J. Rotmans – författare

Global climate change - rapid, substantial and human induced - may have radical consequences for life on earth. The problem is a complex one, however, demanding a multi-disciplinary approach. A simple cost-benefit analysis cannot capture the essentials, nor can the issue be reduced to an emissions reduction game, as the Kyoto process tries to do. It is much more sensible to adopt an integrative approach, which reveals that global climate change needs to be considered as a spider in a web, a triggering factor for a range of other, related problems - land use changes, water supply and demand, food supply, energy supply, human health, air pollution, etc. But an approach like this, which takes account of all items of knowledge, known and uncertain, does not produce clear-cut, final and popular answers. It does provide useful insights, however, which will allow comprehensive and effective long-term climate strategies to be put into effect. Climate Change: An Integrated Perspective will appeal to a broad spectrum of readers. It is a useful source for the climate-change professionals, such as policy makers and analysts, natural and social scientists. It is also suitable for educationalists, students and indeed anyone interested in the fascinating world of multidisciplinary research underlying our approach to this global change issue.

Global climate change - rapid, substantial and human-induced - may have radical consequences for life on earth. The problem is a complex one, however, demanding a multi-disciplinary approach. A simple cost-benefit analysis cannot capture the essentials, nor can the issue be reduced to an emissions reduction game, as the Kyoto process tries to do. This text considers an integrative approach, which reveals that global climate change needs to be considered as a spider in a web, a triggering factor for a range of other, related problems - land use changes, water supply and demand, food supply, energy supply, human health, and air pollution. But an approach like this, which takes account of all items of knowledge, known and uncertain, does not produce clear-cut, final and popular answers. It does provide useful insights, however, which will allow comprehensive and effective long-term climate strategies to be put into effect.

A collection of papers prepared for the European Forum on Integrated Environmental Assessment''s (EFIEA) Policy Workshop on Scaling Issues in Integrated Assessment, held from 12-19 July 2000.

A collection of papers prepared for the European Forum on Integrated Environmental Assessment''s (EFIEA) Policy Workshop on Scaling Issues in Integrated Assessment, held from 12-19 July 2000.

A collection of papers prepared for the European Forum on Integrated Environmental Assessment's (EFIEA) Policy Workshop on Scaling Issues in Integrated Assessment, held from 12-19 July 2000.

Global climate change - rapid, substantial and human induced - may have radical consequences for life on earth. The problem is a complex one, however, demanding a multi-disciplinary approach. A simple cost-benefit analysis cannot capture the essentials, nor can the issue be reduced to an emissions reduction game, as the Kyoto process tries to do. It is much more sensible to adopt an integrative approach, which reveals that global climate change needs to be considered as a spider in a web, a triggering factor for a range of other, related problems - land use changes, water supply and demand, food supply, energy supply, human health, air pollution, etc. But an approach like this, which takes account of all items of knowledge, known and uncertain, does not produce clear-cut, final and popular answers. It does provide useful insights, however, which will allow comprehensive and effective long-term climate strategies to be put into effect. Climate Change: An Integrated Perspective will appeal to a broad spectrum of readers. It is a useful source for the climate-change professionals, such as policy makers and analysts, natural and social scientists. It is also suitable for educationalists, students and indeed anyone interested in the fascinating world of multidisciplinary research underlying our approach to this global change issue.

This book is the result of a research project entitled "Reference function for Global Air Pollution/C0 " initiated by RIVM. It deals with the description 2 of a computer simulation model of the greenhouse effect. This model, IMAGE, tries to capture the fundamentals of the complex problem of climate change in a simplified way. The model is a multidisciplinary product and is based on knowledge from disciplines as economics, atmospheric chemistry, marine and terrestrial biogeochemistry, ecology, climatology, and glaciology. This book might be of interest for anyone working in the broad field of climate change. Furthermore, it can be useful for model builders, simulation experts, mathematicians etc. A PC version of the model will become avail­ able free of charge. Requests can be sent to the author. Although being the only author of this book, I could never have written it without the help of many other people. First of all I would like to thank Koos Vrieze, originally a colleague at RIVM, later my professor. Without his inspiring attitude I would have never finished this thesis. I am also very grateful to RIVM for giving me the opportunity to write this thesis. lowe many thanks to Hans de Boois and Rob Swart for their support and assis­ tance during the research. Furthermore, I would like to thank my trainees who have substantially contributed to the contents of this book.