spatial scales. These changes alter the availability of ecosystem goods and services. However, disciplinary fragmentation impedes our ability to understand the regional and global changes that affect coastal systems, and thus limits our ability to guide management and decision making. Progress has been made in understanding the changes in Earth System processes that affect the coastal zone, and the role of coastal systems in global change. This includes identifying proxies that describe the state of coastal systems under existing conditions and change scenarios. Typologies have been developed to assist in the interpolation of results into areas where primary information is lacking. This has enabled a first-order up-scaling to a global synthesis.

This report presents scientific analysis of the costs, benefits, and effectiveness of federal programming to reduce acid rain.

Magazine of the United Nations Environment Programme discussing worldwide environmental policies and other concerns. This issue is devoted to problems with enforcing laws and regulations that protect the environment and safeguard health and sanitation.

Magazine of the United Nations Environment Programme discussing worldwide environmental policies and other concerns. This issue is devoted to environmental problems and solutions specific to urban environments.

Magazine of the United Nations Environment Programme discussing worldwide environmental policies and other concerns. This issue is devoted to nature's contributions to biodiversity, recreation, sustainability, and sanitation.

This report summarizes a meeting to develop the 4th IPCC Assessment Report. The meeting was attended by international experts in adaptation, mitigation and/or sustainable development.

This report is supporting material prepared for consideration by the IPCC. It was reviewed by participants of the Geneva meeting, but not reviewed through the IPCC formal process.

This Special Report on Safeguarding the Ozone and the Global Climate System has been developed in response to invitations from Parties to the UNFCCC and the Montreal Protocol. It provides information relevant to decision-making in regard to safeguarding the ozone layer and the global climate system: two global environmental issues involving complex scientific and technical considerations.

This book describes the mission of the World Future Council, which came into existence shortly after publication. Many values are shared across cultures and those values need to be represented by a common voice. The World Future Council was launched to fill that role, and seeks to be an ethically powerful global voice that appeals and responds to basic human values.

Tunza is a magazine published by the UN Environment Programme about environmental issues from a youth perspective. This issue is about consumption, consumerism, recycling, the sustainable use of resources.

Tunza is a magazine published by the UN Environment Programme about environmental issues from a youth perspective. This issue is about transportation, urban planning, waste management, and ecology.

Tunza is a magazine published by the UN Environment Programme about environmental issues from a youth perspective. This issue is about international cooperation to reduce or end poverty and the promotion of sustainable development.

This research shows perennial Arctic ice is melting by nearly 10% a decade. It’s on course to disappear entirely by the end of the century. This means polar bears, walrus and seals living on the ice could become extinct. Many other Arctic species would also feel severe impacts. The fears of Inuit communities from Greenland to eastern Russia are also covered in the WWF report. Global warming puts traditional hunting and food-sharing at great risk." Sixty per cent of the tundra habitat of birds like ravens, snow buntings, falcons, loons, sandpipers and terns could be lost in the 2°C warming scenario. Migratory birds will lose vital staging and breeding grounds, affecting biodiversity around the world. So, two degrees? It’s too much!