Human dimensions of global environmental change : research pathways for the next decade / Committee on the Human Dimensions of Global Change, Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, Committee on Global Change Research, Board on Sustainable Development, Policy Division, National Research Council.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

National Research Council (U.S.) Committee on the Human Dimensions of Global Change., Corporate Author.

Series:

Compass series (Washington, D.C.)

Compass series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Climatic changes--Social aspects--United States.

Climatic changes.

Nature--Effect of human beings on.

Nature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (99 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Washington, D.C. : National Academy Press, 1999.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This publication is extracted from a much larger report, Global Environmental Change: Research Pathways for the Next Decade, which addresses the full range of the scientific issues concerning global environmental change and offers guidance to the scientific effort on these issues in the United States. This volume consists of Chapter 7 of that report, "Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change," which was written for the report by the Committee on the Human Dimensions of Global Change of the National Research Council (NRC). It provides findings and conclusions on the key scientific questions in human dimensions research, the lessons that have been learned over the past decade, and the research imperatives for global change research funded from the United States.

Contents:

Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change

Copyright

Contents

Preface

Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change: Research Pathways for the Next Decade

SUMMARY

INTRODUCTION

CASE STUDIES: CONTRIBUTIONS OF HUMAN DIMENSIONS RESEARCH IN ADDRESSING GLOBAL CHANGE

Human Dimensions Research and the IPCC

Consequences of Climate Change and Variability at the Regional Level

KEY SCIENTIFIC QUESTIONS

What Are the Major Causes of Changes in the Global Environment

Human Activity and Land Use Change

Human Impacts on Coastal and Marine Ecosystems

Changes in Energy and Materials Use

WHAT ARE THE HUMAN CONSEQUENCES OF GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE?

Consequences of Future Climate Changes

Impacts of Past and Present Climate Variability

Ozone Depletion

Environmental Change and Security

WHAT ARE THE POTENTIAL HUMAN RESPONSES TO GLOBAL CHANGE?

International Environmental Policy

National and Local Institutions

Market Mechanisms

Valuation of Responses to Global Change

Understanding Risk, Uncertainty, and Complex Choices

Integrated Assessment

What Are the Underlying Social Processes, or Driving Forces, Behind the Human Relationship to the Global Environment?

Public Attitudes and Values

Individual and Household Behavior

Economic Transformations

Human Population Dynamics

Technological Change

LESSONS LEARNED

Relative Importance of Socioeconomic Uncertainty

Complex Determination of Environmentally Significant Consumption

Importance of Vulnerability Analysis in Impact Assessment

Importance of Institutional Design to Environmental Resource Management

Importance of Both Analysis and Deliberative Procedure in Environmental Decision Making

Importance of a Broad-Based Infrastructure

Significance of Improved Observational Methods and Data Systems.

RESEARCH IMPERATIVES

Social Determinants of Environmentally Significant Consumption

Sources and Processes of Technological Change

Regionally Relevant Climate Change Assessments and Seasonal to Interannual Climate Predictions

Social and Environmental Surprises

Effective Institutions for Managing Global Environmental Change

Changes in Land Use/Land Cover and Patterns of Migration

Methods for Improving Decision Making About Global Change

Improve Integration of Human Dimensions Research with USGCRP Science Themes and with Other International Research

Improve Geographic Links to Existing Social and Health Data

CONCLUSION: KEY RESEARCH ISSUES FOR THE USGCRP

NOTES

REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY.

Notes:

"This study was supported by Contract Nos. 50-DKNA-5-00015 and 50-DKNA-7-90052 between the National Academy of Sciences and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration"--T.p. verso.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 69-83).

ISBN:

0-309-18444-4

1-280-18581-3

9786610185818

0-309-59358-1

0-585-08495-5

OCLC:

44964781