At the same time, long-term trends in inequality, population growth, urbanization, economic globalization, technological change and other socioeconomic processes will exert profound impacts on the changing climate which are difficult to envisage (see chap. In addition, future climate trends will depend on national and international actions aimed at mitigation over the next few decades. The uncertainty associated with forecasting long-term climate trends and their effect on weather patterns is complicated by the need to be geographically precise, since the effects of climate hazards are felt at the local level.