The present note seeks to provide a personal overview of the questions that
dominate the research agenda of the PAGES project. These questions will be
to the fore as PAGES research leaders develop a synthesis of the project a
nd look ahead to the next stages in its development. An outline is presente
d of plans for considering, within the PAGES framework, the interplay of hu
man activities and climate variability in the recent past. (C) 1999 Elsevie
r Science Ltd. All rights reserved.