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Final Report of the National Assessment Synthesis Team Released
The U.S. National Assessment of the Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change has released the final report of the National Assessment Synthesis Team titled Climate Change Impacts on the United States: The Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change. The draft version of the report was made available for public comment from 12 June until 11 August. The final report, released Friday afternoon (10 November), was revised based on public comments and will be forwarded to the federal agencies, the President and the Congress in accordance with the 1990 Act that established the U.S. Global Change Research Program. The intention of the report is to help inform the American public about the potential consequences of climate variability and change and the possibilities for adapting to the evolving conditions.

global change research
Changes in North American Land Use Have Had Major Impact on Global Environment
The reforestation of former farmland over the last century has played an important role in reducing the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, according to Princeton scientists. The scientists, publishing in the 10 November issue of Science, reported that changes in land use have been critical in allowing North American forests to regrow and soak up large amounts of carbon dioxide. Previous studies had suggested that other factors, such as the fertilizing effects of carbon dioxide, were spurring forests to absorb more carbon dioxide. "Changes in the way we manage our land have had a real impact on the global environment," said the paper's lead author, John Caspersen. The finding makes it clear, however, that this benefit will not continue indefinitely, because the regrowth of forests will slow as they mature. The results could have important implications for policymakers wrestling with the question of how to reduce the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Scientists have been trying for more than a decade to track the fate of carbon dioxide pumped into the atmosphere as a result of burning fossil fuels. Early studies showed that despite six billion tons of the gas emitted each year, only three or four billion tons accumulate in the atmosphere. Landmark studies from Princeton and elsewhere showed that trees and other land plants, which absorb carbon dioxide during photosynthesis, were taking up a large part of the "missing" carbon. Then, in 1996, a Princeton-led group reported that much of this absorption was happening in the United States and neighboring countries - a phenomenon called the "North American carbon sink."

global change news
Climate Summit Must Look at Africa's Plight, U.N. Says
African countries, which do least to fuel global warming but will feel its effects the hardest, must be given special consideration at next week's climate change summit, a senior U.N. official said Thursday (9 November). Klaus Toepfer, executive director of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), said the meeting in The Hague must look at ways to help African nations deal with new weather conditions. "We are already in a time of climate change. It is not a prognosis for the future. The poorest countries, especially in Africa, will be the real victims," Toepfer told reporters in the Kenyan capital Nairobi where UNEP has its headquarters. "The Hague climate change conference needs to adopt practical measures to strengthen the ability of developing countries -- particularly in Africa -- to adapt to climate change." Africa produces just 3.2 percent of worldwide emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases, but this year's floods in Mozambique and drought in Ethiopia showed how vulnerable the continent is to freak weather caused by global warming. Africa's poverty and its high dependence on farming and natural resources put it at greatest risk.

global change news
Green Group Says Close Climate Loopholes at The Hague
The World Wide Fund for Nature said Thursday (9 November) an international agreement to combat climate change could prove worse than useless unless governments agreed to close potential loopholes. WWF told a news briefing the 1997 Kyoto Protocol might not have the desired effect of reducing the industrial world's greenhouse gas emissions and could have the reverse effect of boosting environmentally undesirable industries. "Fossil fuel burning lies at the heart of the Kyoto Protocol but there are a range of loopholes that will allow individual countries to meet their targets without reducing their emissions," WWF's Liam Salter told a news conference. The U.N.-sponsored protocol commits developed countries to reduce emissions of six greenhouse gases by five percent from 1990 levels by 2008-2012. But the agreement envisions "flexible mechanisms" which would allow countries to achieve emissions reduction credits without actually reducing emissions in their own territory. How these will work in practice is one of the key questions to be solved at an intergovernmental meeting starting Monday in The Hague - dubbed by some the "Climate Summit." The protocol's Achilles' heel, according to WWF, is the concept of "carbon sinks" - the use of forestry to absorb carbon dioxide (CO₂), the main greenhouse gas, to offset emissions.

global change news
Forests Could Accelerate Global Warming
Two reports released on 8 November warn against relying on carbon "sinks" to ward off climate change. Relying on forest plantations to store carbon pollution from the atmosphere and combat climate change could accelerate the destruction of old growth native forest around the world, according to a report commissioned by Greenpeace and Worldwide Fund for Nature. In a separate report, the United Kingdom's Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research says that climate change will accelerate because carbon dioxide will be released from soils and decaying forests as the climate warms. It warns further against relying on sinks -- forests that are planted as a means of combating climate change by soaking up greenhouse gases in the atmosphere -- because they also absorb more sunlight which would contribute to global warming. Both reports challenge the assumption that carbon storage in trees will yield environmental benefits. "The economics of the developing carbon sequestration market is becoming an additional driver for clearing native forests," concludes the Greenpeace/WWF report "The Clearcut Case: How the Kyoto Protocol Could Become a Driver for Deforestation." Certain countries are known to be pushing for forests to be used as carbon stores rather than reducing emissions of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming. The issue is expected to be one of the most controversial topics at talks to accelerate emissions cuts under the Kyoto Protocol in The Hague, Netherlands next week.

global change news
U.S. Carbon Dioxide Emissions Rose 1.3% in 1999
U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) report released
U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide, a major part of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, increased 1.3 percent last year according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration which released the figures last week. American cars, utilities and other manufacturing plants spewed an estimated 1,527 million metric tons of carbon equivalent in 1999. Carbon dioxide comprises more than 80 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, which have been linked by scientists to rising global temperatures and changes in weather patterns. The increase of 1.3 percent in carbon dioxide emissions marked a sharp rise over the previous year, when emissions grew 0.1 percent. The increase was also more in line with rises reported throughout most of the 1990s, the EIA said. "Growth in carbon dioxide emissions could have been even higher if normal weather patterns had persisted and non-fossil fuel power generation stayed at average levels," the EIA said in a statement. Overall, U.S. greenhouse gas emissions rose by 0.8 percent in 1999, increasing to 1,833 million metric tons of carbon equivalent, the agency said. That increase was slightly lower than the average annual growth rate of 1.1 percent throughout the 1990s, it said.

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