Two Types of Global Environmental Change. Definitional and spatial-scale issues in their human dimensions

Abstract

Clarification of several issues in the human dimensions of global environmental change is essential to the creation of a balanced research agenda. Global environmental change includes both systemic changes that operate globally through the major systems of the geosphere-biosphere, and cumulative changes that represent the global accumulation of localized changes. An understanding of the human dimen sions of change requires attention to both types through research that integrates findings from spatial scales ranging from the global to the local. A regional or meso-scale focus represents a particularly promising avenue of approach. © 1990