Carbon Dioxide and Climate: A Second Assessment: The Long‐Term Impacts of Increasing Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Levels

Abstract

There are quite a large number of excellent publications now available in the domain of carbon dioxide and climate. After a period of intense research on the subject conducted under the sponsorship of national and international institutions like the U.S. National Research Council, the U.S. Department of Energy, the Environment Agency of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment, the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, the World Climate Program, the Commission of the European Communities and others, syntheses are now possible.Over the past decades, extreme climatic events in different parts of the world have made us aware of our vulnerability to climatic variations and variability. But it is also more and more recognized that not only man may possibly be affected by climate but also that climate is vulnerable to man's activities. These human activities, especially those related to industrial processes and the practice of agricultural burning and soil management, result in the release of particles and trace gases in the atmosphere. The increase of atmospheric CO2 which is worldwide poses a special problem of major concern.