Climate change, impacts and vulnerability in Europe ... - MemoFin.fr

Introduction1 Introduction1.1 Purpose and outlineThis report presents an indicator-based assessmentof past and projected climate changes, theirobserved and projected impacts, and the associatedvulnerability ( 1 ) of and risks to society, humanhealth and ecosystems in Europe. The report can beregarded as an updated and extended version of the2008 report 'Impacts of Europe's changing climate —2008 indicator-based assessment' ( 2 ).The main objectives of this 'climate change, impactsand vulnerability' report are to:• present past and projected climate change andimpacts through indicators;• identify sectors and regions most at risk;• highlight the need for adaptation actions;• identify main sources of uncertainty;• demonstrate how monitoring and scenariodevelopment can improve the knowledge base.This report is structured as follows. This chapter• describes the links to other reports (Section 1.2);• presents the relevant international and EU policyframeworks (Section 1.3);• discusses the role of indicators on climatechange, impacts, vulnerability and adaptation(Section 1.4);• explains the emissions scenarios andsocio‐economic scenarios underlying projectionsfor the future (Section 1.5);• outlines how uncertainty is addressed in thisreport (Section 1.6);• explains the use of the terms 'vulnerability' and'risk' in this report as well as in the underlyingliterature (Section 1.7).Chapters 2, 3 and 4 constitute the main part ofthis report. They describe observed and projectedclimate change and its impacts in Europe bymeans of about 40 indicators. These indicators willalso be included and presented in the EuropeanEnvironment Agency (EEA) indicator managementsystem ( 3 ) and the European Climate AdaptationPlatform (Climate-ADAPT) (see Section 1.2.5).Chapter 2 presents information on the climatesystem:• Overview of the climate system and the humaninfluence on it (Section 2.1);• Key climate variables (Section 2.2);• Cryosphere: glaciers, snow and ice (Section 2.3).Chapter 3 presents information on climate changeimpacts on environmental systems:• Oceans and marine environment (Section 3.1);• Coastal zones (Section 3.2);• Freshwater quantity and quality (Section 3.3);• Terrestrial ecosystems and biodiversity(Section 3.4);• Soil (Section 3.5).( 1 ) For an explanation of the terms 'vulnerability' and 'risk', and their use in this report, see Section 1.7.( 2 ) See http://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/eea_report_2008_4.( 3 ) See http://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/climate/indicators#c7=all&c5=all&c10=&c13=20&b_start=0.30Climate change, impacts and vulnerability in Europe 2012