Last Updated:
February 28, 2007

GCRIO Program Overview

Library 
Our extensive collection of documents.

Privacy Policy

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

FROM VOLUME 4, NUMBER 11, NOVEMBER 1991

PROFESSIONAL PUBLICATIONS...
GENERAL INTEREST AND POLICY

Item #d91nov1

Special Section: "Symposium on Global Climate Change and Public Policy," Policy Studies J., 19(2), Spring 1991. For back copies ($4 individuals/$8 institutions), write to PSJ, 361 Lincoln Hall, 701 Wright St., Univ. Illinois, Urbana IL 61801).

"Policy Analysis and the Management of Climate Change: Institutional Adaptability in the Face of Scientific Uncertainty," D.L. Feldman (Global Environ. Studies Ctr., Oak Ridge Nat. Lab., POB 2008, Oak Ridge TN 37831), D. Mann, Eds., 43-49.

The symposium consists of 11 articles that (1) focus on constraints and opportunities afforded by contemporary domestic and international political institutions and upon framework conventions and protocols; (2) seek to better understand particular agreements such as the Montreal Protocol which provide useful precedents for managing broad, transboundary problems; and (3) focus upon the manner in which perceived equity and fairness will affect the likelihood that agreements for managing global climate change will be viewed as acceptable by various stakeholders. The editors conclude that while the challenges of global climate change may be urgent, creative policy options appear to be available for their management.

"Governing Global Climate Change: Can We Learn from the Past in Designing the Future?" W.H. Lambright (Maxwell School, Syracuse Univ., Syracuse, N.Y.), R. O'Leary, 50-60.

"Scientific Uncertainties, Public Policy and Global Warming: How Sure Is Sure Enough?" E.W. Colglazier (Energy/Environ./Resour. Ctr., Univ. Tennessee, Knoxville, Tenn.), 61-72.

"State Responses to Global Climate Change," B.S. Jones (Dept. Political Sci., State Univ., Stony Brook, N.Y.), 73-82.

"Sea Level Rise and Policy Change: Land Use Management in the Sacramento-San Joaquin and Mississippi River Deltas," M. Meo (Sci./Publ. Policy Prog., Univ. Oklahoma, Norman, Ok.), 83-92.

"Institutions for Global Change: Whither Environmental Governance," P.H. Sand (U.N. Conf. Environ. Develop., Geneva, Switz.), 93-102.

"Implementing Global Environmental Agreements," G. Bryner (Dept. Political Sci., B. Young Univ., Provo, Utah), 103-114.

"The Evolution of Global Regulation of Atmospheric Pollution," M.S. Soroos (Dept. Political Sci., North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, N.C.), 115-125.

"Unilateral Environmental Policy in the Global Commons," K. Krutilla (School Publ./Environ. Affairs, Indiana Univ., Bloomington, Ind.), 126-139.

"Doing Well by Doing Good: Technology Transfer to Protect the Ozone," S.J. DeCanio (Dept. Econ., Univ. California, Santa Barbara, Calif.), K.N. Lee, 140-151.

"The Montreal Protocol: Lessons for Formulating Policies for Global Warming," P.M. Morrisette (Clim. Resour. Prog., Resour. for the Future, Washington, D.C.), 152-161.

Item #d91nov2

"Global Warming: A Policy Review," P.M. Morrisette (addr. immed. above), A.J. Plantinga, Policy Studies J., 19(2), 163-172, Spring 1991.

Examines how the global warming issue reached the forefront of international politics, which is remarkable in view of its uncertainties. Reviews the positions of major nation groups, noting that the unprecedented degree of financial and technological assistance needed by developing nations may be the most difficult point to resolve.

Item #d91nov3

"Greenhouse Mitigation: Review of a Flawed Contribution to Policy Analysis," J. Darmstadter (addr. immed. above), ibid., 173-181. The recommendations of the IPCC Response Strategies Working Group, despite several strong points, is seriously lacking any estimate or even discussion of the costs of limiting greenhouse gas emissions.

Item #d91nov4

"Benefit-Cost Implications of Acid Rain Controls: An Evaluation of the NAPAP Integrated Assessment," E.S. Rubin (Ctr. Environ. Studies, Carnegie Mellon Univ., Pitts-burgh PA 15213), J. Air Waste Mgmt. Assoc., 41(7), 914-921, July 1991.

(See News, this Global Climate Change Digest issue--Nov. 1991.) While NAPAP made significant scientific contributions, key gaps are found in the assessment of benefits and costs most relevant to policy decisions. Lessons for future large-scale assessments are: start early and revise often; use assessments to direct the research agenda and identify policy-related priorities; work hard to communicate results to policy makers and policy needs to scientists; use a hierarchy of models with complementary strengths and capabilities, because the best scientific models are not necessarily best for integrated assessments.

Item #d91nov5

"Final Statement of the Second World Climate Conference," Environ. Conserv., 18(1), 62-66, Spring 1991. The complete text from the November 1990 conference, which concludes that despite uncertainties, nations should now take steps towards reducing levels of greenhouse gases, through a negotiated international convention. A brief summary of the conference by its coordinator, H.G. Ferguson (c/o WMO, POB 2300, CH-1211 Geneva 2, Switz.), appears on pp. 81-82.

Item #d91nov6

"Can Planted Forests Counteract Increasing Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide?" P.M. Vitousek (Dept. Biol., Stanford Univ., Stanford CA 94305), J. Environ. Qual., 20(2), 348-354, Apr.-June 1991.

Converting old-growth forests to tree plantations is a losing proposition, and establishing plantations by reforestation of other areas would at best cause a brief delay in the accumulation of CO₂. But forest plantations designed to produce energy from biomass would represent a longer-term contribution to reducing CO₂, as long as they replaced fossil fuel-derived energy.

Item #d91nov7

"The Development and Evaluation of a Gravimetric Reference Scale for Measurements of Atmospheric Carbon Monoxide," P.C. Novelli (CIRES, C.B. 449, Univ. Colorado, Boulder CO 80309), J.W. Elkins, L.P. Steele, J. Geophys. Res., 96(D7), 13,109-13,121, July 20, 1991.

Atmospheric CO plays an important role by tending to prolong the lifetime of reduced trace gases such as methane whose major sink is oxidation with hydroxyl radicals. Results of this first major intercomparison of reference standards used throughout the world for measuring CO shows that measurements made by Australia's CSIRO are 25% too low.