14.1.2 Key differences from TAR

This assessment builds on the findings from the TAR and incorporates new results from the literature, including:

• Prospects for increased precipitation variability, increasing challenges of water management.
• The need to include groundwater and water-quality impacts in the assessment of water resources.
• The potential that multi-factor impacts may interact non-linearly, leading to tipping points.
• The potential importance of interactions among climate change impacts and with other kinds of local, regional and global changes.
• The potential for adaptation, but the unevenness of current adaptations.
• The challenge of linking adaptation strategies with future vulnerabilities.
• Availability of much more literature on all aspects of impacts, adaptation and vulnerability in North America.