The Third African Drought Adaptation Forum was held in September 2008 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The Forum was organized so that participants could exchange practical experiences, findings and ideas on how to adapt to the increasing threat of drought and climate change in the drylands of Africa. The report contains a summary of sessions and outlines key themes that emerged from the discussions.

This executive order establishes the Alaska Climate Change Sub-Cabinet to advise the Office of the Governor of Alaska on the preparation and implementation of a climate change strategy for Alaska.

This executive order establishes the Alaska Climate Change Sub-Cabinet to advise the Office of the Governor of Alaska on the preparation and implementation of a climate change strategy for Alaska.

California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. This bill would require Air Resources Board (ARB) to adopt a statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit equivalent to the statewide greenhouse gas emissions levels in 1990 to be achieved by 2020. ARB shall adopt regulations to require the reporting and verification of statewide greenhouse gas emissions and to monitor and enforce compliance with this program. AB 32 directs Climate Action Team established by the Governor to coordinate the efforts set forth under Executive Order S-3-05 to continue its role in coordinating overall climate policy.

To assist policy makers in understanding the complex issues under discussion in the negotiating process, UNDP commissioned a series of background briefing papers on the key issues under the four main "building blocks" of the current international negotiations -- mitigation, adaptation, technology and finance -- as well as land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF). This document contains summaries for policy makers of these briefing papers.

The Carbon Labelling project implemented several labelling measures in Europe focused on transportation products and services with low CO2 emissions. The project promoted biodiesel, low-viscosity lubricants and ‘low carbon’ freight services. This first European carbon labelling initiative supported the discussion about measures for the greenhouse gas reduction (GHG) targets of the European Union and the role of biofuels to mitigate GHG emissions. Carbon life cycle numbers were calculated with GHG models from leading European research institutes. The identified carbon reduction numbers were used for pilot labelling initiatives via the label “CO2Star” developed by a professional advertising agency. The label and consumer information websites provided information to consumers about environmental and economic benefits of the labelled biofuels, lubricants and freight services. For instance, the German fuel distributor Q1 implemented a carbon labelling pilot programme for biodiesel (B 100) and lubricants at its fuel stations, while Dutch horticulture freight companies implemented the carbon label to promote "low carbon" freight services.

The report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change of 1995 has been taken as a starting point. Since 1995 many new observations and reports have become available. Much of the information on observations and studies on climate change and its impacts can be found through the Internet. Where possible we have made references, such that the reader can easily verify and review our sources. This study addresses three main questions: To what extent can the human influence on the climate system presently be measured? What can we expect for the short term and long-term future? To what extent will measures to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions affect the future climate?

The paper presents UNDP's strategy to support the efforts of developing countries and vulnerable groups for scaling up mitigation and adaptation action to successfully meet the climate change challenge and achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Representatives from 4 state agencies (Agency of Natural Resources, Agency of Transportation, Agency of Agriculture Food & Markets & Department of Public Service), known collectively as the Climate Change Transition Team (CCTT) worked over the past 5 months to review the recommendations in the Governor’s Commission on Climate Change(GCCC) Report (October 2007) and to develop work plans for each recommendation. The resulting report provides these draft work plans and also serves as a current inventory of ongoing activities and programs that either directly or indirectly address the climate change/GHG emission issue.

Numerous independent analyses indicate that we must limit climate change to less than 2ºC above preindustrial temperatures to avoid dangerous impacts to nature, humans, and the global economy.Average global warming of 2°C will result in dangerous and irreversible effects, which rapidly worsen above 2°C warming.This paper seeks to identify the massive difference between the impacts that will happen at 2 and 3°C.

This Science Plan is mainly concerned with the current extinction crisis on Earth, which, unlike its predecessors, is occurring at an unprecedented rate, is the direct result of human activities and is occurring at all levels at which diversity is measured - from the genetic diversity of many natural and domesticated species to the diversity of ecosystems and landscapes, through the tremendous richness of species. Current human-induced rates of species extinction are estimated to be about 1,000 times greater than past background rates. Biodiversity is the variety of life on Earth. Scientists commonly measure and describe this variety at the level of genes, species and ecosystems, but scientific interest in biodiversity goes far beyond describing and measuring it. The DIVERSITAS programme was founded to address the scientific questions that need to be answered in order to understand how biodiversity supports life on Earth, what the impacts of the present loss of biodiversity are for human and ecosystem survival and how humans can sustainably use and conserve biodiversity.

The focus of this meeting was on the future of the IPCC, in particular the scoping of the 5th Assessment Report. The Panel was also invited to consider the outcome of the Scoping Meeting for a possible Special Report on "Extreme events and disasters: managing the risks", and of the Expert Meeting on "Alternative common metrics to calculate the CO2 equivalence of anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases".

An act to establish the legislative commission on global climate change: to direct the commission to study issues related to global warming, the emerging carbon economy, and whether it is appropriate and desirable for the state to establish a global warming pollutant reduction goal; and, if the commission determines that the establishment of a goal is appropriate and desirable, to authorize the commission to develop a recommended goal.

The Global Land Project (GLP) Science Plan and Implementation Strategy represents the joint research agenda of IGBP and IHDP to improve the understanding of land system dynamics in the context of Earth System functioning. This plan is therefore a first critical step in addressing the interaction between people and their environments. It is part of the broader efforts to understand how these interactions have affected, and may yet affect, the sustainability of the terrestrial biosphere, and the two-way interactions and feedbacks between different land systems within the Earth System. GLP will play a clear role in improving the understanding of regional and global-scale land systems, as well as promoting strong scientific synergy across the global change programmes. This Science Plan and Implementation Strategy develops a new integrated paradigm focused on two main conceptual aspects of the coupled system: firstly, it deals with the interface between people, biota, and natural resources of terrestrial systems, and secondly, it combines detailed regional studies with a global, comparative perspective. GLP takes as its points of departure ecosystem services and human decision making for the terrestrial environment. These topics are at the interface of the societal and the environmental domains, and serve as conceptual lenses …

This report is about the impact of the green economy on the global job market.

This guide describes the various operations and activities of the Global Environment Facility partnership.

The effects of global climate change from greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) are diverse and potentially very large, and probably constitute the most serious long-term environmental issue currently facing the world. This paper is prepared as task 1 of the project 'Modelling support for Future Actions - Benefits and Cost of Climate Change Policies and Measures', ENV.C.2/2004/0088, led by K.U.Leuven, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. The paper provides a rapid review and analysis of the impacts and economic costs from climate change. The objective is to provide estimates of the benefits of climate change policy, i.e. from avoided impacts, for support to the Commission in considering the benefits and costs of mitigation efforts, and to support DG Environment in its report to the Spring Council 2005 and in future international negotiations on climate change.

This Initial Science Plan identifies key environmental changes that affect the people and societies of the regions of Asia affected by monsoons. The plan pinpoints people and environments which are most vulnerable to monsoon damage. The plan ends with a reflection on important scientific issues and lists a number of future actions for the Monsoon Asia Integrated Regional Study.

This report discusses the direction of a national policy to protect oceans, coasts, and the Great Lakes while coordinating with national security and foreign policy interests. The priorities include ecosystem restoration, water quality, resiliency to climate change and acidification, and improved environmental observation systems.

This book is a series of reports summarizing discussions and recommendations from a series of forums about strategies to deal with natural disaster. The focus is on changing human behavior and development in order to coexist with natural phenomena rather than trying to control natural phenomena.

These grant materials were prepared for a project funded by Humanities Texas to digitize materials from ten collaborative partners. The documents discuss the historical significance of Lorenzo de Zavala, the proposed materials for digitization, project goals, and publicity. A work plan details selection criteria for materials, the digitization process and scanning standards, translating Spanish materials, and long-term benefits of the project. The project was funded for $10,000.

This report presents recommendations to change the NEPA implementation process, based on the review of an appointed task force.

The Center for Climate Strategies (CCS) prepared this report under contract to the Montana Department of Environment Quality (MDEQ). The report contains an inventory and forecast of the state’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from 1990 to 2020.

El Niño is an abnormal warming of the ocean temperatures across the eastern tropical Pacific that affects weather around the globe. El Niño episodes usually occur approximately every four-five years. NOAA researchers and scientists are presently monitoring the formation of a possible weak El Niño and predict that the United States could experience very weak-to-marginal impacts late winter to early spring 2002.