This treaty takes action to control the introduction and spread of pests of plants and plant products. The treaty protects natural as well as cultivated plants, so it has implications for agriculture as well as biodiversity. While the IPPC's primary focus is on plants and plant products moving in international trade, the convention also covers research materials, biological control organisms, and anything else that can act as a vector for the spread of plant pests including containers, soil, vehicles, and machinery.

This law, passed by the Republic of China (Taiwan) establishes the role National Institute of Environmental Analysis.

This law was passed by the Republic of China (Taiwan) in order to support the training of government officials in certain areas of environmental regulation, assessment, inspection, arbitration, and enforcement.

This summary of assessment provides scientific, technical and economic information that can be used, inter alia, in evaluating whether the projected range of plausible impacts constitutes "dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system," as referred to in Article 2 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and in evaluating adaptation and mitigation options that could be used in progressing towards the ultimate objective of the UNFCCC

This law was established in China to prevent the pollution of the environment by solid waste, to ensure public health and safety, and to promote the development of socialist modernization.

This summary report assesses a large part of the existing literature on the socioeconomics of climate change and identifies areas in which a consensus has emerged on key issues and areas where differences exist1. The chapters have been arranged so that they cover several key issues. First, frameworks for socioeconomic assessment of costs and benefits of action and inaction are described. Particular attention is given to the applicability of costbenefit analysis, the incorporation of equity and social considerations, and consideration of intergenerational equity issues. Second, the economic and social benefits of limiting greenhouse gas emissions and enhancing sinks are reviewed. Third, the economic, social and environmental costs of mitigating greenhouse gas emissions are assessed. Next, generic mitigation and adaptation response options are reviewed, methods for assessing the costs and effectiveness of different response options are summarized, and integrated assessment techniques are discussed. Finally, the report provides an economic assessment of policy instruments to combat climate change.

Greenhouse gas concentrations have continued to increase. Anthropogenic aerosols tend to produce negative radiative forcings. Climate has changed over the past century. The balance of evidence suggests a discernible human influence on global climate. Climate is expected to continue to change in the future. There are still many uncertainties.

There is continuing international concern about global warming and its potential to cause serious disruption to vulnerable social and economic sectors of society as well as to sustainable development efforts. As recently as December 1995, scientists of the World Meteorological Organization/United Nations Environment Programme (WMO/UNEP) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change stated that "the balance of evidence suggests a discernible human influence on global climate", through emissions of greenhouse gases. At the same time, there is a developing capability within national Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) to provide comprehensive information on past, present, and future (seasons to a year ahead) climate and its variations, to a wide spectrum of users. The rapid development of global communications systems means that such information can be provided on a timely basis and is, therefore, of great use to national decision makers.

This brief report describes that the Earth's climate is predicted to change because human activities are altering the chemical composition of the atmosphere. The buildup of greenhouse gases-primarily carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and chlorofluorocarbons-is changing the radiation balance of the planet. The basic heat-trapping property of these greenhouse gases is essentially undisputed. However, there is considerable scientific uncertainty about exactly how and when the Earth's climate will respond to enhanced greenhouse gases. The direct effects of climate change will include changes in temperature, precipitation, soil moisture, and sea level. Such changes could have adverse effects on ecological systems, human health, and socio-economic sectors.

In this USGCRP seminar, issues about the impact of drought and floods in the news and feel it in the cost of goods and services would be discussed. Each year seems to bring with it droughts or floods that cause billions of dollars in economic losses and untold societal disruption to major parts of our nation. (Drought in the Midwest in 1988 and in the Southeast in 1989. Floods in the Mississippi River Basin in 1992 and in California in 1994). Around the world the situation is the same, even worse in some instances. What causes these extreme events and conditions? Can we predict the occurrence of such events as a means of being prepared, and reducing the impacts of extreme climate events? Can we be better prepared? What success to date has there been in predicting such events? What's the prognosis?

This document provide a brief overview of Dr. Eric J. Barron's talk on the results of the USGCRP-sponsored forum to evaluate the results of model simulations of climate change, a cross-section of leading climate and Earth system modelers and skeptics considered what is known with certainty, what is known with less certainty, and what remains uncertain.

In this USGRP Seminar, Dr. Epstein discusses the implications of climate change and the emergence of diseases and viruses such as the hantavirus, dengue fever, ebola, cholera, malaria, and eastern equine encephalitis. These signals of global change can be costly to health, commerce, tourism, and transportation.

This document provides a brief overview of Dr. Thompson's talk on records of changes in climate in general and the most significant implications of the ice core records of past climate changes in particular. Because climate processes that have operated in the past continue to operate today, ice core records are providing very valuable insights. Within the last two decades, long cores of glacial ice have been used to establish and improve the record of past changes in climate. Analysis of ice cores from Antarctica, Greenland and tropical and subtropical areas have provided a wealth of detailed information on past climate changes. As the ice in these glaciers and ice sheets grew over time, layer by layer, tiny pockets of air were trapped within each layer, preserving a continuous record of the natural changes in the concentrations of greenhouse and other gases. In addition, these ice cores have preserved indirect/proxy records of changes in temperature (which can be closely estimated from the isotopic record of oxygen trapped in the ice), in the concentration of windblown dust, and in volcanic activity. By combining this information, these ice cores have preserved a 200,000-year history of climate changes and factors contributing to these …

There is increasing evidence that the global climate is changing: global temperatures have risen about 1 F over the past century, mountain glaciers are melting back, sea level is rising. But how is the climate of the United States changing? Are these changes like others being experienced around the world? Is the US climate becoming more or less variable? Are we having more or fewer climatic extremes? This USGCRP seminar addresses these questions in the context of the anthropogenic influences on atmospheric composition and climate

In this USGRP Seminar, speakers answer the following questions: what is the status of the Earth's ozone layer? Is the Montreal Protocol working? How much time will be necessary for nature to restore the ozone layer? What are the human health effects of increased ultraviolet radiation associated with depletion of the ozone layer? Who is at risk?

In this USGRP Seminar, speakers try to answers questions like:What is the current status of hurricane track prediction? What caused the record number of Atlantic tropical storms in 1995? Are we witnessing a change in the number and frequency of tropical storms? Do these storms represent a changing climate? What will tropical storms be like in a greenhouse warmer world?

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) completed its Second Assessment Report in December 1995. The major conclusions are that greenhouse gas concentrations are increasing, the global climate has been changing, and will likely continue to change, probably due to human influence.

This article was published in Nature and summarized the presentations of a six-day symposium held 3-8 July 1995 on Climate Variability and Forcing over the past mellennium. Our present climate is unusually warm, and the pattern of warming over the past century strongly suggests an anthropogenic influence from greenhouse gas and sulphate aerosols. That was the message emerging from a week-long symposium examining climate variability over the past 1,000 years, which brought together results from a growing array of observational techniques, analyses of natural records and model results.

The panel discussed and adopted various draft reports including the report of the tenth session and the IPCC Synthesis Report. The Panel also accepted contributions of Working Group to its Second Assessment. Among other issues, the Panel considered the budget and assessed the National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Program (IPCC NGGIP). Also, special report on Land use Change and Forestry provided