This report describes the activities and plans of the Climate Change Science Program (CCSP), which incorporates the U.S. Global Change Research Program, established under the Global Change Research Act of 1990, and the Climate Change Research Initiative, established by the President in 2001. CCSP coordinates and integrates scientific research on climate and global change supported by 13 participating departments and agencies of the U.S. Government. The document describes a wide range of advances in understanding the underlying processes responsible for climate variability and change, such as advances in understanding of climate change at high latitudes. It also describes progress on understanding the ongoing and projected effects of climate change on nature and society, including the interconnected relationships between climate, forests, and wildfire. The document also describes how observational and predictive capabilities are being improved and used to create tools to support decision making at local, regional, and national scales to cope with environmental variability and change.

A primary objective of the U.S. Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) is to provide the best possible scientific information to support public discussion, as well as government and private sector decision making, on key climate-related issues. To help meet this objective, the CCSP has identified an initial set of 21 Synthesis and Assessment Products (SAPs) that address its highest priority research, observation, and decision support needs. This report-CCSP SAP 2.2-addresses Goal 2 of the CCSP Strategic Plan: Improve quantification of the forces bringing about changes in the Earth's climate and related systems. The report provides a synthesis and integration of the current knowledge of the North American carbon budget and its context within the global carbon cycle. In a format useful to decision makers, it (1) summarizes our knowledge of carbon cycle properties and changes relevant to the contributions of and impacts upon North America and the rest of the world, and (2) provides scientific information for decision support focused on key issues for carbon management and policy. Consequently, this report is aimed at both the decision-maker audience and to the expert scientific and stakeholder communities.

This and a companion report constitute one of twenty-one Synthesis and Assessment Products called for in the Strategic Plan for the U.S. Climate Change Science Program. These studies are structured to provide high-level, integrated research results on important science issues with a particular focus on questions raised by decision-makers on dimensions of climate change directly relevant to the U.S. One element of the CCSP's strategic vision is to provide decision support tools for differentiating and evaluating response strategies. Scenario-based analysis is one such tool. The scenarios in this report explore the implications of alternative stabilization levels of anthropogenic greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere, and they explicitly consider the economic and technological foundations of such response options. Such scenarios are a valuable complement to other scientific research contained in the twenty-one CCSP Synthesis and Assessment Products. The companion to the research reported here, Global-Change Scenarios: Their Development and Use, explores the broader strategic frame for developing and utilizing scenarios in support of climate decision making.

This report outlines a strategy for the new AOGCM/ESM modeling components in terms of aerosols/atmospheric chemistry and carbon cycle/dynamic vegetation components that are under development and implementation in ESMs that involves a proposed experimental design that integrates impacts and scenarios (represented in IPCC WG2 and WG3, respectively) and physical climate science (WG1). We summarize with a suite of recommendations for the joint WGCM, AIMES and IPCC communities.

The annual report summarized the FY2006 status of the environment and the establishment of a sound material-cycle Society in Japan. It provides an overview of Global Warming and the technologies for mitigating Global Warming. The report also describes the government's role in environmental conservation, and the formation of a sound material-cycle society.

The IPCC Panel at its 26th session called on partnerships and collaboration to address climate change, as well as a better understanding of social and economic dimensions of mitigation and adaptation. The Panel recalls its support for decoupling the climate modeling work from the emission scenario development work, in order to allow climate modelers a quick start with their work after the completion of the AR4. Also, the Panel now requests the Steering Committee on New Scenarios to prepare a few benchmark concentration scenarios through the IPCC Expert Meeting 19-22 September 2007 in Noordwijkerhout, The Netherlands. These benchmark concentration scenarios should be compatible with the full range of stabilization, mitigation and baseline emission scenarios available in the current scientific literature.

The Twenty-Seventh Session focused on the adoption and approval of the draft Synthesis Report of the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (AR4). as indicated in the agenda, a discussion paper about the future of the IPCC was introduced, among other items that required consideration and decision by the Panel.

Monsoon Asia Integrated Regional Study (MAIRS) is an IRS research program over monsoon Asia under START and the Earth System Science Partnership (ESSP). It was established to address questions about the coupled human and environment system in the monsoon Asia region. The vision of MAIRS is to significantly advance understanding of the interactions between the human and natural components of the overall environment in the monsoon Asian region and implications for the global earth system, in order to support strategies for sustainable development. Regional-scale studies of global change provide the knowledge base for undertaking vulnerability analyses, identification of hotspots of risk and studies of environmental degradation which are crucial for the sustainable development. Regions may manifest significantly different environmental dynamics, and changes in regional biophysical, biogeochemical and anthropogenic components may produce considerably different consequences for the earth system at the global scale. Regions are not closed systems and thus the linkages between regional changes and the global earth system are crucial. This specific report focuses on Planning Workshop on MAIRS Mountain Zone Implementation that held in China. Integrated Regional Studies (IRSs) should have relevance for people living in the regions and should provide a sound scientific basis for the sustainable …

The current plan is formulated on the basis of the Outline of the 11th Five-Year Plan for the Development of National Economy and Social Development and the Decision of the State Council on the Implementation of the Scientific Outlook on Development and Strengthening Environmental Protection [No.39 document of the State Council (2005)]. The current plan is an important part of the national 11th Five-Year Plan system, and aims at expounding the objectives, tasks, investments, and key policy measures in the field of environmental protection during the 11th Five-Year Plan period. The plan identifies the responsibilities and tasks of the government and the environmental protection departments at all levels, guiding and mobilizing the participation of enterprises and civil society and striving for environmentally friendly society.

This document was the result of a study of how the concept of climate security should be understood and utilized in Japan, as well as how the concept can contribute to advancing future climate policy.

This brochure explains Feed-In Tariff (FIT) laws. The big challenge for the renewable energy industry has been to make the cost of clean energy competitive with heavily-subsidized conventional energy. Householders or energy companies who want to install wind turbines or solar panels are faced with lengthy pay-back times and are forced to make a choice based on ethics rather than economics. The Feed-In Tariff (FIT) has proven to be the most effective policy instrument in overcoming these barriers. This simple, low-cost mechanism has turned several European countries into world leaders in the renewables sector.

The United Kingdom's Office of Climate Change reports that a number of barriers inhibit households from reducing carbon emissions, even though reducing carbon emissions generally results in reducing household costs. In this paper, the Office of Climate Change identifies policies to overcome barriers to carbon savings.

This law was passed by the government of the Republic of China (Taiwan) to protect human health and the environment by controlling the production and handling of toxic chemicals.

The UNEP annual report for 2006 looks back over the past year and highlights the various UNEP activities. The report also points to the future and discusses wide-range of issues, including climate change, poverty reduction and development strategies in order to meet the Millennium Development Goals.

This publication is an overview of major global environmental issues and policy decisions during the course of 2007.

This report presents examples of tools and practices that promote workers' health and safety as well as environmental protection, public health, and corporate responsibility. Issues include climate change, hazardous materials,

Tunza is a UNEP magazine for and by young people. This issue is devoted to climate change and the International Polar Year.

Tunza is a UNEP magazine for and by young people. This issue is devoted to stewardship and humanity's relationship with nature.

Tunza is a UNEP magazine for and by young people. This issue is devoted to environmental technologies.

Tunza is a UNEP magazine for and by young people. This issue is devoted to the relationship between gender and the environment.

Tunza is a UNEP magazine for and by young people. This issue is devoted to the value of forest ecosystems.

Magazine of the United Nations Environment Programme discussing worldwide environmental policies and other concerns. This issue presents both positive and negative views of globalization, and explores a new model of sustainable globalization.

Magazine of the United Nations Environment Programme discussing worldwide environmental policies and other concerns. This issue is devoted to melting ice as a result of global climate change.

Magazine of the United Nations Environment Programme discussing worldwide environmental policies and other concerns. This issue is devoted to environmental factors in the Caribbean Sea, and international policies and agreements between Caribbean nations to mitigate and manage common problems.