eg magazine sustainability, resource efficiency & climate change

Cambridge University Press has published the following books, based on the outcomes of EU-funded research on climate change.

Climate change policy in the EU: Confronting the dilemmas of mitigation and adaptation? edited by Andrew Jordan, Dave Huitema, Harro van Asselt, Tim Rayner and Frans Berkhout

http://www.cup.es/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521196123

Drawing on a variety of detailed case studies spanning the interlinked challenges of mitigation and adaptation, this volume offers an unrivalled account of how different actors wrestled with the complex governance dilemmas associated with climate policy making.  It explores the emergence of climate policy in the EU and identifies the key governance choices that informed the design of its climate policies; reveals how governors in the EU grapple with complex choices and dilemmas in a fast moving and strategically important policy area; and uses policy analysis to explore how policy could unfold in the future, and what new governance dilemmas this may provoke

Making climate change work for us: European perspectives on adaptation and mitigation strategies; edited by Mike Hulme and Henry Neufeldt.

http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521119412

Introducing the main challenges and opportunities of developing local, regional and global strategies for addressing climate change, this book explains the dilemmas faced when converting strategies into policies. Providing a synthesis of the findings of the three-year European Commission ADAM (Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies) research project and written by many leading interdisciplinary climate change research teams, European strategies for tackling climate change are placed within a global context. The book illustrates the differences between adaptation and mitigation, offers regional and global case studies of how adaptation and mitigation are inter-linked, and suggests six different metaphors for the strategic options to make climate change work for us, rather than against us. Offering practical solutions to climate change – both adaptation and mitigation – within the policy contexts in which these solutions have to be implemented, this book is valuable for researchers in varied related fields, as well policymakers in government, industry and NGOs.

Global climate governance beyond 2012: Architecture, agency and adaptation; edited by Frank Biermann, Philipp Pattberg and Fariborz Zelli.

http://www.cambridge.org/uk/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521190114

This book addresses three questions which will be central to any new climate agreement. What is the most effective overall legal and institutional architecture for successful and equitable climate politics? What role should non-state actors play, including multinational corporations, non-governmental organizations, public-private partnerships and market mechanisms in general? How can we deal with the growing challenge of adapting our existing institutions to a substantially warmer world? This important resource offers policy practitioners in-depth qualitative and quantitative assessments of the costs and benefits of various policy options, and also offers academics from wide-ranging disciplines insight into innovative interdisciplinary approaches towards international climate negotiations.

Mainstreaming climate change in development cooperation: Theory, practice and implications for the European Union; edited by Joyeeta Gupta and Nicolien van der Grijp

http://www.cambridge.org/uk/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521197618

Climate change, development and development cooperation are, individually and jointly, three politically sensitive, complex issues, especially in the context of relations between developed and developing countries. This book tackles these issues by combining theoretical, political, and practical perspectives, analysing the dominant paradigms and exploring the meaning of the concept of mainstreaming. At the practical level, it presents the results of case studies focusing on assistance provided by the European Union and key member states and the climate needs articulated by developing countries. At the political level, it highlights the sensitivities between developed and developing countries and examines the mainstreaming debate in various fora. This book is valuable for policymakers, academics, politicians and non-state actors working in the fields of development studies, international law, politics, international relations, economics, climate change, and environmental studies.

Climate change implications for food security and natural resources management in Africa

http://www.fao.org/docrep/meeting/018/k7542e.pdf

The Food and Agricultural Organization has published a paper which reviews the current state of knowledge on the vulnerability, impact and adaptation of African agriculture and natural resources to climate change. It presents a summary of the key issues and challenges that climate change will bring to African food security and indicates potential steps that need to be taken by African governments in order for agriculture to adapt to the climate change challenge. The paper give some projections of climate change impact in Africa, such as the: reduction in surface area of most natural wetlands like Lake Chad, warming, drying, change in flow watercourses, sea-level rise, extreme weather events, flooding of riverbanks and increased urban risks in coastal cities and floodplains. It then assesses Africa's vulnerability in terms of (i) fragile ecosystems and food insecurity, (ii) women and children, (iii) diseases, migration and conflict; and gives evidence of the impacts already perceptible in Africa in the agricultural systems, animal husbandry and pastoralism, land degradation, and natural resources. It finally provides some adaptation and mitigation options including traditional knowledge and forestry whilst providing some guidance on best practices addressing the climate change challenge.