Kyoto Protocol
There is a consensus among the scientific community that increases in greenhouse gas emissions will affect climate. Considerable uncertainty, however, exists with regard to the magnitude of the effect, its timing, and its regional pattern. In addition, there is great uncertainty about changes in climate variability and regional impacts (Ha-Duong et al.,). In order to understand the underlying principles of potential climatic change, we must discuss what the greenhouse effect is, the nature of the gases to be controlled, and the effects this will have on the climate, if the controls are implemented. We will also look at human activities that may contribute to increased atmospheric levels of greenhouse gases and their effects on climate change. Then, we will look at the impacts that global warming may have on Earth's climate and consider possible immediate and long-term solutions. Finally, international cooperation for the control of greenhouse gas emissions will be addressed, with particular attention given to the most recent convention, the Kyoto Protocol. The greenhouse effect is the natural phenomenon that contributes to the Earth's
A dramatic increase in the average global temperature could significantly alter many important climatic features, such as rainfall patterns and regional drought. The two major global warming impacts of concern to humans would be changes in climatic patterns with increased frequency and intensity of storms and a rise in the sea level. Changes in climatic patterns and storms would be a problem because of the potential adverse effects on our agricultural activities and our food supply. More severe storms and a rise in sea level, caused by thermal expansion of oceans and melting of ice caps, could displace millions of coastal residents as a result of flooding. If sea levels do rise and more heat energy is fed into the atmosphere, the occurrence of large tropical storms will be a greater hazard for people living in vulnerable areas. Coastal erosion will also become a difficult problem for humans to deal with. Economically, the costs to society could be enormous, but some areas may actually benefit from an increase in agricultural production, for example, longer growing seasons in northern latitudes, and a longer tourist season (World Resource Institute, 1994). Overall, the actual impacts of climate change can not be predicted with certainty. Ozone (O3) is generally found in the upper atmosphere, between about 15 and 40 km above the Earth's surface, with highest concentrations occurring at about 25 km. This ozone layer is very beneficial because it absorbs most of the ultraviolet radiation, particularly UV-B, that is potentially damaging to life on Earth. O3 concentration at ground level can be very toxic and is a major constituent of smog.. When O3 builds up in the troposphere, near the Earth's surface, it acts as a greenhouse gas. It also contributes to greenhouse warming by removing the hydroxyl molecules that cleanse the atmosphere of CH4 (Hengeveld, 1991). Ground level O3 is largely produced by the combustion of fossil fuels in automobiles. International Cooperation on Climatic Change: The major difficulties in dealing with the current generation of international and global environmental problems are, first, scientific uncertainty about their effects and second, the need for agreements among governments to deal with them. Economists refer to this latter difficulty as the "free-rider" problem, since costly controls are necessary to achieve improvements, and countries that fail to institute controls will receive some of the benefits resulting from the efforts of others (Pearce, 1997). Scientific uncertainty is a difficult issue because uncertainty means that it is always possible to argue that better policies can be developed by waiting until a broader scientific consensus emerges. Unfortunately, there are costs as well as benefits associated with waiting, and sometimes these costs and benefits cannot be measured with enough accuracy to be useful. The first anthropogenic greenhouse gas to discuss is CO2. Both natural and human-controlled sources contribute to the CO2 content in the atmosphere. Approximately 95% of the CO2 in the atmosphere are natural. Humans are adding the rest, with an amount of seven billion tonnes per year. Of this seven billion tonnes, 5.5 billion comes from the combustion of fossil fuels, and one to two billion tonnes from slash and burn deforestation of tropical rainforests. Deforestation also creates a loss of a valuable sink for the CO2 to be stored (World Resources Institute, 1994). Dry air in the Earth's atmosphere is made up of three main gases, nitrogen (79%), oxygen (20%), and argon (1%) (Gebelein, 1997). Water vapour is also usually present in concentrations of up to several percentages. It is the key gas in the natural greenhouse effect, accounting for about 80 percent of the contributing gases (Botkin et al., 1995). Other gases in small amounts make up the remaining 20 percent. Despite their low concentrations, measurable in parts per mil
Some common words found in the essay are:
Terrestrial Carbon, Climate Change, Climatic Change, Minister Environment, Earth Earth, Climate Models, Long-term Solutions, Montreal Protocol, Protocol Introduction, Conclusions Greenhouse, climate change, global warming, greenhouse gases, greenhouse effect, greenhouse gas, anthropogenic greenhouse, et al, greenhouse gas emissions, gas emissions, et al 1995, al 1995, water vapour, botkin et al, world resource institute, resource institute 1994,
Approximate Word count = 4776
Approximate Pages = 19 (250 words per page double spaced)
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