ABSTRACT
The Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2001) confirmed that there is compelling evidence that the Earth’s climate has undergone a period of rapid warming over the last 50 years as a result of human activity. World-wide in the last decade, there have been increasingly violent storms, floods and droughts, with the UK, Europe and the remaining world experiencing unprecedented rainfall and flooding (DETR, 2000; Smith, 2001; Hulme et al., 2002). The rate of warming is now perceived to be increasing. Climate models indicate that in the coming century, we will live in a progressively warmer, wetter world, with raised sea levels and increased coastal and fluvial flooding, and extreme weather events. Global average temperatures, it is projected, will rise by 1.4-5.8°C (IPCC, 2001; Hulme et al., 2002) (Figure 18.1).
