ABSTRACT
One of the continuing criticisms of the human dimensions of global change literature is the paucity of research on topics other than global warming or tropical deforestation, a point reiterated recently by the editors of this journal (Parry et al, 1993). Global change is not simply climate change. Global change recognizes that environmental processes are inextricably linked to other global transformations underway in governments, economies, technologies, populations and culture (Kates, 1994). Furthermore, the integration of earth systems processes, anthropogenic sources of environmental change, cumulative and systemic impacts on social systems, and human vulnerability and responses (prevention and adaptation) is necessary and merits high priority in policy-relevant studies of global change (Turner et al, 1990; Committee on the Human Dimensions of Global Change, 1994).
