ABSTRACT
The spectre of actual and anticipated future impacts of anthropogenic (global) environmental change (GEC) worldwide has become a leading global debate and policy focus over the last 20-odd years. The subject remains controversial and debate often highly charged. Climate sceptics still claim that climate variation is predominantly a natural phenomenon, and there is growing evidence from quaternary science and cognate research that dramatic past environmental changes, such as those that wiped out the dinosaurs, sometimes occurred over just a few years rather than being the outcome of slow, progressive shifts. Nevertheless, the balance of scientific evidence appears now decisively to accept that human impacts are greatly exacerbating and accelerating any natural changes.
