edited by R Ragaini (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, USA)

The Erice International Seminars are multidisciplinary seminars attended by over 100 eminent participants from all fields of science. Each year, a few scientific issues are selected and experts are invited to present contrasting views during the plenary multidisciplinary sessions of the seminar. General debates soon follow. These sessions offer a unique opportunity for specialists to broaden their perspectives after being confronted with ideas and suggestions from high level scientists in complementary domains of science. Associated workshops allow the experts to further refine and process the ideas evoked during the seminar. This year's topics are focused on the World Energy Crisis and more specifically on the future of nuclear power, the sustainability of biofuels and nuclear waste. On Global Monitoring of the Planet we have focused on the climate change issue and specifically on the theoretical basis for model calculations, on vector-borne and air-borne particulates disseminating diseases and the crisis in internet security. A full day session was devoted to the Disarmament and Proliferation Regime, in collaboration with the Government of Italy and international institutions.

• Ozone and Climate Change Interaction (R D Bojkov)
• Delineating Dynamics from Nonlinear Time Series Analysis (A A Tsonis)
• External and Social Costs of Electricity Generation (R Friedrich)
• Airborne Desert Dust: Implications for Global Health (D W Griffin)
• World Biofuel Supplies and Policies (C Difiglio)
• The Role of Identifiers in Global CyberSecurity (R E Kahn)
• Nuclear Energy, Present and Future (D J Hill)
• Climate Change and Public Health (D Buriot)
• From the Nuclear War Emergency to Nuclear Proliferation (A Zichichi)
• Climate, Energy and Development (G G Serra)
• Mitigation, Adaptation and Sustainability (G G Serra)
• and other papers