This book is intended to fill a gap in climate-change literature by providing a comprehensive regional study and identifying the overall adaptation challenges in a real-life context. The way in which possible climate impacts interact with a range of other challenges in agriculture, forestry, disaster planning, health care, general economic development, and common livelihoods are presented, and it is argued that greater realism and broader vision are needed in order to address the climate challenge. For instance, unsuitable land- use changes in both coastal and highland regions may increase the vulnerability of rural people, many of whom are already living on the fringes. The author(s) also state(s) that, depending on context, it may be pertinent to address short-term and unsustainable resource use, irregularities in local land management, ineffective governance and social inequality, which are all likely to aggravate the impact of external climate and weather. Not least, it is imperative to integrate general environmental management with any climate-change adaptation effort.

This overview of recent research on how institutions matter in tackling environmental problems reports the findings and policy implications of a decade-long international research project.

This overview of recent research on how institutions matter in tackling environmental problems reports the findings and policy implications of a decade-long international research project. Studies show that institutions play a role both in causing and in addressing problems arising from human-environment interactions. But the nature of this role is complex and not easily described. This book presents an overview of recent research on how institutions matter in efforts to tackle such environmental problems as the loss of biological diversity, the degradation of forests, and the overarching issue of climate change. Using the tools of the “new institutionalism” in the social sciences, the book treats institutions as sets of rights, rules, and decision-making procedures. Individual chapters present research findings and examine policy implications regarding questions of causality, performance, and institutional design as well as the themes of institutional fit (or misfit), interplay, and scale. Institutions and Environmental Change is the product of a decade-long international research project on the Institutional Dimensions of Global Environmental Change (IDGEC) carried out under the auspices of the International Human Dimensions Programme. The book's policy insights demonstrate that research on institutions can provide the basis for practical advice on effective ways to deal with the most pressing environmental problems of our times. Contributors Frank Biermann, Carl Folke, Victor Galaz, Thomas Gehring, Joyeeta Gupta, Thomas Hahn, Leslie A. King, Ronald B. Mitchell, Sebastian Oberthür, Per Olsson, Heike Schroeder, Uno Svedin, Simon Tay, Arild Underdal, Oran R. Young

Environments around the globe are undergoing human-induced change. Human population growth, rapid urbanization, expanding global economy, and the diffusion of western consumer lifestyles are placing increasing pressure on natural and social systems. Global institutions, nation-states, and local communities are seeking to identify and employ sustainable solutions to these environmental and socio-economic challenges. Sustainability has emerged as a policy discourse that seeks to balance the desire and need for economic growth with the protection of the environment, and the promotion of social and environmental justice. This book contributes to the study and search for sustainable responses to global environmental change. The authors of this volume explore environmental change in different places around the world and the diverse responses to such changes. The chapters demonstrate the need for place-specific sustainable development; the authors suggest the need to see sustainable responses to environmental change as a negotiated outcome between various social actors living and working in diverse spatial, environmental and socio-economic contexts. Environmental Change and Sustainability is a timely international examination of the relationship between environmental change and sustainability. As an InTech open source volume, current and cutting edge research methodologies and research results are quickly published for the academic policy-making communities. Dimensions of environmental change and sustainability explored in this volume include: Natural science approaches to study of environmental change Importance of perception in human understanding of environmental change Role of external events and institutions in shaping sustainable responses to environmental change Importance of bottom-up sustainable development as key to reducing environmental risk and community vulnerability The need for place-based sustainable development that combines local conditions with global processes Creation of a sustainable development model that synthesizes local, traditional knowledge of the environment and environmental management with the techniques and understandings generated by modern environmental science

The world's climate is changing, and it will continue to change throughout the 21st century and beyond. Rising temperatures, new precipitation patterns, and other changes are already affecting many aspects of human society and the natural world. In this book, the National Research Council provides a broad overview of the ecological impacts of climate change, and a series of examples of impacts of different kinds. The book was written as a basis for a forthcoming illustrated booklet, designed to provide the public with accurate scientific information on this important subject.

Many of us have concerns about the effects of climate change on Earth, but we often overlook the essential issue of human health. This book addresses that oversight and enlightens readers about the most important aspect of one of the greatest challenges of our time. The global environment is under massive stress from centuries of human industrialization. The projections regarding climate change for the next century and beyond are grim. The impact this will have on human health is tremendous, and we are only just now discovering what the long-term outcomes may be. By weighing in from a physician’s perspective, Jay Lemery and Paul Auerbach clarify the science, dispel the myths, and help readers understand the threats of climate change to human health. No better argument exists for persuading people to care about climate change than a close look at its impacts on our physical and emotional well-being. The need has never been greater for a grounded, informative, and accessible discussion about this topic. In this groundbreaking book, the authors not only sound the alarm but address the health issues likely to arise in the coming years.

Does gender matter in global climate change? This timely and provocative book takes readers on a guided tour of basic climate science, then holds up a gender lens to find out what has been overlooked in popular discussion, research, and policy debates. We see that, around the world, more women than men die in climate-related natural disasters; the history of science and war are intimately interwoven masculine occupations and preoccupations; and conservative men and their interests drive the climate change denial machine. We also see that climate policymakers who embrace big science approaches and solutions to climate change are predominantly male with an ideology of perpetual economic growth, and an agenda that marginalizes the interests of women and developing economies. The book uses vivid case studies to highlight the sometimes surprising differential, gendered impacts of climate changes.