Global Warming

1 Climate Change Projections.- Summary.- 1.1 Introduction.- 1.2 Global-scale climate change projection.- 1.2.1 Emission scenarios of GHGs.- 1.2.2 Projections of future climate change.- 1.3 Climate change projections for Japan.- 1.3.1 Changes in temperature and precipitation.- 1.3.2 Changes in meteorological phenomenon indigenous to Japan.- 1.4 Future subjects.- References.- 2 Impacts on Natural Ecosystems.- Summary.- 2.1 Introduction.- 2.2 Impacts on mountainous region.- 2.2.1 Impacts on geomorphological processes of mountains.- 2.2.2 Impacts of global warming on forest distribution.- 2.3 Impacts of global warming on grasslands in Japan.- 2.3.1 Characteristics and vulnerability of grassland in Japan.- 2.3.2 Effects of global warming and human impact on grasslands in Japan.- 2.3.3 Future problems.- 2.4 Desertification: Effects on Japan across national borders.- 2.4.1 Desertification.- 2.4.2 Desertification in China.- 2.4.3 Impact on Japan.- 2.5 Impacts on wetlands.- 2.5.1 Wetlands characteristics and fragility.- 2.5.2 Effects of warming and human activities.- 2.6 Impacts on biodiversity and nature conservation areas.- 2.6.1 Warming and rare species, extinction of distributionally-bound species.- 2.6.2 Warming-induced degradation of conservation areas.- 2.6.3 Compound effects from warming and human activity.- References.- 3 Impacts on Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.- Summary.- 3.1 Introduction.- 3.2 Importance and vulnerability.- 3.2.1 Agriculture.- 3.2.2 Forest and forestry.- 3.3.1 Fisheries.- 3.3 State-of-art in agriculture, forestry, and fisheries research sector.- 3.3.1 Agriculture.- 3.3.2 Forest and forestry.- 3.3.3 Fisheries.- 3.4 Future research needs.- 3.4.1 Agriculture.- 3.4.2 Forest and forestry.- 3.4.4 Fisheries.- References.- 4 Impacts on Hydrology / Water Resources and Water Environment.- Summary.- 4.1 Introduction.- 4.2 Hydrology and water resources.- 4.2.2 Effect of warming on hydrology and water Resource/ countermeasures to warming.- 4.2.3 River flow predictions based on warming scenarios and long-term runoff models.- 4.2.4 Evaluation of effects based on Meteorological Agency general circulation model and Ministry of Construction, mesoscale hydro-meteorological models.- 4.2.5 Evaluation of effects based on CRIEPI regional climate model.- 4.2.6 Effects on snow and ice.- 4.3 Freshwater ecosystem.- 4.3.1 Characteristics of freshwater ecosystem in Japan.- 4.3.2 Effects of climatic warming on freshwater ecosystem in Japan.- 4.4 Coastal and marine environment.- 4.4.1 Characteristics of coastal and marine environments.- 4.4.2 Impacts on coastal and marine environments.- 4.5 Future research needs.- References ..- 5 Impacts on Infrastructure and Socioeconomic System.- Summary.- 5.1 Introduction.- 5.2 Present situation and problems regarding coastal zones, human settlements, social infrastructure, and industrial activities.- 5.2.1 Coastal zones.- 5.2.2 Infrastructure.- 5.2.3 Industry and energy.- 5.3 Researches on vulnerability of coastal zones, human settlement, infrastructure, and industrial activities.- 5.3.1 Impacts on coastal zones.- 5.3.2 Impacts on human settlement.- 5.3.3 Impacts on infrastructures.- 5.3.4 Impacts and energy sector.- 5.4 Future research needs.- References.- 6 Impacts on Human Health.- Summary.- 6.1 Direct Impacts of global warming on human health in Japan.- 6.1.1 Introduction.- 6.1.2 Impacts on heat waves on human health.- 6.1.3 Possible adaptability to heat stress.- 6.2 Impacts on vector-borne diseases.- 6.3 Impacts of warming on mortality.- 6.3.1 Introduction.- 6.3.2 Important issues for Japan.- 6.3.3 Recent research on mortality and temperature.- 6.3.4 Future research needs.- References.- 7 Vulnerability of Japan to Climate Change.- Summary.- 7.1 Introduction.- 7.2 Vulnerability to extreme climate events in Japan.- 7.2.1 Definition of extreme events.- 7.2.2 Description of extreme events in IPCC Second Assessment Report.- 7.2.3 Vulnerability of Japan to extreme events.- 7.2.4 Examples of vulnerability.- 7.3 Impacts of global warming on environmental quality.- 7.3.1 Impacts on atmospheric environment.- 7.3.2 Combined impacts of global warming and local environmental pollution.- 7.4 Impact of hot summers in 1994 and 1995.- 7.4.1 Characteristics of climate/weather in 1994 and 1995.- 7.4.2 Factors affected by hot summers.- 7.4.3 Potential impacts of global warming on daily living.- 7.5 Future research needs.- References.