Prioritized New Research Initiative on Climate Change in Japan - under a new phase of the Science and Technology Basic Plan – Hiroki Kondo Special Advisor to the Minister of the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan

The 3 rd phase (FY2006-FY2010) of the Science and Technology Basic Plan 3 rd phase has just been launched (in April) by the Cabinet The same 4 fields prioritized again as important promotion fields besides basic sciences : life science; information &communications; environment; and nanotechnology: National Core Technology studies/projects have also been identified for overarching or cross-cutting important themes Prioritization has been made in every broken down stage from a selection-and-concentration strategy standpoint for efficient resource allocation

Promotional Strategies in Prioritized Fields Formulated by the Council for Science and Technology Policy (CSTP)* *established within the Cabinet Office in 2001, chaired by the Prime Minister, with members of 6 Ministers concerned and 8 Experts - Further prioritization in Each of 4 fields including environment: - Areas prioritized in environment: Climate change research, Climate change mitigation technology, Chemical substance risk and security management research, Water/material cycle and watershed, ecosystem management research, 3R (reduce, reuse and recycle) technology research, Biomass usage and utilization research - I n each area including climate change research, important studies have been identified and then some of them have been further strategically prioritized

6 Categorized Programs for Climate Change Research: 6 Categorized Programs for Climate Change Research: to attain reliable climate change projection and impact assessment through addressing global Earth observation P1: Comprehensive monitoring studies on global warming P2: Climate change process studies P3: Future projection of global warming and data base construction from global warming research outcomes P4: Studies on global warming impact, risk assessment, and adaptation measures P5: Studies on global scale water cycle variabilities P6: Studies on global warming mitigation policies

Studies identified as important and further strategically prioritized (P1, P2) P1: Comprehensive monitoring studies on global warming - Observation on global and regional scale CO 2 budget (balance of emission and absorption) - Observation on atmospheric changes in the troposphere due to trace greenhouse gases - Monitoring studies of greenhouse gases and the Earth surface layer by satellites P2: Climate change process studies - Process study on the climate change due to clouds and aerosols - Process study on response of lands and oceans to climate change

Studies identified as important and further strategically prioritized (P3) P3: Future projection of global warming and data base construction from global warming research outcomes - Projection of weather and climate change in the 21 st century by climate modeling  Further reliable climate change projection in the 21 st century, in particular, with a specific focus on extreme events such as heat waves, severe storms, tropical cyclones, storm surges, etc. in the near future (about 25 years from now )  Projection to be regionally detail enough for relevantly applicable to impact assessment and adaptation studies. - Study on long-term climate change projection based on scenarios - Construction of integrated data base from observation, projection, impact studies and adaptation measures

Studies identified as important and further strategically prioritized ( P4, P5 & P6) P4: Studies on global warming impacts, risk assessment, and adaptation measures - Comprehensive monitoring of global warming impacts in vulnerable regions - Projection of climate change impacts in 25 years ahead and responding adaptation measures in Japan and Asia P5: Studies on global scale water cycle variabilities - Understanding of global scale water cycle variabilities by integrating observation and modeling P6: Studies on global warming mitigation policies - Study on long-term emission scenarios for climate change mitigation - Projection and management of climate change risk, and study on the design of society exiting from global warming

A National Core Technology project related to climate change research has been initiated Prioritized as an important linkage between research and systematic observation in addition to other linkages A data integration and analysis system  To collect, assimilate and integrate data from satellite and ocean/land observations  To distribute the processed data in response of user needs User needs from various sectors including:  Climate change research  Public decision-making

Summary Japan has just launched the 3 rd phase of Science and Technology Basic Plan (FY2006-FY2010) Environment is again prioritized besides 3 other fields Climate Change research is further prioritized under environment Among study subjects identified as important under global warming research, 3 subjects have been further strategically prioritized An integration and analysis system project has also been initiated as a National Core Technology project, playing as a linkage of research and systematic observation