The nations gathered in Kyoto are split into several factions, each pushing a different plan to deal with impending climate change, and each -- despite a spate of preconference workshops held during the past few months in an effort to narrow the differences -- sticking to its guns.
Not only should RIAs ensure they fully understand the impacts of the impending regulations, but they will need to prepare for additional change that could lie ahead.
Yet global warming observed less than two decades after many scientists had predicted a global cooling crisis prompted the United Nations to organize an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and to convene a continuing series of international conferences purportedly aimed at preventing an impending catastrophe.