Global Environmental Change: Challenges to Science and Society in Southeastern Europe: Selected Papers presented in the International Conference held 19-21 May 2008 in Sofia Bulgaria

KEYNOTES.- Weather and Climate – Difficult Science Problems.- Climate Change and the Balkans: Real Concern or “Useless Arithmetic”.- Global Environmental Change and Related Impacts.- Science, Society and Action.- GLOBAL CHANGE AND CLIMATE CHANGE IN SEE.- Climate Modelling Beyond the Complexity: Challenges in Model-Building.- Changes in Different Type of Clouds in South-Eastern Europe in Association with Climate Change.- Research on 21st Century Climate Change in the Republic of Macedonia.- The Impact of Climate Change on the Precipitation Regime in Bosnia and Herzegovina.- Climatological Analysis of the Synoptic Situations Causing Torrential Precipitation Events in Bulgaria over the Period 1961–2007.- ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS.- A Summary of Sector and Region Specific Economic Impact and Vulnerability Assessments by Case Study in Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary.- Cecilia – EC FP6 Project on the Assessment of Climate Change Impacts in Central and Eastern Europe.- Vulnerabilities and Adaptation Options of European Agriculture.- Projection of Climate Change for South East Europe and Related Impacts.- Forests in Serbia as Factor of Soil and Water Protection Against Degradation in the Conditions of Global Climate Changes.- IMPACTS ON SOCIETY AND ECONOMY.- Impacts of Climate Change on Tourism.- The Social Impact of Heavy Rains in Albania.- Effects of Chronic Exposure to Urban Air Pollution on Red Blood Cells in Children.- Moldovia’s Challenge in the Face of Surface Water Resource Changes.- Long-Term Trends of Lead-210 Concentrations in the Ground-Level Air in Finland and Bulgaria.- FROM GLOBAL TO LOCAL AND VICE VERSA.- Drought Management Centre for South Eastern Europe.- The Role of Local Communities in Revising National Action Programs to Mitigate Drought, and Preventand Combat Desertification: Lessons from Romania.- Strengthening Capacities in Western Balkan Countries to Address Environmental Problems Through Remediation of High Priority Hot Spots.- Pilot Training Programme for Integration of Global Environmental Concerns into the Regional and Spatial Planning Process in Bulgaria.

This book comprises selected papers presented during the International Conference "Global Environmental Change: Challenges for Science and Society in South-Eastern Europe" held 19-21 May 2008 in Sofia, Bulgaria.
The conference goal was to assess recent knowledge on global environmental change and related impacts in countries of the Balkan and neighboring southeastern European region. The focus on this region is due to the present sensitivity to global change and the anticipated increased sensitivity in the future.
The intention of this volume is to provide an updated summary of the Conference presentations which are aimed at a wide audience of readers including, university teachers, researchers, decision-makers of different administrative units, managers of relevant companies.
"Global Environmental Change: Challenges for Science and Society in South-Eastern Europe" begins with and Introduction and four keynote chapters giving a more general perspective of the conference topics. The chapters encompass results from studies on climate change, land use change, changes in the carbon and water cycles, air quality, etc. Beyond the work of scientists and actions of governments, civil society has a major stake in dealing with environmental changes including actions to address, resulting impacts and to exploit new opportunities.

Results from original research projects are presented The majority of the countries in the region of South-Eastern Europe are covered There are both concrete (country specific) and more general (regional scale) chapters There are chapters of a broader context and contributions focused on specific issues.