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Global Climate Change Digest
A Guide to Information on Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion
Published July 1988 through June 1999

FROM VOLUME 3, NUMBER 10, OCTOBER 1990

PROFESSIONAL PUBLICATIONS...
GENERAL INTEREST AND POLICY

Item #d90oct1

"Coming to Terms: Toward a North South Compact for the Environment," J.G. Speth (World Resour. Inst.), Environ., 32(5), 16-20, 40-42, June 1990.

Global environmental challenges cannot be met without a new era of cooperation and agreement between industrial and developed countries. These North-South understandings must transcend the traditional environmental agenda and incorporate initiatives in policy areas as diverse as international trade and debt, development and assistance, energy, technology transfer, and population. They would constitute a global compact for environmental protection and economic progress.

Item #d90oct2

"A Proposed Structure for an International Convention on Climate Change," W.A. Nitze (Environ. Law Inst., Washington, D.C.), Science, 249, 607-608, Aug. 10, 1990.

Proposes the following set of targets for greenhouse gas emissions reductions over a ten-year period: (1) a stabilization target placing an overall ceiling on the participating countries' emissions of all greenhouse gases, (2) a CO₂ stabilization subtarget for the OECD (industrialized) countries, (3) an energy efficiency subtarget whereby each party would improve its ratio of carbon emissions to GNP by 2% per year in a manner that would best suit its circumstances, and (4) a deforestation subtarget to eliminate net loss of forests.

Item #d90oct3

"Balancing Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide," T.J. Goreau (324 N. Bedford Rd., Chappaqua NY 10514), Ambio, 19(5), 230-236, Aug. 1990.

Stabilizing atmospheric CO₂ requires coupled measures to balance sources and sinks through large investments in increased sustainable productivity on degraded tropical soils, and research on renewable energy and biomass product development in developing countries. A mechanism is outlined that links fossil-fuel combustion sources of CO₂ to removal via biotic productivity and storage. A cost-benefit analysis suggests such measures are affordable and would cost far less than inaction.

Item #d90oct4

"A 1,400-Year Tree-Ring Record of Summer Temperatures in Fennoscandia," K.R. Briffa (Clim. Res. Unit, Univ. East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK), T.S. Bartholin et al., Nature, 346(6283), 434-439, Aug. 2, 1990.

Reprocessing of tree-ring data for the past 1400 years for northern Fennoscandia has shown little evidence for the existence of a Medieval Warm Epoch, and the Little Ice Age seems to be confined to a relatively short period between 1570 and 1650. This challenges the idea that these climatic changes occurred synchronously throughout Europe in all seasons and suggests that any summer warming induced by greenhouse gases may not be detectable in this region until after 2030.

Item #d90oct5

"Puzzles from the Tropics," D. Rind (NASA Goddard Space Flight Ctr., 2880 Broadway, New York NY 10025), Nature, 346(6282), 317-318, July 26, 1990.

Discusses how the reconstruction of past climatic conditions for the African tropics by Bonnefille et al. (next entry) has implications for our ability to predict future global climate changes in the tropics using general circulation models.

Item #d90oct6

"Temperature and Rainfall Estimates for the Past 40,000 Years in Equatorial Africa," R. Bonnefille (Lab. Géol. Quaternaire, CNRS Luminy, 13288 Marseille, France), J.C. Roeland, J. Guiot, Nature, 346(6282), 347-349, July 26, 1990.

Presents new quantitative estimates of temperature and precipitation based on a multivariate analysis of pollen time-series data from peat deposits in Burundi. The estimated temperature decrease of 4 + or - 2° C for the last glacial period is less than estimates derived from snow-line and tree-line records. Mean annual rainfall is estimated to have decreased by 30% during the last glacial period, in agreement with the rainfall history inferred from lake level fluctuations.

Item #d90oct7

"An Integrated Model for the Assessment of the Greenhouse Effect: The Dutch Approach," J. Rotmans (Nat. Inst. Public Health & Environ. Protec.--RIVM, POB 1, 3720 BA, Bilthoven, Neth.), H. de Boois, R.J. Swart, Clim. Change, 16(3), 331-356, June 1990.

The Integrated Model for the Assessment of the Greenhouse Effect (IMAGE) predicts impacts based on different assumptions for technological and socio-economic developments, treating the contribution of each trace gas independently. Allowable emission rates can be derived given specified effect-related targets. Predictions of global temperature and sealevel rise are made for four different scenarios. Results emphasize the importance of trace gases other than CO₂; the Montreal Protocol is found to stabilize the relative contribution of CFCs to the greenhouse effect.

Item #d90oct8

"Der `Treibhauseffekt': Ausgangs der Achtziger Jahre (The `Greenhouse Effect': At the End of the Eighties)," H. Oeschger (Physikalisches Inst., Univ. Bern, Sidlestr. 5, CH-3012 Bern, Switz.), Chimia, 43(11), 331-337, Nov. 1989. In German.

Reviews the status of international scientific programs and achievements. Includes (in English) a talk delivered by Frank Press, president of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, to the symposium Planet Earth (June 1989, Paris), entitled "What I Would Advise a Head of State about Global Change."

Item #d90oct9

"Nitrous Oxide Flux Following Tropical Land Clearing," F. Luizao (Dept. Ecol., Inst. Nacional de Pesquisas da Amzônia, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil), P. Matson et al., Global Biogeochem. Cycles, 3(3), 281-285, Sep. 1989.

N₂O flux from forest, cleared land and pasture was measured over an annual cycle in the central Amazon. A pasture that had been converted from tropical forest had three-fold greater annual N₂O flux than a paired forest site, suggesting such tropical pasture represents a globally significant source of increased N₂O.