OUR WARMING PLANET: CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS AND ADAPTATION

This volume, the second in the Lectures in Climate Change series, covers the full array of climate impacts and adaptation measures. It has been brought together by friends and colleagues of Dr Martin Parry, Co-Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2007 assessment on impacts and adaptation. The writers are experts in this field and have been lead authors in many of the IPCC assessments and other major publications.

Lectures in Climate Change is a unique combination of written text plus electronic slides that together comprise an informative and up-to-date set of presentations. This second volume, entitled Our Warming Planet: Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation, covers areas of climate impacts related to climate science, methods and approaches, sectors, regional and national studies, and policy and practice.

The volume comprises topics such as current and future challenges of climate change, global assessments, downscaling, community-based adaptation, impacts on biodiversity, food systems, water resources, and cities. Research from across the world is presented on making science actionable through assessments, early warning and early action, communicating climate risk, documenting the uptake of adaptation on the global front, and transformation towards systemic resilience.

Included with this publication are downloadable electronic slides and accompanying notes of each lecture for students, teachers, and public speakers around the world to be better able to understand and present climate change impacts and adaptation.

Contents:

• Climate Science Overview:
  • The 'Climate Change' in 'Climate Change Impacts' (David Rind)
• Methods and Approaches:
  • Assessing Impacts and Adaptation (Timothy R Carter)
  • The Global-scale Impacts of Climate Change (Nigel W Arnell)()li>
  • Downscaling Climate Information (Linda O Mearns)
  • Going to Extremes: From Risk to Resilience (Roger S Pulwarty)
  • Community-based Adaptation to Climate Change (M Feisal Rahman and Saleemul Huq)
• Sectors:
  • Impacts of Climate Change on Biodiversity: The Role of Nature-based Solutions (Pam Berry)
  • The Consequences of Sea Level Rise for Coastal Regions (Robert J Nicholls)
  • Climate Impacts on Water Resources (Joseph Alcamo)
  • Food Systems (John R Porter)
  • Impacts and Adaptation at the Climate Risk Frontier (William R Travis)
  • Cities and Climate Change (Cities and Climate Change)
• Regional and National Studies:
  • On the Frontline: Climate Impacts and Responses in the Pacific Islands Region (John E Hay)
  • Caribbean Coasts: Challenges, Threats and the Pursuit of Solutions Under a Changing Climate (Leonard Nurse)
  • Climate Change Impacts in Africa and the Role of Urbanization and Youth (Coleen Vogel and Gina Ziervogel)
  • The Amazon Forest and Climate Change: A Sustainable Pathway to Avoid a Tipping Point (Carlos A Nobre and Ailton Fabrício-Neto)
  • Cross-sectoral Climate Change Impacts in Europe (Paula A Harrison)
  • Climate Change Risks to the United States and Its Security Interests (Joel B Smith)
  • Climate Change and Natural Disasters in Japan (Nobuo Mimura and Yasuaki Hijioka)
  • Climate Change Risks in Biodiversity Hotspots: A Case Study of South Africa (Guy F Midgley)
• Policy and Practice:
  • What is the Role of Climate Assessments in 2020? (Richard H Moss)
  • Using Climate Science to Prepare for Disasters: Early Warning, Early Action, and Forecast-based Financing (Olivia Warrick, Knud Falk, Irene Amuron and Catalina Jamie)
  • A Risk Management Approach to Climate Change — Examples from IPCC Assessments (Gary Yohe, Richard Richels and Henry Jacoby)
  • Documenting the Uptake of Adaptation Knowledge at the Global Level (Ying Wang, Maarten Kappelle and Jian Liu)
  • Adaptation to Climate Change (Thea Dickinson and Ian Burton)

Readership: Academia: Lecturers (climate science, environmental science), Students (undergraduate and graduate); General public: Anyone wishing to give an upto date lecture on the subject of climate change impacts and adaptation. These users could range from a local community speaker at a town hall event, to a manager in public policy or in private business.

Key Features:

• The lectures on climate change processes and consequences provide snapshots of the cutting-edge work being done to understand what may well be the greatest challenge of our time, in a form suitable for classroom presentation
• There are several unique features for this book and its content that sets it apart from other science-based publications. First, it is a comprehensive collection of topics related to climate change impacts and adaptation. Second, it provides lecturers comprehensive resources (including PowerPoint slides) to teach a range of topics on climate impacts and adaptation and students who can self-learn using the material. Third, the multidisciplinary team of scientists and decision-makers that were recruited and engaged in the publication have shared the best available information and knowledge
• All the contributors to this volume are at the top of the field of climate change, impacts and adaptation. They are leading experts many of whom were the founders of the field of climate change impacts and have advanced scientific understanding and knowledge on climate impacts and adaptation