Environmental Policy Collection - 47 Matching Results
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- Global Climate Change: The Kyoto Protocol
- Negotiations on the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was completed on December 11, 1997, committing the industrialized nations to specified, legally binding reductions in emissions of six “greenhouse gases.” The Protocol entered into force on February 16, 2005, and its emissions reduction requirements are binding on the 35 industrialized countries that have ratified it; the United States disengaged from the Protocol in 2001 and has not ratified it.
- Climate Change Legislation in the 109th Congress
- Climate change and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are a continuing issue in the 109th Congress. Bills directly addressing climate change issues range from those focused primarily on climate change research to comprehensive emissions cap-and-trade programs. Additional bills focus on GHG reporting and registries, or on power plant emissions of carbon dioxide, as part of wider controls on pollutant emissions. The bills vary in their approaches to climate change issues. This report briefly discusses the basic concepts on which these bills are based and compares major provisions of the bills in each of the following categories: climate change research, technology deployment, GHG reporting and registries, and emissions reduction programs.
- Land-Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone: Science Plan and Implementation Strategy
- Coastal zones play a key role in Earth System functioning, by contributing significantly to the life support systems of most societies. Human activities modifying riverine hydrology and riverine material fluxes to the coastal zone, have increased in both scale and rate of change in the last 200 years. The underlying processes that drive changes to coastal systems occur at a multiplicity of temporal and spatial scales. These changes alter the availability of ecosystem goods and services. However, disciplinary fragmentation impedes our ability to understand the regional and global changes that affect coastal systems, and thus limits our ability to guide management and decision making. Progress has been made in understanding the changes in Earth System processes that affect the coastal zone, and the role of coastal systems in global change. This includes identifying proxies that describe the state of coastal systems under existing conditions and change scenarios. Typologies have been developed to assist in the interpolation of results into areas where primary information is lacking. This has enabled a first-order up-scaling to a global synthesis.
- Global Land Project: Science Plan and ImplementationStrategy
- The Global Land Project (GLP) Science Plan and Implementation Strategy represents the joint research agenda of IGBP and IHDP to improve the understanding of land system dynamics in the context of Earth System functioning. This plan is therefore a first critical step in addressing the interaction between people and their environments. It is part of the broader efforts to understand how these interactions have affected, and may yet affect, the sustainability of the terrestrial biosphere, and the two-way interactions and feedbacks between different land systems within the Earth System. GLP will play a clear role in improving the understanding of regional and global-scale land systems, as well as promoting strong scientific synergy across the global change programmes. This Science Plan and Implementation Strategy develops a new integrated paradigm focused on two main conceptual aspects of the coupled system: firstly, it deals with the interface between people, biota, and natural resources of terrestrial systems, and secondly, it combines detailed regional studies with a global, comparative perspective. GLP takes as its points of departure ecosystem services and human decision making for the terrestrial environment. These topics are at the interface of the societal and the environmental domains, and serve as conceptual lenses for the research plan.
- Integrated Land Ecosystem-Atmosphere Processes Study: Science Plan and Implementation Strategy
- The iLEAPS Science Plan and Implementation Strategy defines the scientific objectives and key research issues of the land-atmosphere project of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme. It also outlines a strategy for addressing the key research questions. The scope of iLEAPS research spans from molecular level processes - such as synthesis of volatile organic compounds in vegetation - to Earth System science issues, climate and global change. iLEAPS research emphasises the importance of connections, feedbacks and teleconnections between the numerous processes in the land-atmosphere interface. Due to the complexity and wide range of scientific issues, iLEAPS stresses the need for increased integrative approaches and collaboration, involving scientists from various disciplines, experimentalists and modellers, and international research projects and programmes.
- Our Changing Planet: The U.S. Climate Change Science Program for Fiscal Year 2006
- This Fiscal Year 2006 edition of Our Changing Planet describes a wide range of new and emerging observational capabilities which, combined with the Climate Change Science Program’s analytical work, lead to advances in understanding the underlying processes responsible for climate variability and change. The report highlights progress being made to explore the uses and limitations of evolving knowledge to manage risks and opportunities related to climate variability, and documents activities to promote cooperation between the U.S. scientific community and its worldwide counterparts.
- Safeguarding the Ozone Layer and the Global Climate System: Issues related to hydrofluorocarbons and perfluorocarbons
- This Special Report on Safeguarding the Ozone and the Global Climate System has been developed in response to invitations from Parties to the UNFCCC and the Montreal Protocol. It provides information relevant to decision-making in regard to safeguarding the ozone layer and the global climate system: two global environmental issues involving complex scientific and technical considerations.
- Annual Report on the Environment in Japan 2004
- The annual report includes an overview of the diffusion of environmentalism in Japan and the world during FY 2003. The report details the environmental issues and the environmental conservation measures by the Japanese government in FY 2003.
- Global Environmental Change and Food Systems: Science Plan and Implementation Strategy
- Recent years have seen a greatly increased understanding of how global environmental change will affect crop and animal productivity and these results pave the way for broader analyses of global environmental change impacts on food production. However, there is a need to think beyond productivity and production - food security is the ultimate concern, as it is of greater relevance to societal well-being and hence policy-making. To address this broader concept of food security, research and policy formulation needs to be set within the context of food systems, rather than just food supply. This will allow a more thorough understanding of the links between food security and the environment, and make clearer where technical and policy interventions in food systems might be help them adapt to global environmental change.
- Climate Regime Beyond 2012: Key Perspectives (Long-Term Targets), 2nd Interim Report
- This report presents the international developments related to Long-Term Targets for controlling climate change, the significance of establishing Long-Term Targets, the conditions precedent to debating Long-Term Targets, temperature increases and related impacts due to climate change, the approaches to establishing Long-Term Targets, and the agenda for the future.
- Energy Policy Act
- The Energy Policy Act (EPA) addresses energy production in the United States, including: (1) energy efficiency; (2) renewable energy; (3) oil and gas; (4) coal; (5) Tribal energy; (6) nuclear matters and security; (7) vehicles and motor fuels, including ethanol; (8) hydrogen; (9) electricity; (10) energy tax incentives; (11) hydropower and geothermal energy; and (12) climate change technology. For example, the Act provides loan guarantees for entities that develop or use innovative technologies that avoid the by-production of greenhouse gases. Another provision of the Act increases the amount of biofuel that must be mixed with gasoline sold in the United States.
- The Global Water System Project: Science Framework and Implementation Activities
- Water plays a key role in the development and functioning of society by serving as a basic resource for activities such as irrigation, livestock production, fisheries, aquaculture, and hydroelectric power. Adequate water use in house-holds, businesses and manufacturing is a prerequisite of economic growth. Since many of the world's diseases are waterborne, we need clean water and sanitation for reducing the incidence of these diseases. And, most significantly, water provides habitat and sustenance for a rich diversity of plant and animal species that make up aquatic and riparian ecosystems, providing the basis for many of the goods and services received by society. Society is forcing unprecedented changes on global water resources through worldwide abstraction and pollution of water. Society also has a pervasive indirect impact because anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are causing long-term global changes in weather extremes and climate. Changes in the global water system are difficult to understand with simple cause-effect relationships because of the intense and complex linkages and feedbacks between different parts of the system. These changes and linkages also sometimes lead to abrupt changes in water systems such as the eutrophication of coastal aquatic systems, loss of biodiversity, the exceedance of safe water supply in urban areas, or intense competition between different water sectors for remaining water resources.
- Report of the 23rd Session of the IPCC
- In the context of this agenda item discussion took place on the management plan for the AR4 SYR. The Panel agreed that further consideration will be given by the Bureau to aspects of arrangements for management of the AR4 SYR, and progress reported to the Panel.
- Report of the 24th Session of the IPCC
- The meeting highlighted recent progress in the work of the IPCC, in particular the completion of the two Special Reports on Safeguarding the Ozone Layer and the Global Climate System (SROC), and on Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage (SRCCS) and the preparations for the Fourth Assessment Report (AR4). Among other speakers, the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), Mr Klaus Töpfer addressed the Session on the linkages between science and climate change policy and the increasing need for information from the IPCC. He reaffirmed UNEP's commitment to the IPCC and supported early planning for the period beyond AR4. The Deputy Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), also addressed the Panel on the importance of the principles of impartiality, transparency, scientific authority and integrity for the past success of the IPCC, the linkages of WMO programmes and IPCC assessments, and WMO's commitment to the IPCC.
- Can Cities Reduce Global Warming?: Urban Development and the Carbon Cycle in Latin America
- This report includes case studies on urban development and the carbon cycle in the Americas. The authors intend to demonstrate the consequences of different pathways of urban development on the carbon cycle, and identify points of management and intervention aimed at designing less-carbon intensive development.
- Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage
- This report provides information for policy makers, scientists and engineers in the field of climate change and reduction of CO2 emissions. It describes sources, capture, transport, and storage of CO2, as well as the costs, economic potential, and societal issues of the technology, including public perception and regulatory aspects.
- Shaping our future: Creating the World Future Council
- This book describes the mission of the World Future Council, which came into existence shortly after publication. Many values are shared across cultures and those values need to be represented by a common voice. The World Future Council was launched to fill that role, and seeks to be an ethically powerful global voice that appeals and responds to basic human values.
- Tsunami Risk Reduction for the United States: A Framework for Action
- This document describes proposals for making communities better prepared and more resilient to catastrophic natural disasters like the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2006. Methods described include warning systems, data sharing, and land use decisions.
- National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program Report to Congress: An Integrated Assessment
- This report presents scientific analysis of the costs, benefits, and effectiveness of federal programming to reduce acid rain.
- White House Conference on Cooperative Conservation
- In August 2004 President George W. Bush signed the Executive Order titled "Facilitation of Cooperative Conservation" which directs Federal agencies that oversee environmental and natural resource policies and programs to promote cooperative conservation in full partnership with states, local governments, tribes and individuals. The executive order directed the Chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality to convene a White House Conference on Cooperative Conservation. The Departments of the Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Defense and the Environmental Protection Agency co-hosted the event. Some of the Key Conference Outcomes includes: -Expand state, tribal, and local communities' role in cooperative conservation -Ensure cooperative approach to use of public lands -Measure and monitor results of cooperative conservation -Encourage and reward leadership, innovation and technology -Improve certainty and incentives for stakeholders -Accelerate cooperative conservation as a way of doing business
- GEO Year Book 2004/5: An Overview of Our Changing Environment
- This publication discusses global environmental efforts, successes, and setbacks of 2004.
- A Guide to the Global Environment Facility for NGOs
- This guide describes the various operations and activities of the Global Environment Facility partnership.
- Tunza: The UNEP Magazine for Youth, Volume 3, Number 2, 2005
- Tunza is a magazine published by the UN Environment Programme about environmental issues from a youth perspective. This issue is about international cooperation to reduce or end poverty and the promotion of sustainable development.
- Tunza: The UNEP Magazine for Youth, Volume 3, Number 1, 2005
- Tunza is a magazine published by the UN Environment Programme about environmental issues from a youth perspective. This issue is about transportation, urban planning, waste management, and ecology.
- Tunza: The UNEP Magazine for Youth, Volume 2, Number 3, 2005
- Tunza is a magazine published by the UN Environment Programme about environmental issues from a youth perspective. This issue is about consumption, consumerism, recycling, the sustainable use of resources.
- Our Planet, Volume 16, Number 1, 2005
- Magazine of the United Nations Environment Programme discussing worldwide environmental policies and other concerns. This issue is devoted to environmental problems and solutions specific to urban environments.
- Our Planet, Volume 16, Number 2, 2005
- Magazine of the United Nations Environment Programme discussing worldwide environmental policies and other concerns. This issue is devoted to nature's contributions to biodiversity, recreation, sustainability, and sanitation.
- Our Planet, Volume 15, Number 3, 2005
- Magazine of the United Nations Environment Programme discussing worldwide environmental policies and other concerns. This issue is devoted to problems with enforcing laws and regulations that protect the environment and safeguard health and sanitation.
- The Impacts and Costs of Climate Change
- The effects of global climate change from greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) are diverse and potentially very large, and probably constitute the most serious long-term environmental issue currently facing the world. This paper is prepared as task 1 of the project 'Modelling support for Future Actions - Benefits and Cost of Climate Change Policies and Measures', ENV.C.2/2004/0088, led by K.U.Leuven, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. The paper provides a rapid review and analysis of the impacts and economic costs from climate change. The objective is to provide estimates of the benefits of climate change policy, i.e. from avoided impacts, for support to the Commission in considering the benefits and costs of mitigation efforts, and to support DG Environment in its report to the Spring Council 2005 and in future international negotiations on climate change.
- Report of the Joint IPCC WG II & III Expert meeting on the integration of Adaptation, Mitigation and Sustainable Development into the 4th IPCC Assessment Report
- This report summarizes a meeting to develop the 4th IPCC Assessment Report. The meeting was attended by international experts in adaptation, mitigation and/or sustainable development.
- IPCC Expert Meeting on Emission Scenarios
- This report summarizes the Expert Meeting on Emission Scenarios to help inform the fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC.
- Interactions of the EU ETS with Green And White Certificate Schemes: European Commission Directorate-General Environment
- The European Union Emissions Trading Scheme ('EU ETS') began on 1 January 2005. The implementation of the EU ETS has raised interest in market-based approaches to achieving environmental and related public policy goals in the EU, particularly those related to promotion of renewable energy and energy efficiency. Indeed, national and regional markets in tradable green certificates ('TGCs') and (to a lesser extent) tradable white certificates ('TWCs') already exist. Green certificate schemes are established or proposed in a number of Member States (e.g., Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK) and form part of a growing portfolio of measures to achieve the renewable targets outlined in Directive 2001/77/EC. White certificate schemes are considerably less widespread, although schemes have been established in Italy and the UK and further activity may be stimulated by the Commission proposal on energy services (COM(2003)739). Both the renewables Directive and the energy services proposal envisage the possible evolution and harmonisation of these instruments into EU-wide certificate schemes. This study has two major objectives: -1. Analyse interactions among EU ETS and green/white certificate markets. The first major objective is to describe the interactions between green and white certificate programmes and the EU ETS. -2. Assess implications of interactions for the policy objectives of the EU ETS. The second major objective deals with the implications of green/white certificate programmes for the objectives of the EU ETS.
- Analysis of Post-2012 Climate Policy Scenarios with Limited Participation
- This document is part of Technical Report (ref: EUR 21758 EN) from the Joint Research Centre and presents part of the modelling work conducted by DG JRC/IPTS as a contribution to the DG ENV Communication on post-2012 climate policy analysis (June 2005). The analyses with the POLES and GEM-E3 models show that the costs of abatement policies, both in marginal terms and total terms, can be significantly reduced if emissions trading and project based mechanisms are used.
- Report of the the IPCC Expert Meeting on Emission Estimation of Aerosols Relevant to Climate Change
- This report is supporting material prepared for consideration by the IPCC. It was reviewed by participants of the Geneva meeting, but not reviewed through the IPCC formal process.
- Workshop on New Emissions Scenarios Meeting Report
- This report summarizes a workshop which investigated the possible roles that the IPCC could play in developing and assessing new emission scenarios.
- Convention concerning migratory fish stock in the Pacific Ocean : message from the President of the United States transmitting Convention on the Conservation and Management of the Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean, with annexes ("WCPF Convention"), which was adopted at Honolulu on September 5, 2000, by the Multilateral High Level Conference on the Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean
- This treaty governs mechanisms designed to ensure long-term conservation and sustainable use of certain species of fish, including tuna, swordfish, and marlin.
- Human Health Impacts from Climate Variability and Climate Change in the Hindu Kush-Himalaya Region
- This activity report summarizes the main outcomes of the inter-regional workshop on the Human Health Impacts from Climate Variability and Climate Change in the Hindu Kush-Himalaya Region (India 2005). The objectives of the workshop were: to inform government organizations, nongovernmental organizations and other relevant stakeholders about the impacts of climate change; to Identify specific human health risks linked to climate variability and change in the Himalayan mountain regions; to propose strategies for integrating health with relevant sectors; to achieve consensus on a draft framework for national action in the Hindu Kush-Himalayan mountain region.
- Two Degree is Too Much! Impacts of 2°C Global Warming On Antarctic Penguins
- This research shows perennial Arctic ice is melting by nearly 10% a decade. It’s on course to disappear entirely by the end of the century. This means polar bears, walrus and seals living on the ice could become extinct. Many other Arctic species would also feel severe impacts. The fears of Inuit communities from Greenland to eastern Russia are also covered in the WWF report. Global warming puts traditional hunting and food-sharing at great risk." Sixty per cent of the tundra habitat of birds like ravens, snow buntings, falcons, loons, sandpipers and terns could be lost in the 2°C warming scenario. Migratory birds will lose vital staging and breeding grounds, affecting biodiversity around the world. So, two degrees? It’s too much!
- Engrossed Substitute House Bill 0397
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- 2nd High-Level Meeting on Health and Environment in ASEAN and East Asian Countries
- The Second High-Level Meeting on Environment and Health in ASEAN and East Asian countries was held in Bangkok, Thailand during 12-13 December 2005. The meeting follows a continuation of the process, which began in Manila in November 2004, where a regional initiative on environment and health was launched by ADB, WHO, and UNEP. It was attended by Representatives from Government and International Agencies and Institutions. The List of Participants is attached as Annexure 2
- Green and Growing: Building A Green And Prosperous Future For Manitoba Families
- Green and Growing is a strategic framework that will continue to be developed and expanded as we go forward. Through this strategic framework, we hope to provide Manitobans, and the world, with a better understanding of the Manitoba government’s overall approach to the environment as well as the health and well-being of our province and its families. Our goal is to build a future that promises to be both green and growing for the benefit of all Manitobans.
- Human Health Impacts from Climate Variability and Climate Change in the Hindu Kush-Himalaya Region
- This activity report summarizes the main outcomes of the inter-regional workshop on the Human Health Impacts from Climate Variability and Climate Change in the Hindu Kush-Himalaya Region (India 2005). The objectives of the workshop were: to inform government organizations, nongovernmental organizations and other relevant stakeholders about the impacts of climate change; to Identify specific human health risks linked to climate variability and change in the Himalayan mountain regions; to propose strategies for integrating health with relevant sectors; to achieve consensus on a draft framework for national action in the Hindu Kush-Himalayan mountain region.
- Air Contaminant Emission Inventory Reporting Requirements
- This chapter applies to all air contaminant sources and to their owners and operators.
- General Assembly of North Carolina Session 2005: Session Law 2005-442 Senate Bill 1134
- An act to establish the legislative commission on global climate change: to direct the commission to study issues related to global warming, the emerging carbon economy, and whether it is appropriate and desirable for the state to establish a global warming pollutant reduction goal; and, if the commission determines that the establishment of a goal is appropriate and desirable, to authorize the commission to develop a recommended goal.
- Global Change Coastal Zone Management Synthesis Report
- Change in the coastal zone has always been an integral topic in the APN’s research framework, and that there are serious coastal problems and issues in the Asia-Pacific region that need to be addressed. With this in mind, the 8th APN Inter-Governmental Meeting, held in Hanoi in March 2003, endorsed the initiation of a two-year APN Global Change Coastal Zone Management Synthesis. The APN Coastal Zone Management Synthesis identified research gaps and needs for future coastal zone research in the Asia-Pacific region. Products and outputs of the synthesis are available in electronic and printed formats, the first a Coastal Zone Management Synthesis Report, the second a substantial publication, a book emphasising research gaps and a broad research agenda for the region.
- Integrated Ecosystem Assessment of Western China
- Western Development is an important strategy of China Government. The ecological environment in the western region of China is very fragile, and any improper human activity or resource utilization will lead to irrecoverable ecological degradation. Therefore, the integrated ecosystem assessment in the western region of China is of great significance to the Western Development Strategy. This project, Integrated Ecosystem Assessment of Western China (MAWEC), will provide very important scientific foundations for both the central and local governments to make decisions on ecological construction, thus assuring the successful implementation of the Western Development Strategy. Meanwhile, MAWEC as one of the MA sub-global assessments is contributing to strengthen capability in boosting the development of the ecological science, interaction between different subjects, and combination between scientific research and practice, and pushing forward international cooperation in the relevant fields.
- China in the International Politics of Climate Change: A Foreign Policy Analysis
- This report looks into the developments in China’s political response to the threat of climate change from the late 1980s when the problem emerged on the international political agenda, until 2004. Three theoretically based explanatory models are employed to identify the factors that have influenced Chinese foreign policy-making on climate change in the past, and furthermore how these factors are likely to influence China’s future climate change policy. The three models emphasize respectively: national interests in terms of costs and benefits; domestic political bargaining; and learning through diffusion of knowledge and norms.