Coping with Uncertainty and Risk
In the previous chapters, reference has been made to the uncertainty, which characterizes measurements and assessments related to climate change, and the risks accompanying policies to adapt to and/or mitigate the impacts of global warming. Particularly in the case of the facts, based on (IPCC, 2007a), about global warming and relevant projections into the future presented in chapter 2, the presence of uncertainties is strong (Stainforth et al., 2005; Meinshausen, 2006). The same is true in the case of the global warming impacts presented in chapter 3. On the other hand, it is obvious that such uncertainties, coupled with other uncertainties stemming from sources related to society and economy, imply that any policy to adapt to and/ or mitigate the impacts of global warming is accompanied with some degree of risk, and the outcome of such a policy will be, to a bigger or lesser degree, uncertain.