In Search of Integrated Assessment

Edward A. Parson
Karen Fisher-Vanden
John F. Kennedy School of Government
Harvard University

We offer two options for working through this material. First, the outline below provides links to each section and brief descriptions of contents. Once you link to a section, another outline provides links to each subsection and brief descriptions of contents. Also, for quick access, we offer a Table of Contents.

Section 1: Introduction--provides an introduction to the field of integrated assessment, including how integrated assessment is defined.
Section 2: Past Integrated Assessment Examples and Parallels--puts present endeavors in historical context by summarizing three major past integrated assessment projects, one of which is ongoing.
Section 3: Design Issues in Integrated Assessment--summarizes and discusses some common issues and problems that integrated assessment studies of climate change face, including how components of climate change models are represented.
Section 4: Selected Projects in Integrated Assessment of Climate Change--presents brief summaries of more than 20 integrated assessment models and projects, outlining their basic designs and the major decisions they have made and are facing.
Section 5: Conclusions: In Search of Integrated Assessment--advances some preliminary views on the state of knowledge of how integrated assessments are organized and used, how they related to policy-making, and how the endeavor could advance.
Bibliography--provides a complete list of all references used and links to those available online.

Conventions

To help you move easily through the guide, we supply navigational aids at the end of every section. In addition, we follow this scheme for links: 1) hypertext author-date citations link to the relevant reference in the bibliography, from which you can access online documents if available; 2) hypertext terms usually link to the glossary, where the term is defined, or to other guide sections, where the concept is discussed further; and 3) hypertext links within parentheses generally link to guide sections or other resources, which provide detailed information about the topic.

The next section is Section 1: Introduction.

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Sources

Parson, E.A. and K. Fisher-Vanden, Searching for Integrated Assessment: A Preliminary Investigation of Methods, Models, and Projects in the Integrated Assessment of Global Climatic Change. Consortium for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN). University Center, Mich. 1995.

Suggested Citation

Consortium for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN). 1995. Thematic Guide to Integrated Assessment Modeling of Climate Change [online]. University Center, Mich.
CIESIN URL: http://sedac.ciesin.org/mva/iamcc.tg/TGHP.html

Acknowledgement

This work, including access to the data and technical assistance, is provided by CIESIN, with funding from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under Contract NAS5-32632 for the Development and Operation of the Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC).

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For more information contact CIESIN User Services: e-mail: CIESIN.Info@ciesin.org; Tel: 1-517-797-2727.

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