Climate Sense

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overnance

and

olicy

activities to this end, on both a domestic and interna-

tional scale.

Scientific guidance on adaptation framework

Even in developed countries, observational data and

research results clearly show that various phenom-

ena are rapidly emerging as a result of climate change.

Because of this, public awareness of the necessity of

adaptation is growing rapidly. With this background,

MOEJ published a study report entitled Wise Adaptation

to Climate Change in June 2008.

This report assessed

climate change impacts in Japan and presented basic

principles for developing adaptation strategies. The

study proposes a series of scientifically-informed

precautionary actions including: the maximum use of

state-of-the-art regional vulnerability assessments; the

combining of various local adaptation options; and the

incorporation of future changes in temperature, rain-

fall and sea level into designing adaptation measures

in advance.

Integrated scientific information for adaptation

The IPCC’s Fourth Assessment Report provides a

global and regional perspective of climate change and

its impacts to various sectors. However, specific infor-

mation at a national level is essential to examine the

necessity and extent of concrete adaptation measures

forest ecosystems, coastal zones and disaster prevention. The latest

outcomes include the monetization of incremental damages in

selected sectors toward the end of the 21st century under different

stabilization scenarios including: 450 ppm-CO

eq, 550 ppm-CO

and BAU. The results are expected to contribute to the formulation

of national and local adaptation strategies and plans.

The impacts of climate change are especially severe in highly

vulnerable developing countries. Various impacts are predicted in

the Asia-Pacific region including: increased floods caused by glacier

melts; increased risk of food shortage; increased floods affecting

coastal mega-cities; and decreased land area of small islands due to

sea-level rise. In order to address these impacts, Japan is facilitating

support for and cooperation with developing countries. One such

initiative includes international research cooperation on global envi-

ronmental change in the Asia-Pacific region to enhance developing

countries’ research capacity. To this end, MOEJ took the lead in

establishing an Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research

(APN)

in 1996, which now has the participation of 21 countries,

including 15 developing countries. MOEJ, together with Hyogo

Prefectural Government, is committed to the further development

of the APN. By increased support for enhancing scientific capacity

through the APN, Japan is ready to take a leading role to facilitate

regional climate change assessments and local adaptation actions.

A big challenge ahead of us is how we can formulate and imple-

ment effective adaptation strategies and measures based on scientific

data and information obtained via earth observation and global envi-

ronmental research. Following are some of the highlights of MOEJ

Initial analysis of CO

concentrations measured by GOSAT

Column averaged dry air mole fraction derived from uncalibrated nine-day data

Source: JAXA/NIES/MOEJ