Although it is now widely recognized throughout societies around the world that humankind is straining the capacity of our planet, the responses of the many parties who need to come together to solve the myriad challenges have in general been sectoral in their approach. In this book, eight highly experienced authors from academia, intergovernmental negotiation, and diplomacy each present their own perspective and assess prospects for progress. The necessity for interdisciplinarity of approach, and for partnership and altruism on an unprecedented scale for solution, and for new negotiation and...

This volume presents an overview of climatic hazards and climate change, focusing on societal responses, insurance and methodologies for analysis. Drawing on primary research from researchers worldwide, it explores the potential sensitivity to changes in weather hazards that might be expected with climate change. Present hazard vulnerability and risk are often poorly understood and changes in disaster management are crucial. The book argues that disaster managers must adapt their policies to new climatic conditions and continue monitoring trends to detect significant shifts in risk and...

The book addresses the threat of climate change to world food security, by providing an authoritative review of climate change and surprise, contrasting trends in world food security, case studies of food and the environment, and chapters on adaptive responses. It reviews: trends in agriculture and food security - projections of the incidence and distribution of hunger over the next few decades; the risk and global impacts of climate change on agricultural systems, relying on alternative models of world agricultural potential that have simulated the impacts of climate change; vulnerability...