As we approach the end of the twentieth century, public and scientific attention is focusing increasingly on the detection and assessment of changes in our environment. This unique volume addresses the potential implications of global warming for fisheries and the societies which depend on them. Using a ?forecasting by analogy? approach, which draws upon experiences from the recent past in coping with regional fluctuations in the abundance or availability of living marine resources, it is shown how we might be able to assess our ability to respond to the consequences of future environmental...

We are now in the "Age of Environmental Enlightenment" and global warming is seen as a major threat to the well-being of the world's communities. Today many researchers speculate that with global warming of the atmosphere there will be an increase in drought-related crop failures in areas already subject to drought. They contend that dry areas will get drier and wet areas wetter. Yet observations show that people are moving into regions that are relatively less fruitful with respect to agriculture productivity than the lands from which they emigrated. This book challenges the view that future...

Headlines around the world about severe droughts, hurricanes, and floods caused by El Nino and La Nina appear every few years. El Nino is the second most important climate process after the changing seasons; its effects are widely known, but the equally serious impact of La Nina is only now beginning to be appreciated. Fully revised, Currents of Change clearly explains what El Nino and La Nina are and how they can be forecast. Examining for the first time the major El Nino of 1997-1998, Michael Glantz explains what we can learn from past events, how we can better manage climate-sensitive...

On behalf of the Russian Federation Committee on Water Economy, I would like to welcome the participants of the NATO-sponsored Workshop on the Problems of the Caspian Sea and the Circum-Caspian States. The world's largest intercontinental sea/lake is well known for its wealth mineral and fuel resources and sturgeon stocks' the products of which (oil and caviar) are in constant demand on the world market. During the last half-century the Caspian Sea has been the focus of the scientific community concerned with its level fluctuations. We were, and still are, solving a two-faceted issue: to...

Teleconnections is a central concept in the scientific search for an improved understanding of potential linkages between weather and climate anomalies that occur over relatively large distances. The editors of this 1991 volume brought together contributions from experts in the field, which together provide a comprehensive review of this important subject. This book will be of importance to all professional scientists and researchers in climatology and meteorology, particularly those concerned with air-sea interactions and their environmental impacts and the physical basis for and societal...

This volume presents a synthesis of the ideas that emerged from a colloquium held at the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

The possible impacts of global warming on transboundary resources such as water and fish and the ability of regional organizations to deal with those impacts are closely examined. Using a historical approach, the ways in which regional organizations have responded to changes in the location and amount of resources are assessed. The book closes in suggesting that policymakers review the possible roles for regional organization in issues related to environmental change. If the climate changes, resources are likely to shift at local and regional levels, possibly leading to interstate conflicts.