Past hydrological events related to understanding global change: An ICSU research project

Despite general agreement that global climate change is taking place there is less consensus about the consequences and impacts that may arise. The possibility of greater climatic variability, with changes in the incidence of particular types of events, requires multidisciplinary research so that associated impacts can be considered when devising environmental management strategies. Past hydrological events investigated using palaeoenvironmental techniques, over time periods longer than the period of continuous records, are a possible source of information to complement monitored records. Six international research groups (GLOCOPH Commission of INQUA, Water Sustainability Commission of IGU, LUCIFS in IGBP–PAGES, Geomorphic Challenges for the 21st Century Commission of IGU, International Commission on Continental Erosion of IAHS, and Fluvial Archives Group [FLAG] associated with INQUA and IGU) have each contributed results from their specific time and spatial scales in integrated research collaboration. Relevant research conclusions have been combined and a research project undertaken which is the subject of four later papers. A provisional protocol for use of past hydrological events in order to understand global change is proposed and adapted in the final paper, to take account of other papers included and contributions to the discussions.