ABSTRACT
The tendency of scientific predictions to concentrate upon equilibrium changes is also common to economic assessment. The way in which the regional impacts are expected to and actually do materialise, influences international negotiations on the control of Greenhouse gases, and the timing, nature and extent of those controls. The potential effects upon regional temperatures and climatic patterns can be quite different from global average temperature changes. The temperature change categories are the same as the last 30 years, moderate warming and large warming. Climatic variations altering rainfall patterns, and the length of growing seasons, will prevent subsistence agriculture in some regions. Precipitation may increase at higher mid-latitudes and decrease at lower mid-latitudes. Typical impacts of sea level rise would be beach and coastal margin erosion, loss of wetlands, increased frequency and severity of flooding, and damage to coastal structures and water management systems.
