Matthew J. Hoffmann explores the fundamental question of who should participate in the global response to ozone depletion and climate change. Blending social constructivist theory with insights from the study of complex adaptive systems, Hoffmann develops a unique framework for understanding the emergence and evolution of participation norms, which define the appropriate global response and shape how states have perceived the problems, defined their interests and strategies, and pursued governance. The explanation is rigorously developed through an innovative combination of formal analysis and in-depth empirical case studies. Agent-based computer simulation modeling is employed to explore essential norm dynamics, analysis that is complemented and extended by process-tracing case studies that examine governance activities from 1986 through 2003. The result provides the understanding necessary for improving global responses to environmental problems.

In recent years, several new concepts have emerged in the field of stratospheric ozone depletion, creating a need for a concise in-depth publication covering the ozone-climate issue. This monograph fills that void in the literature and gives detailed treatment of recent advances in the field of stratospheric ozone depletion. It puts particular emphasis on the coupling between changes in the ozone layer and atmospheric change caused by a changing climate. The book, written by leading experts in the field, brings the reader the most recent research in this area and fills the gap between advanced textbooks and assessments.

The mountain of information coming out of the respective regimes on climate change, ozone depletion and air pollution is monumental

This monograph reviews the establishment of new theories of the ozone hole and global climate change, two major scientific problems of global concern. It provides a comprehensive overview of the author's work including significant discoveries and pioneering contributions, such as the discovery of extremely effective dissociative electron transfer reactions of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) adsorbed on ice surfaces and its implications for atmospheric ozone depletion; the proposal of the cosmic-ray-driven electron-induced-reaction (CRE) theory for the ozone hole; the predictions of 11-year cyclic variations in polar ozone loss and stratospheric cooling; the discovery of the nearly perfect linear correlation between CFCs and global surface temperature; the proposal of the CFC theory for modern global warming; the discovery of greenhouse-gas-specific climate sensitivity and the parameter-free calculation of global surface temperature change caused by CFCs; the prediction of global cooling; and so on.Unlike conventional atmospheric and climate models, the author's theoretical models were established on robust observed data rather than computer simulations with multiple parameters. The new theories have shown the best agreements with the observed data within 10% uncertainties. This book highlights the scientific understandings of the world-concerned problems from the unique point of view of a physicist who seeks theories with great simplicity and superior predictive capacity.This book is self-contained and unified in presentation. It may be used as an advanced book by graduate students and even ambitious undergraduates in physics, chemistry, environmental and climate sciences. It is also suitable for non-expert readers and policy makers who wish to have an overview of the sciences behind atmospheric ozone depletion and global climate change.

A balanced assessment based on currently available scientific knowledge of the effects that climate change may have on the environment in Europe and the health of its populations. Written in non-technical language the book responds to growing public and political concern about the consequences of such widely publicized phenomena as global warming and stratospheric ozone depletion. The book also responds to evidence that recent warming trends in Europe have already affected health. The book opens with a brief explanation of the causes of climate change and stratospheric ozone depletion followed by an overview of recent European and global initiatives aimed at monitoring trends and assessing their impact on health. The first main chapter on climate change in Europe summarizes currently documented trends and provides a scenario of possible changes throughout the rest of this century. The second and most extensive chapter reviews scientific evidence on specific health consequences. These include effects related to increased episodes of thermal stress and air pollution; changes in foodborne water-related vector-borne and rodent-borne diseases; mortality from floods and other weather extremes; and changes in the production of aeroallergens associated with respiratory disorders including asthma. Chapter three considers health effects linked to stratospheric ozone depletion giving particular attention to adverse effects on the eye and immune system and skin cancer. The remaining chapters discuss health effects expected in the next decade and outline actions urgently needed in the areas of policy monitoring and surveillance and research.

'Understanding how complex ecological and climatic change can influence human health is the new challenge before us. The book confronts these multidimensional risk assessments head-on and will catalyse the important interdisciplinary and integrated approach that is the new paradigm now required for environmental and public health research.' Dr JONATHAN PATZ Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health 'This book provides a sturdy foundation for thinking about how best to tackle a varied spectrum of population health hazards posed by different aspects and combinations of global change processes it alsogoes that extra mile by estimating the attributable population burdens of disease or mortality that are likely to result from these aspects of global change. It is heartening to see the results of this mathematical modeling being presented in policy-relevant terms.' From the Foreword by TONY McMICHAEL Health and Climate Change is the first major study of the potentially devastating health impacts of the global atmospheric changes which are under way. Using the best available data, the author presents models of the most plausible future courses of vector-borne diseases such as malaria, dengue fever and schistosomiasis; skin cancer caused by nozone depletion; and cardiovascular and respiratory disorders caused by higher temperatures. Current epidemiological research methods are not well adapted to analysing complex systems influenced by human intervention, or more simple processes calculated to take place within the distant future. Health and Climate Change proposes a new paradigm of integrated eco-epidemiological models for these areas of study. It will be essential reading for those concerned with public health and epidemiology, environmental studies, climate change and development studies. Originally published in 1998