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MODELING THE GLOBAL SOCIETY-BIOSPHERE-CLIMATE SYSTEM: PART 2: COMPUTED SCENARIOS

J. Alcamo, G.J. van den Born, A.F. Bouwman, B.J. de Haan, K. Klein Goldewijk, O. Klepper, J. Krabec, R. Leemans, J.G.J. Olivier, A.M.C. Toet, H.J.M. de Vries, H.J. van der Woerd

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2. Conventional Wisdom Scenario

2.1 Assumptions of "Conventional Wisdom" Scenario

The "Conventional Wisdom" scenario is based on conventional assumptions about socio-economic trends. Estimates of future population and economic growth are taken from the IS92a scenario of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 1992). The IS92a scenario is an intermediate case out of six "reference" scenarios developed by the IPCC. Although the IS92a scenario is an intermediate scenario, the IPCC did not propose it to be the most likely scenario. We have made the decision to interpret its assumptions (for example, population and GNP) as the "conventional wisdom". At the same time we do not pass judgement on the feasibility or desirability of the scenario's assumptions.

2.1.1 Population Assumptions

The regional population assumptions of Scenario IS92a (Table 3) are based on World Bank estimates, which are close to UN's medium projection (IPCC, 1992). According to this scenario world population will more than double by the year 2100, reaching 11.5 billion people.


TABLE 3

 Regional Population Assumptions for Conventional Wisdom Scenario.  Source:
           IPCC (1992), Scenario: "IS92a".  Units:  Millions.

     Region                                  year
                         1900      2000      2025      
2050      2100
                                                                                                                                          
     Canada                27        28        29        28        27
     USA                  250       
270       302       298       295
     Latin America        448       534       715       824       877
     Africa               642       844      1540      2208      2875
     OECD Europe          378       393       407       395       388
     Eastern 
Europe       123       131       143       149       148
     CIS                  289       306       335       350       347
     Middle East          203       272       508       730       937  
     India + S. Asia     1171      1412      1970      
2375      2644
     China + C.P. Asia   1248      1431      1756      1896      1963
     East Asia            371       447       624       752       837
     Oceania               23        24        25        24        24
     Japan                124       
131       136       132       130
     World               5297      6223      8490     10161     11492
                           
The scenario of urban vs. rural population in each region (Table 4) is based on extrapolating the urbanization trend between 1970 and 1990 in each region up to a maximum of 85% urbanization. The future linear increase is consistent with UN estimates for Africa and Asia up to year 2025 (WRI, 1990); the assumed maximum 85% urbanization is the UN estimate for Latin America in 2025 and corresponds to the current percentage of urbanization in some northern European countries, where a maximum may have been reached.

                                    TABLE 4 

   Regional Urban Population Assumptions for Conventional Wisdom Scenario.
                         Source:  1990 data -- WRI (1990)
                        
Units:  Percent of Total Population

Region                                      year
                           1990             2025             2100

Canada                      77               80               85
USA                         75               
78               84
Latin America               71               85               85
Africa                      34               54               85
OECD Europe                 71               85               85
Eastern Europe              71               
85               85
CIS                         66               80               85
Middle East                 57               85               85
India + S. Asia             26               39               66
China + C.P. Asia           33               
63               85
East Asia                   36               61               85
Oceania                     80               81               83
Japan                       77               85               85

2.1.2 Economic Growth Assumptions

Economic growth assumptions (Table 5) follow those of Scenario IS92a of the IPCC (1992) and take into account recent changes in Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), as well as consequences of the Persian Gulf war. The IPCC (1992) reports that the GNP growth assumptions of this scenario are at the low end or below the recent range of World Bank forecasts. Nevertheless, the IS92a scenario implies a rapid increase in income per capita in the developing world, although a large income gap remains in the year 2100 between developed and developing regions.


TABLE 5

           Regional Economic Growth Assumptions for Conventional
          Wisdom Scenario. Source: "IS92a" scenario (IPCC, 1992).
                     Units:  GNP Annual Percentage Growth

Region                                      year
                                
1990-2025          2025-2100

Canada                            2.06                1.31
USA                               2.09                1.25
Latin America                     1.85                2.20
Africa                            1.57                
2.39
OECD Europe                       2.06                1.31
Eastern Europe                    1.87                1.18
CIS                               1.87                1.18
Middle East                       1.36                1.98
India + S. Asia                   
2.97                2.84
China + C.P. Asia                 4.23                3.07
East Asia                         2.97                2.84
Oceania                           2.71                1.28
Japan                             2.71                
1.28

2.1.3 Energy-related Assumptions

The energy-related variables for an IMAGE 2.0 scenario are listed in Table 2. We briefly describe them in this section, while more details are given in de Vries, et al. (1994).

To compute future end use consumption of energy, assumptions are required about future levels of "activity" in each end use sector. The measures of activity are: value-added of industrial output (industry sector), value-added of services (commercial sector), private consumption (residential sector), number of passenger vehicles (transport sector), and GNP ("other" sector). These data are summarized in Table 6.


TABLE 6

             Assumed activity levels for energy end-use sectors

                  Value added industrial output ($ cap a )

Region            1970        1990         2025         2050         2100

Canada            3141        4282         8746        
12114        23240
USA               3635        4629         9555        13020        24172
Latin America      535         619         1222         2099         6199
Africa             335         268          491          848         2531
OECD Europe       
3025        4189         8556        11851        22736
Eastern Europe     646        1122         2058         2637         4430
CIS               1850        2560         4210         5640        10123
Middle East       1524        1299         2357         
3523         7873
India + S. Asia     45          82          353          688         2619
China + C.P. Asia   93         375         1249         2413         9008
East Asia          159         490         1519         2819         9713
Oceania           
2768        3470         8853        12164        22965
Japan             3032        6330        16147        22186        41887

             Assumed activity levels for energy end-use sectors

                  Value added commercial services ($ cap a )

Region            1970        1990         2025         2050         2100

Canada            3686        7114        14529        20124        38607
USA               6338        9210        19011        25903        48091
Latin America      723         
915         1796         3190        10070
Africa             241         295          520         1036         4112 
OECD Europe       4251        6791        13869        19210        36854
Eastern Europe     861        1138         2509         3537         
7033
CIS                617        1341         6094         8164        14653
Middle East        641        1094         2221         3981        12789
India + S. Asia     65         111          388          862         4254
China + C.P. Asia   38         
131         1062         2547        14633
East Asia          207         513         1451         3214        15779
Oceania           4571        6370        16251        22329        42155
Japan             3895        7409        18900        25969        
49029

             Assumed activity levels for energy end-use sectors

                       Private consumption ($ cap a )

Region            1970        1990         2025         2050         2100

Canada            5024        6969        14234        
19715        37824
USA               6528        9341        19281        26272        48774
Latin America     1022        1211         2244         3718        10202
Africa             455         456          770         1367         4305
OECD Europe       
4440        6882        14056        19469        37350
Eastern Europe    1077        1305         2732         3761         7126
CIS               2503        4388         6928         9282        16661
Middle East       1038        1396         2362         
4165        12958
India + S. Asia    175         241          672         1249         4310
China + C.P. Asia  137         323         1496         3213        14826
East Asia          321         658         1944         3924        15987
Oceania           
4645        6083        15516        21320        40251
Japan             4259        7860        20050        27549        52011

             Assumed activity levels for energy end-use sectors

            Number of passenger vehicles (vehicles per 1000 
cap)

Region            1970        1990         2025         2050         2100

Canada             327         472          600          605          615
USA                450         566          600          604          611
Latin America       30          
73          132          135          140
Africa              12          15           43           55           61
OECD Europe        197         375          420          420          420
Eastern Europe      34         145          215          222          
237
CIS                 18          59          215          222          237
Middle East         12          41           75           75           75
India + S. Asia      1           3           16           36           59
China + C.P. Asia    0           
3           15           35           58
East Asia            5          16           43           56           61
Oceania            307         413          485          485          485
Japan              102         254          315          315          
315

Industrial Output and Services. For OECD regions, it is assumed that the value-added of industrial output and services remains at their current fraction of GNP. Therefore, as GNP in a region increases according to the Conventional Wisdom scenario, the value-added of industrial output and commercial services in this region proportionately increases. As for non-OECD regions, they are assumed to follow the historical pattern of structural change of OECD economies, i.e., as GNP rises, industrial output initially increases, then peaks and declines; meanwhile the decline of industrial output is paralleled by an increase in commercial services (Maddison, 1991). In this scenario, non-OECD regions are assumed to follow this pattern. The fraction of GNP devoted to industrial output increases, peaks, and then declines while the fraction of GNP devoted to commercial services increases when the industrial output fraction decreases.

Private Consumption. Private consumption in OECD regions remains fixed at its current fraction of GNP. This means that private consumption increases proportionately to GNP. By comparison, in developing regions this fraction is not fixed, but is assumed to increase to the current average fraction in OECD countries, as GNP in the developing region approaches the current average GNP of OECD countries.

Passenger Vehicles. Studies of historical trends in transportation have shown that the number of vehicles in a society are proportionately related to wealth, but are also constrained by the availability of roads, the density of populations, and other country-specific factors (Grübler and Nakicenovic, 1991). As a result it is probably not wise to assume that there is a universal relationship between income and vehicles per person, nor that there is a typical time period by which each region will reach the saturation number of vehicles. For our estimates we use technological diffusion data from different countries which indirectly take into account constraints to number of vehicles (Grübler and Nakicenovic, 1991). We use these data to estimate the saturation value of vehicles per capita for each region; we further assume that saturation will be reached in year 2100. For the year 2025, we use vehicle estimates from the U.S. EPA (1990) for different regions, and interpolate for years in-between. An exception is made for the four world regions currently having very low levels of vehicle usage (Africa, India plus South Asia, China plus Centrally Planned Asia, and East Asia). For these regions we assume that the current global average (61 vehicles/ 1000 cap) will be reached in year 2100. For intermediate years, we assume that the increase in vehicles in these four regions will follow a typical "S curve" trajectory, as proposed by Grübler and Nakicenovic (1991).

Fuel Mix and Prices. The trend of greenhouse gas emissions from each region's energy economy is closely related to the amount and mix of fuels consumed. The IMAGE 2.0 model endogenously computes the amount of energy consumed in each of five end-use sectors (industry, commercial, residential, transport, and "other") of each region, based on the activity levels just described. However, the fuel mix in each sector is prescribed (although version 2.1 of IMAGE will endogenously compute the fuel mix in each region.) For the Conventional Wisdom scenario, the fuel mix for each sector (i.e. the fraction of total end use energy consumption delivered by each energy carrier) has been estimated from results of the model used to generate the IS92a scenario (IPCC, 1992; Pepper et al., 1992).

The computation of end use energy consumption in IMAGE 2.0 also depends on a scenario of future fuel prices which are used to determine the level of energy conservation. Future trends in prices of coal, gas and oil are the same for each region and are taken from the Edmonds-Reilly model (Edmonds and Reilly, 1985). For coal, the price index (scaled to 1975) is 1.55 in 2050 and 2.37 in 2100. For gas, the index is 4.10 in 2050 and 7.71 in 2100, and for oil 2.46 in 2050 and 2.38 in 2100. Prices of fuelwood are held constant. Prices of biomass are held constant until 2025 and are then assumed to be 10% higher than current prices in 2050, and 20% higher in 2100.

Energy Conversion Efficiency. Emissions of greenhouse gases also depend on the energy used to convert primary to secondary energy, which in turn depends on the assumed efficiency of electricity and heat generation. For the Conventional Wisdom scenario, it was assumed that efficiency of converting coal, gas, and oil to electricity increases linearly with time from its 1990 value (which varies from region to region) to the value of 0.50 in 2100 in OECD regions, Eastern Europe, CIS and Middle East; and to 0.45 in 2100 in other regions. Other assumed conversion efficiencies are presented in de Vries et al. (1994).

Autonomous Efficiency Improvements. Another important variable affecting end use consumption of electricity and heat are so-called "autonomous" factors that lead to improvements in end use energy efficiency. By definition, these are improvements that are not directly related to increases in fuel prices. For electricity, autonomous improvements of the energy intensity are assumed to arise from technological development rather than from higher fuel prices. For energy in the form of heat, we assume that technologies for delivering heat become cheaper, making price-driven energy conservation more attractive. The assumed rate of improvement is region-specific, ranging from 0 to 2% a-1 for heat and 0 to 5.5% a-1 for electricity (de Vries et al., 1994 ). The higher rates of improvement are assigned to developing regions under the assumption that they can realize large gains in their currently inefficient energy systems.

Emission Factors. In order to compute future emissions of greenhouse gases, it is also necessary to assign future emission factors to these gases. For the Conventional Wisdom scenario, it is assumed that emission controls lead to decreases of emission factors of NOx in all sectors, CH4 in fuel production, and CO and VOC in transport. Emission factors for N2O in transport are assumed to increase as a side effect of catalyst-type emission controls on vehicles. All other emission factors are held constant. More information about these assumptions is available in de Vries et al. (1994).

2.1.4 Agriculture-related Assumptions

The types of agriculture-related assumptions required for the Conventional Wisdom scenario are presented in Table 2. Details are given in Zuidema et al. (1994)

Food Trade. Future agricultural demand will strongly affect land cover patterns and these will affect the flux of CO2 and other greenhouse gases from the terrestrial environment. Agricultural demand, of course, depends on the global trade of agricultural commodities. However, since IMAGE 2.0 does not compute world food trade (this is planned for version 2.1), a very simple approach is taken. We assume current exports of food products from the developed world increase by 50% from 1990 to 2050 and level off afterwards. Net exports from developing regions double their 1990 level by 2100. Export of animal products stay constant at their 1990 level, while sugar export is assumed to be zero. The allocation of crop exports to importing regions is weighted according to the crop consumption of importing regions.

Crop Yield. Future land cover patterns will greatly depend on the need for agricultural land, and this in turn will depend on the potential yields of crops. There are two aspects to these yields -- The first is the potential yield resulting from local climate and unmanaged soil conditions; this is computed by the Terrestrial Vegetation submodel of IMAGE 2.0 (see Leemans and van den Born, 1994) and is not a scenario variable. The second is the influence of fertilizer and other technological inputs (tractors, management know-how) on yield. These variables must be prescribed for each scenario. The yield increase due to nitrogen fertilizer is based on a representive yield response curve for cereals from Addiscot (1991). Future nitrogen fertilizer use is also a scenario variable and is derived from the IS92a scenario of the IPCC. The effect of other technological inputs (tractors, management know-how) on yield after 1990 is based on trends in each region between 1970 and 1990 (see Zuidema et al., 1994).

Animal Productivity and Other Variables. The future trend of animal productivity (ratio of non-productive animals versus productive animals, production of meat and dairy products per cow) can influence future land requirements in developing regions because improved productivity can lead to smaller grassland requirements per unit animal product. This scenario assumes that animal efficiencies in developing regions will linearly approach the current (1990) efficiencies in OECD Europe as incomes of these regions approach the current income of OECD Europe. Two other scenario variables also affect future land requirements for animals: the assumed composition of feed (roughage or concentrate) influences the amount of range land required, while the type of crop used to provide feed determines how feed will compete with human requirements for crops. Both of these variables were fixed at their 1990 values. Quantitative information about these assumptions is available in Zuidema et al. (1994).

2.2 Results of the Conventional Wisdom Scenario

Because of the large volume of output generated by the IMAGE 2.0 model for each scenario, we present detailed results for only two of thirteen world regions -- OECD Europe from the developed regions, and Africa from the developing regions. Selected results from other regions are presented when they are of particular interest for the scenario. In addition, global calculations are given. Results for the four scenarios are summarized in Table 7.

                                       TABLE 7

Summary of scenario 
results.  These are global average or total results unless
otherwise specified.

YEAR+                               Carbon Cycle              Methane
SCENARIO                            (Pg C a )                 emissions

CO2-emissions   net biosphere   ocean     (Tg CH a )
                    from energy     flux*           flux*
                    /industry
        
1990                    6.1          -1.2           -1.6         492  

2050                    
Conv. 
Wisdom           15.2          -7.2           -3.0         688       
Biofuel Crops          15.2          -6.0           -3.1         692
No Biofuels            17.0          -7.5           -3.2         677
Ocean Realign.         15.2          -4.5           
-3.1         686

2100
Conv. Wisdom           24.0          -8.2           -4.2         778
Biofuel Crops          24.0          -6.7           -4.5         793
No Biofuels            29.2          -8.9           -4.8         746
Ocean Realign.         
24.0          -6.7           -4.1         778

Summary of scenario results.  These are global average or total results unless
otherwise specified.

YEAR+                      Atmospheric         Change of agri-    Change of                      
SCENARIO                 
Concentrations        cultural area      forest area

                       CO     CH    trop.O       (10  km )         (10  km )                     
                       (ppm)  (ppm)
                    
1990                   358    1.7     
-             26.7             47.2        

2050                                 **              **               **
Conv. Wisdom           522    2.5    +11.6%         +9%              -26%             
Biofuel Crops          534    2.6    +12.6%        
+30%              -32%
No Biofuels            539    2.4    + 9.0%         +9%              -26%
Ocean Realign.         563    2.6    +12.7%        +12%              -27%  

2100
Conv. Wisdom           777    2.3    +10.0%        +14%              -27%      

Biofuel Crops          821    2.4    +12.0%        +65%              -31%
No Biofuels            857    1.7    + 0.2%        +15%              -27%
Ocean Realign.         863    2.4    +11.7%        +18%              -28%

Summary of scenario results.  
These are global average or total results unless
otherwise specified.

YEAR+                                                       
SCENARIO                 
                       Northern     Southern 
                       Hemisphere   Hemisphere
                       
1990                    14.2         13.0        

2050                    ***          ***    
Conv. Wisdom            +1.4         +1.0         
Biofuel Crops           +1.5         +1.0
No Biofuels             +1.4         +1.0 
Ocean Realign.          
+0.0         +1.1    

2100
Conv. Wisdom            +2.4         +1.8     
Biofuel Crops           +2.7         +2.0
No Biofuels             +2.4         +1.9
Ocean Realign.          +1.2         +2.0

2.2.1 Results from Energy-Industry

For the Conventional Wisdom scenario, the trend of primary energy consumption in OECD Europe is quite different from Africa (Figures 1 and 2). After 2000, energy demand in OECD Europe slowly increases due to slowly increasing population. Also, at the level of economic activity in this scenario (Table 6), the increase in end use energy consumption for each unit increase in economic activity is small compared to Africa and other developing regions because consumption is near saturation. The slowly increasing trend in primary energy consumption is actually outweighed by improvements in energy efficiency spurred by higher fuel prices and technological developments. The result is a stabilization of primary energy consumption in the first half of the century (Figure 1). In the second half of the century, energy consumption slightly increases because growth in economic activity outpaces the rate of energy conservation stimulated by energy price increases. We remind the reader that this is meant to be a climate-policy-free scenario, and therefore does not consider that future taxes or other economic policy instruments could boost energy prices still higher and stimulate further conservation.

By contrast to OECD Europe, large increases in population and income in Africa lead to tremendous increases in consumption of all fuels in the second half of next century (Figure 2). Moreover, the increase in end use energy consumption for each unit increase in economic activity remains relatively high in the next century because Africa has a high energy intensity relative to its level of economic activity at the start of the simulation (1970).

Since we will be analysing different biofuel-related scenarios later, we note here that modern biofuels (excluding fuelwood, dung, and other "traditional biofuels") account for 14.4 EJ a-1 of Africa's primary energy consumption in 2050 and 57.7 EJ a-1 in 2100. For OECD Europe, these figures are 4.1 EJ a-1 in 2050 and 3.3 EJ a-1 in 2100, and for the world, 74.1 EJ a-1 in 2050 and 208.0 EJ a-1 in 2100. By comparison, the "Renewables-Intensive Global Energy Scenario" of Johansson et al. (1993b) includes 206 EJ a-1 of world biomass consumption in year 2050.

The trend in European emissions is also quite different from Africa's trend (Figures 3 and 4). Emissions of CO2 from the energy system in OECD Europe decline due to the combined effect of slowly increasing energy consumption and a shift to low or non-CO2 fuels ( Figure 3). Currently, the main source of CO2 in OECD Europe is power generation, followed by the sectors of industry and transport (Figure 3). According to this scenario, future power generation will account for an even greater share of total emissions from energy in OECD Europe.

After an initial increase, emissions of O3 precursors (CO, NOx, and VOC) and N2O decrease because the consumption of end use energy decreases in the transport sector, one of the main sources of these emissions. The emissions of O3 precursors also decrease because of assumed air pollution controls in various energy sectors. Emissions of CH4 are reduced because of a shift from fossil fuels to nuclear power in OECD Europe (according to this scenario) and increased efficiencies.

Emissions of CO2 and other gases from Africa spiral upwards following increased energy consumption and industrial activity (Figure 4). By 2030, Africa's CO2 emissions surpass OECD Europe's emissions. For this scenario, the main source of energy-related CO2 emissions in Africa is power generation (as in OECD Europe), but the second most important source is the residential sector. Future emissions of CH4 mainly stem from losses in the gas distribution system, while large increases in N2O arise from increasing industrial activity. Most of the increase in NOx emissions comes from power generation, while increases in VOC emissions can be attributed to increased industrial production for which no emission controls are assumed. The increase in CO emissions in the second half of the next century stems from energy consumed by industry.

The trend of CO2 emissions from other developed regions (U.S., Canada, Eastern Europe, CIS, Oceania, and Japan) resembles OECD Europe's trend (although trends in the CIS are somewhat anomalous in showing a strong increase up to 2025) while regions in the developing world are closer to Africa's trends. The pattern of global CO2 emissions shows that increasing emissions from developing regions prevail over the stabilization of emissions in OECD regions (Figure 5). As a result, global CO2 emissions increase from 6.1 Pg C a-1 in 1990 to 24.0 Pg C a-1 in 2100. Emissions of other energy-related greenhouse gases show similar increases over the simulation period.

Estimates of emissions of CO2 from the energy/industry system for this scenario fall within the range of the minimum (IS92c) and maximum (IS92e) scenarios of the IPCC(1992). This is not too surprising since some of the inputs of the intermediate scenario, IS92a, are also used as inputs to the Conventional Wisdom scenario. Emissions of the Conventional Wisdom scenario fall in the upper range of the IPCC scenarios because we compute a somewhat higher total primary energy consumption (1815 EJ a-1 in 2100) than the IS92a scenario (1453 EJ a-1 in 2100), and because different emission factors are assumed.

2.2.2 Results from Agriculture and Land Cover

Greenhouse gas emissions from land use / land cover are related to the type and extent of land cover and the intensity of different types of land use. In the IMAGE 2.0 model, shifts in land cover are computed from changes in demand for agricultural commodities and fuelwood which in turn stem from population and economic growth. The model also takes into account technological improvements in crop yield and animal productivity, as well as changes in the potential vegetation and crop productivity related to climate and current soil conditions, and the current location of different types of land cover (Zuidema et al., 1994). Estimation of agricultural demand begins with computation of per capita intake of different commodities according to 8 categories of crops and 5 types of animal products. Most of the non-meat calories consumed by inhabitants of OECD Europe consist of temperate cereals, but per capita consumption of this commodity declines over the simulation period (Figure 6a). Overall consumption of both vegetable and meat products level off by 2025 because per capita consumption of most commodities is at or near saturation.

The leveling off of demand for animal products leads to stable numbers of most types of livestock after 2025. This leads to a stabilization of the amount of feed required for these animals, which together with a decrease in human consumption of cereals and other crops, leads to a leveling off or decline of total crop demands (Figure 6b). Less area is needed in Europe to grow crops as the total demand for crops levels off and crop yields increase per hectare because of more favorable future climate, increased fertilizer use, and technological crop improvements (Figures 7, and compare Figures 8a and b). As a consequence, some agricultural land reverts to its climate-potential land cover. In the case of Europe this is mostly deciduous forests (Figure 9a).

By contrast, increased income in Africa leads to an increase in per capita consumption of most agricultural commodities (Figure 6a). The larger per capita meat demand and increase in population leads to a large increase in the number of animals. Rising per capita food consumption is multiplied by increased population so that total crop demand in Africa rises steeply between 1990 to 2100 (Figure 6b). To satisfy the demand for crops and meat products, the model computes that extensive new areas will be needed for agriculture and grassland (Figure 7b, and compare Figures 8a and b), even though fertilizers and other inputs are assumed to enhance yield per hectare. The amount of agricultural land increases from 325 to 980 Mha between 1990 and 2100 (Figure 7). The expansion of agricultural land and grassland (Figure 9b) is mainly at the expense of savanna and tropical forested areas (Figure 8a). By the year 2060 the demand for grassland cannot be met since all savanna and forest have been cleared; subsequently animal densities increase on the available grasslands. We note that this scenario assumes that most food demand in Africa is met by growing crops within the region, rather than by importing food from Europe and other regions with excess agricultural land. Since this scenario assumes that per capita income increases substantially in Africa, it can be argued that Africans may grow less of their own food in the future, and import more.

Globally, the amount of agricultural land expands to the end of next century, when it begins to level off (Figure 7c and Table 7). Not only Africa experiences a huge expansion of grassland and agricultural land, but also Asia, and the Middle East (Figure 8). In Asia this leads to extensive deforestation. At the same time, the trends discussed above for Europe also apply to North America and all of the CIS; for example, forests replace abandoned agricultural land in Siberia and on the East Coast of USA and Canada (Figure 8).

2.2.3 Comparing Emissions from Energy/Industry and Land.

Global emissions coming from natural sources, land activity, and energy/industry are compared in Figure 10. Land-related emissions of CO2 are connected mostly with the process of deforestation. According to the Conventional Wisdom scenario, the global rate of deforestation dwindles in the second half of next century. This occurs because either forests have disappeared (for example, in Africa and India plus South Asia) or because stabilizing food demand and increasing crop yield slow the expansion of agricultural and range land (in the case of Latin America). A consequence of declining deforestation rates is that land-related CO2 emissions are unimportant in the second half of next century (Figure 10). A related issue, the role of the biosphere in the carbon cycle, is taken up below.

Methane is emitted mostly from land-related sources (e.g. wetlands and animals). Since agricultural activity expands in the next century, CH4 emissions continue to increase (Figure 10). Emissions of N2O are also chiefly land-related (from natural soils in particular) and increase because of moisture and temperature feedbacks to soil.

Land-related emissions of ozone precursors (NOx, CO, and VOC) stem from seasonal savanna burning, biomass burning following deforestation, and agricultural waste burning. Emissions from savanna and biomass burning will decrease steadily because of the declining rate of deforestation rates and dwindling extent of savanna lands. By comparison, the main sources of NOx and VOC emissions are related to energy and industry rather than land use, and these sources continue to rise throughout the next century, especially because of expanded economic activity in developing regions (Figure 10). The net result is that total NOx and VOC emissions continue to increase. The situation is similar for CO, except that land-related emissions make up a much larger part of total emissions. Consequently, the decrease in land-related emissions outweighs the increase in energy/industry emissions, and total emissions decline after 2025 (Figure 10). More information about land-related emissions for the Conventional Wisdom scenario is given by Kreileman and Bouwman (1994).

2.2.4 Results Concerning Total Carbon Fluxes

In this section we focus on the total flux of carbon because of its important contribution to radiative forcing. To compute the flux of carbon between the biosphere and atmosphere, the IMAGE 2.0 model takes into account plant primary productivity, soil respiration and burning of biomass from cleared land (Klein Goldewijk et al., 1994). In addition, the rate of soil respiration depends on moisture availability and temperature, and the rate of plant productivity depends on CO2 air concentration, temperature, and the length of the growing season. For reference, the calculated 1990 carbon fluxes are presented in Figure 11a and discussed in Alcamo et al. (1994) and Klein Goldewijk et al. (1994). The year 2050 fluxes (Figure 11b) show increased uptake in the northern boreal forests due to increased temperature and CO2, and in the USA and Europe also because of reversion of agricultural land to forest. At the same time, many areas of Africa and Asia become new sources of CO2 owing to expansion of grassland and agricultural land and the resulting burning of biomass and increased soil respiration. In Latin America, forests continue to act as sinks because of assumed climate feedbacks (see Klein Goldewijk et al., 1994). The net effect of these different trends is that the biosphere acts as a larger and larger sink of atmospheric CO2, increasing from 1.2 Pg C a-1 in 1990 to 8.2 Pg C a-1 in 2100 (Figure 12a). The ocean also behaves as a net sink of CO2 according to IMAGE 2.0 calculations, increasing from 1.6 Pg C a-1 in 1990 to 4.2 Pg C a-1 in 2100. This is mostly due to higher atmospheric concentrations of CO2.

As noted above, the source of CO2 from the world's energy/industrial system increases from 6.1 in 1990 to 24.0 Pg C a-1 between 1990 and 2100. The sum of these fluxes in 2100 result in a net build-up of 11.6 Pg C a-1 in the atmosphere.

2.2.5 Results from Atmosphere and Climate

Because of the above described changes in global carbon flux, CO2 in the atmosphere increases from 358 ppm (slightly above measured concentrations) to 777 ppm between 1990 and 2100 (Figure 13a). At the same time, methane concentrations rise steadily from 1.7 ppm in 1990 to 2.5 ppm in 2050, but slowly decrease afterwards (Figure 13b). The initial increase is due to increasing emissions, as well as depletion of its atmospheric sink, hydroxyl radical. The atmospheric concentration of hydroxyl recovers when CO emissions decline after 2025, and begins to serve as a more effective sink for CH4. Consequently, CH4 in the atmosphere slowly declines after 2050 although its global emissions continue to increase (Figure 10). The concentration of N2O follows its upward emissions trend, increasing from 305 to 430 ppb between 1990 and 2100, while CFCs decline over this period due to the assumption of a partial compliance to the London Amendments of the Montreal Protocol, leading to a phase out of all CFCs by 2075.

The net effect of the changes in greenhouse gas concentrations is a substantial increase in surface temperature in both the Southern and Northern Hemispheres (Figure 14a). Model results show the zonal pattern of temperature change that is typical of more complicated general circulation models, namely a lower temperature increase in the tropics because of extensive heat flux from this region, with a substantially higher increase in temperate regions (Figure 14a). Around the equator, surface temperatures between 1970 and 2100 increase about 1.50C, whereas in the middle northern latitudes the increase is around 3 to 50C (Figure 14a). Temperature changes in the Southern Hemisphere are smaller than in the Northern Hemisphere because of the modifying effects of the South's larger surface area of ocean (Figures 14a and 15).

Since calculations of society, biosphere, and climate are coupled in IMAGE 2.0, increases in surface temperature affect potential crop productivity, productivity of existing vegetation, and the rates of emissions of different greenhouse gases (e.g. N2O from soils). These factors profoundly affect atmospheric levels of greenhouse gases, which in turn affect surface temperatures and other aspects of climate, which again feed back to potential crop productivity, productivity of vegetation, and so on, until the loop is closed in the society-biosphere-climate system for each model time step.

2.2.6 Synopsis of Conventional Wisdom results

The Conventional Wisdom scenario provides a comprehensive (but incomplete) picture of the chain of consequences following "conventional wisdom" driving forces. Energy use and industrial activity slows down in OECD regions, while it rapidly expands in other regions. CO2 and other emissions related to energy/industry follow this pattern. At the same time the leveling off of population and a small marginal increase in per capita consumption leads to a stabilization of per capita food demand. This, and improved crop yields per hectare due to technology and improved climate, leads to a decline in total crop and animal demands. As a result, agricultural area shrinks, and the resulting forestation leads to greater uptake of CO2 by the biosphere in the north.

In developing regions, large increases in population and GNP also increases energy consumption and industrial activity, leading to increased emissions. The demand for food also greatly increases, and results in expanding agricultural and grassland areas, depleting forests and savanna in Africa and Asia, and increasing flux of CO2 between the biosphere and atmosphere. The net global effect of these trends is a rapidly increasing atmospheric level of most greenhouse gases, and significant increase in surface temperatures. [previous section] | [next section]


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Sources

Alcamo, Joseph (ed.). 1994. IMAGE 2.0: Integrated Modeling of Global Climate Change. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Suggested Citation

Consortium for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN). 1995. IMAGE 2.0 Model Guide [online]. University Center, Mich.
CIESIN URL: http://sedac.ciesin.org/mva/image-2.0/image-2.0-toc.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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