Climate Change and Extreme Weather: A Basis for Action

The economic and social costs of extreme weather-related events have been increasing around the globe. There is some debate over how much of this past increase has been due to social factors and how much due to changes in frequency or characteristics of extreme events. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2001a) has affirmed that humans are having a role in changing the climate and will have a larger role in the future. Although the changes in extreme events are by their nature both difficult to detect and difficult to model, the consensus is that there will be changes in the future. Through a risk-based decision-making analysis, it is concluded that society should make the additional investments to reduce vulnerability to this increased risk.