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Global Climate Change and Environmental Contaminants: A SETAC Call for Research
Citation:
Wenning, R. J., S. E. Finger, L. Guilhermino, R. C. Helm, M. J. Hooper, W. G. Landis, C. A. Menzie, W. R. MUNNS, JR., J. Rombke, AND R. G. Stahl, Jr. Global Climate Change and Environmental Contaminants: A SETAC Call for Research. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management. SETAC Press, Pensacola, FL, 6(2):197-198, (2010).
Impact/Purpose:
Environmental chemists, toxicologists, and risk assessors who are members of SETAC are challenged to work together to understand how global climate change will influence the mechanisms and ramifications of contaminants on humans and the environment. By providing the guidance needed to adapt assessment techniques to these changes, we strive to improve society's ability to respond to effects that are difficult to predict, evaluate, and mitigate. New quantification techniques, such as those associated with monitoring and evaluating ecosystem services for terrestrial and aquatic regions (see, e.g., the 2003 Millenium Ecosystem Assessment Report), are sorely needed to evaluate and guide responses to the combined effects of climate change and conventional stressors on the well-being of humans, wildlife, and the environment. Additionally, assessment approaches for characterizing environmental risk and natural resource injuries must be adapted to address these combined effects and integrate plausible strategies to protect, preserve, and restore human and ecosystem health.
Description:
Climate change has become a global environmental threat that will impact virtually every ecosystem on the planet for generations to come. The widespread nature of the threat is evident in not only industrialized countries, but in remote locations, such as polar regions and oceanic islands, that are far from the intense human activity that is widely demonstrated to be the cause. The difficulty of coordinating a response to climate change was reflected in the near collapse of intergovernmental negotiations at the recent United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen (December 2009), where sharp disagreements on a wide range of issues delayed a treaty intended to coordinate an international response to climate change. Governments must continue to forge ahead with difficult political negotiations to find the common ground required to address the complexities of the challenge.