Global environmental management: a historical perspective

摘要

Our understanding of the Earth system has been developing rapidly over the past few decades in response to major global environmental problems such as the depletion of the ozone layer and the impact of global climate change. Our desire to understand the Earth system is partly driven by the need to manage the human impacts. In the case of human-induced global climate change, mathematical models have been instrumental in defining the existence of the potential for global warming. We can study the evolution of our understanding in global climate change over the past 200 years and critically assess how our changing understanding of the earth system has influenced our management decisions.