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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 11, NUMBER 4, APRIL-MAY 1998

REPORTS...
IMPACTS

Item #d98may90

Impacts of Climate Change on Forests (Climate Issue Brief No. 9), R. Sedjo, B. Sohngen, 25 pp., Apr. 1998 (RFF).

Identifies potential sources of forest damage and evaluates the possible socioeconomic consequences. Concludes that the effects of climate change on forests generally and on timber harvests in particular are likely to be positive, meaning that previous research warning of severe consequences has overstated the risk. They also find that effects on ecological values associated with forests are a source of concern in specific places but need not be large overall, especially if climate change is relatively gradual and adaptation is enhanced.

Item #d98may91

MacKenzie Basin Impact Study (MBIS), Final Report, 332 pp., Aug. 1997, CDN $30 (Atmos. Environ. Service). Summary (20 pp.) available (tel: 800 668 6767; WWW: http://www.tor.ec.gc.ca/earg/mbis/mackenzie.htm).

This extensive, six-year study, covering impacts on one-sixth of the area of Canada, finds that the MacKenzie Basin may already be experiencing changes to its climate from greenhouse warming since the region has already warmed 1.5°C this century. A projected 4.5° C increase by the middle of the 21st century would lower lake levels, thaw permafrost, and increase forest fires and mudslides. Rapid change would make adaptation more difficult, and traditional aboriginal lifestyles would be at risk if vegetation and wildlife patterns are modified. Recommends that governments include the potential for climate change in management agreements for natural resources; that private sector industries consider climate change in their research, planning and design of projects such as pipelines and dams; that researchers incorporate traditional knowledge into their databases.

Item #d98may92

Agriculture and Climate Change, T. O'Riordan, Ed., 57 pp., 1997, $9/£5 (CSERGE).

Climate change is likely, based on the best models available, and it will push the margins of crop production farther north. The major problems will lie in water availability and biodiversity.

Item #d98may93

Coral Reefs and Global Climate Change, May 1997 (WWF).

Climate change threatens coral reefs, particularly in Florida, the Bahamas, Columbia and Thailand, and may push them to extinction in areas where other human pressures such as coastal development and pollution are serious.

Item #d98may94

Impacts and Responses of the Weather Insurance Industry to Recent Weather Extremes, S.A. Changnon et al., 166 pp., 1996. Contact the author at 801 Buckthorn, Mahomet IL 61853 (tel: 217 586 5691).

This final report to the Univ. Corp. for Atmos Res. concerns a study of recent (1991-1994) weather extremes in the U.S., which prompted claims that the extremes were a signal of a changed climate. Concludes that recent large losses have been driven largely by population increases, and they do not constitute evidence of a changed climate.