ABSTRACT
On December 11, 1997, 159 nations adopted the Kyoto Protocol. The protocol and its parent agreement, the 1992 Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC), were both adopted under the multilateral treaty-making auspices of the United Nations. Climate change represents an unprecedented policy problem for the international community for a number of important reasons. The FCCC and the Kyoto Protocol are examples of unique responses to a global problem of concern to the entire international community. Before it can be established that human activities are causing perturbations in the earth’s climate system, it is important to review what is known about the climate system. There are, potentially, many ways in which human activities can affect the climate system. The most obvious and important of these concern activities that affect the earth’s solar radiation budget on important spatial and temporal scales.
