Toward a Policy for Climate Impacts

Abstract

Current increases in the understanding of climatic processes, the availability of climate predictions, and the assessment of climatic impacts indicate that development of public policy to mitigate adverse impacts and enhance beneficial ones is becoming possible. A review of policy needs and of existing atmosphere-related policies leads to the development of a functional model for a climatic impacts policy. This policy contains long-term planning, continuous monitoring, and short-term response elements. It is akin to current strategies used to deal with short-term events such as tornadoes. Effective operation of the policy requires continuing research to enhance understanding of both climatic processes and climatic impacts.