Climate change poses severe threats on agriculture. Even though some countries may experience beneficial change to agricultural gross domestic product (GDP), the majority, particularly developing countries, will experience significant negative impacts. This paper by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) promotes an integrative, holistic framework for climate change adaptation. It presents the potential impacts of climate change and the different approaches to adaptation, as well as knowledge gained through FAO's experience in the field.

This paper examines urban health in low- and middle-income countries, in relation to two sets of environmental issues:

persistent local environmental health burdens, and most notably the water, sanitation and housing deficiencies prevalent in the poor neighbourhoods of so many urban settlements
emerging global environmental burdens that will be experienced in urban areas, and most notably those associated with climate change

The Amazon forest greatly influences the global climate and may be coming under increasing threat due to climate change. This report explores the relationship between the Amazon, climate, and the changes in this relationship that are underway as a result of forest destruction and the release of heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere. The paper seeks to interpret the best information available to determine how close we are to a point of no return for a major forest “dieback” in the Amazon, and to identify some steps that might be taken to counter this process.

Adaptation to climate change involves changes in agricultural management practices in response to changes in climate conditions. It often involves a combination of various individual responses at the farm-level and assumes that farmers have access to alternative practices and technologies available in the region.

This contributory chapter of Working Group III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) outlines the status of climate change mitigation in agriculture and its implications on development, production and consumption trends. It presents regional and global trends in greenhouse gas emissions, as well as future global trends.

This paper provides a brief overview of the current knowledge and data on deforestation rates, research on the causes of deforestation and forest degradation and relevant policy options. It highlights issues of particular relevance to new discussions on reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) in developing countries at different stages of forest transition.

A collection of practical experiences and lessons on Payments for Environmental Services (PES)

The structure of agricultural production and spatial patterns of agricultural land use in Europe are expected to face major changes over the next decades due to changes in global trade, technology, demography and policies. This paper presents a set of 25 scenarios comprising information on quantitative land use changes in Europe. The scenarios have been selected from studies with different foci, operating on both different spatial scales and different time horizons.

The future evolution of our agricultural landscapes and countryside is the subject of considerable debate and policy discussion, alongside which is an increasing emphasis on the inclusion of public consultation and participation within planning and decision making systems. However, communicating different proposed policy options in a manner that facilitates informed decisions from stakeholders can be far from straightforward. This is particularly true with more abstract and uncertain issues such as potential impacts of climate change.

Recent observations show that human-induced climate change (CC) and land transformation (LT) are threatening wildlife globally. Thus, there is a need to assess the sensitivity of wildlife on large spatial scales and evaluate whether national parks (NPs), a key conservation tools used to protect species, will meet their mandate under future CC and LT conditions. Here, we assess the sensitivity of 277 mammals at African scale to CC at 10[prime] resolution, using static LT assumptions in a 'first-cut' estimate, in the absence of credible future LT trends.

If the United States chooses to implement a greenhouse gas reduction program, it would be necessary to decide whether to include carbon sequestration policies---such as those that promote forestation and discourage deforestation---as part of the domestic portfolio of compliance activities. We investigate the cost of forest-based carbon sequestration by analyzing econometrically micro-data on revealed landowner preferences, modeling six major private land uses in a comprehensive analysis of the contiguous United States.

Pooled water beetle species lists from 1826 British national grid 10-km squares were analysed using multivariate ordination and classification methods. The relationships of pool groups to the climate, altitude and land cover variables were assessed using constrained and partial ordinations. Ordination of the species pool data indicated a major trend between squares in the north-west of Scotland and those in southern England, illustrating differences in acid and basic water standing water. Secondary variation was from acid standing water to fast-flowing streams and rivers.