The influence of land-use change and landscape dynamics on the climate system: relevance to climate-change policy beyond the radiative effect of greenhouse gases.
Our paper documents that land-use change impacts regional and global climate through the surface-energy budget, as well as through the carbon cycle. The surface-energy budget effects may be more important than the carbon-cycle effects. However, land-use impacts on climate cannot be adequately quantified with the usual metric of 'global warming potential'. A new metric is needed to quantify the human disturbance of the Earth's surface-energy budget. This 'regional climate change potential' could offer a new metric for developing a more inclusive climate protocol. This concept would also implicitly provide a mechanism to monitor potential local-scale environmental changes that could influence biodiversity.
Pielke
Roger A
RA
Department of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA.
Marland
Gregg
G
Betts
Richard A
RA
Chase
Thomas N
TN
Eastman
Joseph L
JL
Niles
John O
JO
Niyogi
Dev Dutta S
DD
Running
Steven W
SW
D000383:Agriculture; D018533:Biomass; D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D002980:Climate; D018534:Earth, Planet; D017753:Ecosystem; D004777:Environment; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D005843:Geography; D017752:Greenhouse Effect; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D011640:Public Policy
D002245:Carbon Dioxide