ABSTRACT

There is now very strong evidence that the earth’s climate is changing, and that this is largely due to human activity – mostly the use of fossil fuels. Temperatures and sea levels have risen, the frequency of heavy rainfall events has increased in many areas, and natural systems in many parts of the world are changing due to the changes in climate. We can no longer assume that the past is a good guide when we are assessing environmental risks. Whilst we cannot blame all individual extreme events on climate change, we can suspect that the dice are already increasingly loaded.