An evaluation of climate change impact requires the establishment of some baseline period against which changes will be measured. Baseline data are required for the relevant climate variables and also for non-climatic information (for example, carbon dioxide concentration, soil characteristics, population, income levels, etc.). Ideally, these various baseline datasets should all refer to the same time period, whether 1961-90 averages or the 1990 value. We provide here a set of country and regional-level indicators of socioeconomic and resource variables as estimated at the beginning of the 1990s. These data are reproduced from the IPCC report on The Regional Impacts of Climate Change: An Assessment of Vulnerability published in 1998 by Cambridge University Press (Appendix D). These data were collated from a variety of sources such as the World Bank, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

These baseline data have been organized into nine major world regions: Africa, Australasia, Europe, Latin America, Middle East/Arid Asia, North America, Small Island States, Temperate Asia, and Tropical Asia. They can be viewed (and downloaded) following the links below.

Data Tables

Data tables in HTML-format
Data tables in Excel-format

 

Reference:

R. T. Watson, M. C. Zinyowera and R. H. Moss (Eds), "The Regional Impacts of Climate Chamge: An Assessment of Vulnerability", 1998, Cambridge University Press, UK.
Available online at: http://www.grida.no/climate/ipcc/regional/index.htm

 

 

 

 

 

Related Links

Selected Publications:
• IPCC TAR
• IPCC SRES

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• Definition of terms