Publications

This paper reviews the scientific literature on impacts for 1.5 and 2°C warming levels with focus on risks for Least Developed Countries. We summarise observed impacts in LDCs that have been related to global mean temperature and provide an overview of projected future changes.

The papers in this special issue of Regional Environmental Change address the question of what may be dangerous levels of climate change: the papers describe and analyse the vulnerability of human and natural systems in a number of regions around the world.

Despite large uncertainty, there are several robust conclusions from published literature for policy makers and research agendas: agriculture everywhere in Africa runs some risk to be negatively affected by climate change; existing cropping systems and infrastructure will have to change to meet future demand.

Here the main characteristics of the new version 1.2 of the three-dimensional Earth system model of intermediate complexity LOVECLIM are briefly described.

Of current anthropogenic CO2 emissions, about 30% is absorbed by the oceans, in response to the higher CO2 concentration of the atmosphere. The net absorption by the oceans will stop when the equilibrium is restored at the ocean’s surface. This will only occur gradually after the atmospheric concentration ceases to rise.