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Abstract

Since the Industrial Revolution, the combination of fossil fuel burning and deforestation has led to an increase of 26% in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration and a rise in global mean surface air temperatures of 0.3–0.6° C (WMO/UNEP, 1990). A number of interrelated and complex factors make it difficult to forecast future CO2 emissions from fossil fuels, but there is general agreement that concentrations will continue to rise. A common scenario is that there will be a doubling of present day CO2 concentrations, from 340 to 680 ppmv, coupled with a 2–5°C increase in mean air temperatures (Houghton et al., 1990; Agrawal & Agrawal, 2000) during the later half of the next century.

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© 2000 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Ashenden, T.W., Stirling, C.M., Harmens, H., Rafarel, C.R. (2000). Predicting the Impacts of Climate Change on Vegetation. In: Yunus, M., Singh, N., de Kok, L.J. (eds) Environmental Stress: Indication, Mitigation and Eco-conservation. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9532-2_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9532-2_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-90-481-5503-3

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