Notes 1914 From the information in Chapter 6, make estimates of possible climate
change by the middle of next century for typical regions of boreal forest.
Then estimate from Figure 7.13 for the each of the three tree species what
loss of productivity might occur in each case.
5 Make an estimate of the total volume of ice in the Greenland and Antarc-
tic ice-caps. What proportion would have to melt to increase the sea
level by the six metres or so which occurred during the last interglacial
period?
6 In the past, human communities have adapted to changes of many kinds
including some changes in climate. It is sometimes argued that, because the
adaptability of human beings isnot fully allowed for, the likely damage from
the impacts of climate change in the future tends to be overestimated. Do
you agree?
7 In economic cost–benefit analyses, it is often necessary to attach a value to a
‘statistical life’.^71 It is not human life itself that is being valued but a change
in the risk of death averaged over a population of human beings. One way
of attempting this valuation is to consider a person as an economic agent
capable of producing economic output. However, the preferred approach is
tovalue a statistical life on thebasis of what individuals arewilling to pay
or accept for changes in the risk of death. This approach tends to produce
very different money values between developed countries and developing
countries. Do you think this is defensible? Give up to five examples of the
analysis of particular environmental problems for which you think it would
be useful to includethe valuation of a statisticalhuman life. Look for values
that have been attributed in different circumstances. Do questions of equity
have any relevance in your examples?
Notes for Chapter 7
1 For comprehensive detail about climate change impacts, see McCarthy, J. J.,
Canziani, O., Leary, N. A., Dokken, D. J., White, K. S. (eds.) 2001.Climate
Change 2001: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability.Contribution of Work-
ing Group II to the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
2 From Summary for policymakers. McCarthy,Climate Change 2001: Im-
pacts,p.6.
3 See, forinstance,GlobalEnvironmental Outlook 3 (UNEP Report).2002.
London: Earthscan. See also Goudie, A. 2000.The Human Impact on the
Natural Environment, fifth edition. Massachusetts: MIT Press.
4 For further details see Church, J. A., Gregory, J. M.et al. 2001. Changes in sea
level. In Houghton, J. T., Ding, Y., Griggs, D. J., Noguer, M., van der Linden,
P. J., Dai, X., Maskell, K., Johnson, C. A. (eds.)Climate Change 2001: The
Scientific Basis.Contribution of Working Group I to the Third Assessment
Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, Chapter 11.
5 See, for instance, van der Veen, C. J. 1991. State of balance of the cryosphere.
Reviews of Geophysics, 29 , pp. 433–55.