Over the past three decades, the pace of global environmental change has been increasing, and there are warning signals that this trend may accelerate. This has triggered much reflection (and action) within the environmental policy community.

Volume Four of the Encyclopedia of Global Environmental Change provides key information on the progress that has been made during this time in the field of human responses to global environmental change - by institutions, academia, governments, lawyers, economists and the whole array of people around the world involved in this field.

The opening essays discuss actions that have been taken, or are contemplated, to deal with global environmental change followed by 100 shorter articles which elaborate on these themes.

Topics covered include:
* strategies for adapting to global change

* tradable emission permits

* the Biodiversity Convention

* the Montreal Protocol

* various tools that assist in the development of better long-term environmental policies (environmental assessment methods, environmental dispute resolution, the design of early warning monitoring systems

* indicators of sustainability, etc.)

* the precautionary principle and Agenda 21.
This volume will prove of great interest to the public, governmental and intergovernmental bodies, engineers in search of technological solutions, business and industry, the scientific community and various sectoral interests such as the fishing, forestry and tourist industries.

Editor-in-chief: Ted Munn