The Impact of Climate Change on Regional Systems: A Comprehensive Analysis of California (New Horizons in Environmental Economics series) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1845427475 ISBN 13: 9781845427474

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2007

Synopsis

Climate scientists have determined that recent global temperature increases are due in large part to increased greenhouse gas emissions from human activities. Even if mitigation of these gases begins immediately, there is every reason to believe that climate change will continue to occur. Every region in the world ought to forecast, as the contributors do in this study of California (a region of broad variation and high population), how it will be affected by climate change and how it might best adapt.

Models are used to estimate potential physical and biological impacts, efficient adaptations, and residual damages from climate change. The contributors cover a broad array of climate change impacts on affected market sectors (including water supply, agriculture, coastal resources, timber, and energy demand) as well as ecosystems and biodiversity. An integrated hydrologic-agriculture model is developed to explore how the region would adapt to changes in water flows. Interactions between climate impacts and population and economic growth, urbanization, and technological change are also explored. For example, the study examines how both climate change and projected land development affect the region's terrestrial ecosystems and biodiversity.

The level of geographical detail, along with the broad applicability of the modeling, methodology, and conclusions, make this a unique and valuable reference for environmental economists, scientists, planners, and policymakers.

About this title

About the Author:

Edited by Joel B. Smith, Vice President, Stratus Consulting Inc., Boulder, Colorado, US and Robert Mendelsohn, Edwin Weyerhaeuser Davis Professor, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, US

Review:

`The book works well as a reference for how one can examine potential climate change impacts in a subnational area. A clear strength of the work lies in the unifying framework that the climate, population, and, to a somewhat lesser degree, urbanization scenarios provide. Collectively, these appear to bracket a wide range of possible drives that will shape climate change impacts. The overall analysis takes a refreshing approach in that it does not try to fit all these elements and the subsystem impact assessments into one grand integrated model, but rather develops the assessments from a common base while allowing each to follow its own logic and scale. . . it provides a welcome overview of how one can conduct a multisystem, multisector climate impact assessment that combines natural, engineering, and social sciences in a rigorous format.' -- Kris Wernstedt, Journal of Regional Science

About this edition

• Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1845427475
• ISBN 13: 9781845427474
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 304
• Editor: Smith Joel B., Mendelsohn Robert