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Vegetation succession in mires is rather well identified using the paleoecological approach. Recently, the ecological succession concept has been extended to ecosystem functions, e.g., carbon dioxide (CO2) dynamics. Although a strong link between mire vegetation and carbon dynamics is well acknowledged, the successional changes in mire ecosystem functions have remained practically unstudied, especially under the same climatic control. To study the patterns and dynamics of CO2 exchange during mire succession, we measured CO2 exchange and vegetation dynamics over 2 growing seasons along a mire chronosequence on the land uplift coast of the Bay of Bothnia in western Finland. The study showed a decrease in photosynthesis during mire succession that was linked to compositional change in vegetation, i.e., replacement of sedge and herb dominance with the dominance of dwarf shrubs and Sphagna. Similarly, the study revealed decreased variation in gross photosynthesis (PG) and ecosystem respiration (RE) over a growing season, which resulted in lower levels of seasonal CO2 dynamics at older stages. The observed successional trend in phenology and CO2 dynamics was largely a consequence of the gradual decrease in the abundance of plant groups with efficient photosynthesis and green area production. Nomenclature: Hämet-Ahti et al., 1998.

Un nouvel univers financier, celui de la Finance carbone, a été créé depuis 2005 qui a vu l’entrée en vigueur du Protocole de Kyoto et les débuts de l’ETS (Emission Trading System) en Europe. Dans cet univers, les pouvoirs publics jouent un rôle primordial puisqu’ils fixent les plafonds d’émission et sont donc maîtres de l’offre de quotas. L’avenir de la finance carbone après 2012 reste toutefois encore incertain ; en effet, aucun consensus sur la réalité même du changement climatique ne se dégage.Un économiste et une spécialiste en questions environnementales présentent les fondements de la Finance carbone et son cadre réglementaire tout en analysant le Protocole de Kyoto, sans oublier de décrypter l’Emission Trading System au sein de l’Union européenne, et ses perspectives d’évolution, mais aussi les systèmes américains et australiens d’échange de quotas, pour mettre en évidence leurs avantages et inconvénients.La présentation du fonctionnement des marchés financiers du carbone, la description des instruments financiers, des plateformes d’échange, mais aussi les mécanismes des stratégies des différents acteurs, ne peuvent qu’éclairer tous les professionnels et tous ceux qui entendent pénétrer les arcanes d’un monde beaucoup moins ésotérique qu’il peut parfois y paraître.Certes la conférence de Copenhague a échoué en 2009 ; celle de Cancun en fin 2010 offre de réelles perspectives.

In past decades and in association with a continuing global industrial development, the global atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide has been rising.Among the many predictions made concerning this disturbing trend is global warming sufficient to melt polar ice-caps thereby dramatically altering existing shorelines.

Depuis plus de dix ans, le systeme d'echange de quotas d'emission de gaz a effet de serre (SEQE) constitue le principal outil de l'Union europeenne et de ses Etats membres pour lutter contre les changements climatiques. Ce systeme couvre aujourd'hui plus de 11.000 entreprises issues principalement des secteurs industriels et de l'aviation.Jusqu'a son adoption, ce type d'institution juridique etait pourtant inconnu en droit de l'Union.Bien que fixant des objectifs de reduction des emissions precis, le SEQE s'ecarte cependant de la rigidite des voies traditionnellement suivies dans le domaine de l'environnement. Il se caracterise, en effet, par la flexibilite offerte aux entreprises, leur permettant d'echanger des quotas d'emission et, partant, de preserver la liberte de leurs strategies industrielles.Pour concilier les imperatifs environnementaux, economiques et sociaux, le SEQE s'appuie sur un complexe entrelacs de textes legislatifs et reglementaires. Plus encore, les compromis politiques sont a la source de nombreuses derogations et exceptions. Fort de ces constats, l'ouvrage analyse comment les legislateurs europeens et nationaux, sous le controle du juge de l'Union, entendent combattre le rechauffement planetaire sans pour autant mettre en peril les principes d'egalite et de libre concurrence au sein du marche interieur.Cet ouvrage se presente ainsi comme un outil precieux pour tous ceux, praticiens ou actifs dans les milieux academiques, qui s'interessent au droit du climat et au SEQE.

To understand climate change today, we first need to know how Earth's climate changed over the past 450 million years. Finding answers depends upon contributions from a wide range of sciences, not just the rock record uncovered by geologists. In Earth's Climate Evolution, Colin Summerhayes analyzes reports and records of past climate change dating back to the late 18th century to uncover key patterns in the climate system. The book will transform debate and set the agenda for the next generation of thought about future climate change. The book takes a unique approach to the subject providing a description of the greenhouse and icehouse worlds of the past 450 million years since land plants emerged, ignoring major earlier glaciations like that of Snowball Earth, which occurred around 600 million years ago in a world free of land plants. It describes the evolution of thinking in palaeoclimatology and introduces the main players in the field and how their ideas were received and, in many cases, subsequently modified.  It records the arguments and discussions about the merits of different ideas along the way. It also includes several notes made from the author's own personal involvement in palaeoclimatological and palaeoceanographic studies, and from his experience of working alongside several of the major players in these fields in recent years. This book will be an invaluable reference for both undergraduate and postgraduate students taking courses in related fields and will also be of interest to historians of science and/or geology, climatology and oceanography. It should also be of interest to the wider scientific and engineering community, high school science students, policy makers, and environmental NGOs. Reviews: \"Outstanding in its presentation of the facts and a good read in the way that it intersperses the climate story with the author's own experiences. [This book] puts the climate story into a compelling geological history.\"  -Dr. James Baker \"The book is written in very clear and concise prose, [and takes] original, enlightening, and engaging approach to talking about 'ideas' from the perspective of the scientists who promoted them.\"  -Professor Christopher R. Scotese \"A thrilling ride through continental drift and its consequences.\" - Professor Gerald R. North \"Written in a style and language which can be easily understood by laymen as well as scientists.\" - Professor Dr Jörn Thiede \"What makes this book particularly distinctive is how well it builds in the narrative of change in ideas over time.\" - Holocene book reviews, May 2016 \"This is a fascinating book and the author's biographical approach gives it great human appeal.\" - E Adlard

We examined the effect of long-term nitrogen (plus phosphorus and potassium) fertilization, resulting in increased shrub cover, on seasonal changes in understory light, soil temperature, and soil moisture in an ombrotrophic bog. An increase in leaf area index (LAI) was negatively correlated with light transmission through the canopy, decreasing photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) reaching the peat surface by up to an average of 77% compared to unfertilized plots. Owing to the denser shrub canopy, near surface soil temperature was cooler in summer and less spatially variable within the fertilized plots. A laboratory study of the environmental controls on Sphagnum capillifolium carbon dioxide (CO2) exchange showed that there were significant interactions between moisture and temperature, but changes in CO2 exchange in response to temperature or moisture were small compared to the influence of light. These results suggest that the absence of moss in the fertilized plots may be, in part, the result of decreased light availability. Alterations to the competitive balance between the shrub and moss layer could lead to changes in C storage in these ecosystems.

When taxes are introduced on carbon and energy, and the revenue is used to reduce other taxes, will a positive effect be achieved both for the environment and for the economy? In 1990, Finland was the first country that introduced a tax on CO2. Later, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Slovenia, Germany, and the UK followed suit with tax reforms that shifted taxation from labour to carbon and energy. Over the years, CO2 and energy taxes have gradually been raised, so that in Europe taxes of more than 25 billion EUR a year have been shifted. In this book, these experiences with carbon‐energy taxation, along with tax‐shifting programmes lowering other taxes, are examined in detail. Availability of unique and original data, including sector‐specific energy prices and taxes, as well as the use of advanced statistical techniques, such as co‐integration analysis and panel‐regression techniques along with the time‐series‐estimated macro‐economic model – Energy–Environment–Economy model for Europe (E3ME), makes this analysis truly comprehensive. Results of the analysis show that even though the taxes implemented have been relatively modest, they have, in the countries examined, contributed to a reduction in the emissions of greenhouse gases of up to 7 per cent, while for five of the countries a small increase in economic activity is recorded as a result of the tax‐shifting, with other impacts separated out. Due to concerns for competitiveness, the largest industrial emitters of greenhouse gases within Europe continue to benefit from exemptions from the carbon‐energy taxation schemes, as outside Europe there are major emitters without any economic penalties attached to greenhouse gas emissions. On basis of the lessons from carbon‐energy taxation learned in Europe, the editors of the book indicate how carbon‐energy taxation could usefully be combined with emissions trading, and they discuss how the recommendations from IPCC for a gradually escalating carbon price could be accomplished while preventing carbon leakage.

Even as the evidence of global warming mounts, the international response to this serious threat is coming unraveled. The United States has formally withdrawn from the 1997 Kyoto Protocol; other key nations are facing difficulty in meeting their Kyoto commitments; and developing countries face no limit on their emissions of the gases that cause global warming. In this clear and cogent book-reissued in paperback with an afterword that comments on recent events--David Victor explains why the Kyoto Protocol was never likely to become an effective legal instrument. He explores how its collapse offers opportunities to establish a more realistic alternative. Global warming continues to dominate environmental news as legislatures worldwide grapple with the process of ratification of the December 1997 Kyoto Protocol. The collapse of the November 2000 conference at the Hague showed clearly how difficult it will be to bring the Kyoto treaty into force. Yet most politicians, policymakers, and analysts hailed it as a vital first step in slowing greenhouse warming. David Victor was not among them. Kyoto's fatal flaw, Victor argues, is that it can work only if emissions trading works. The Protocol requires industrialized nations to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases to specific targets. Crucially, the Protocol also provides for so-called \"emissions trading,\" whereby nations could offset the need for rapid cuts in their own emissions by buying emissions credits from other countries. But starting this trading system would require creating emission permits worth two trillion dollars--the largest single invention of assets by voluntary international treaty in world history. Even if it were politically possible to distribute such astronomical sums, the Protocol does not provide for adequate monitoring and enforcement of these new property rights. Nor does it offer an achievable plan for allocating new permits, which would be essential if the system were expanded to include developing countries. The collapse of the Kyoto Protocol--which Victor views as inevitable--will provide the political space to rethink strategy. Better alternatives would focus on policies that control emissions, such as emission taxes. Though economically sensible, however, a pure tax approach is impossible to monitor in practice. Thus, the author proposes a hybrid in which governments set targets for both emission quantities and tax levels. This offers the important advantages of both emission trading and taxes without the debilitating drawbacks of each. Individuals at all levels of environmental science, economics, public policy, and politics-from students to professionals--and anyone else hoping to participate in the debate over how to slow global warming will want to read this book.

Cet ouvrage en impression à la demande sera envoyé sous 3 semaines environ (France métropolitaine) et dans un colis séparé en cas de commande avec un autre livre papier.Une véritable course contre la montre est engagée : celle du développement durable face à la montée des changements environnementaux planétaires.