After 4.6 Billion Years, Earth's Turning Point
Mother Earth has been evolving slowly over the past 4.6 billion
years. Recently, however, human activities have begun to affect
our planet significantly.
To protect the Earth's environment and ecosystems and to help
human societies to develop in harmony with nature, it is essential
to understand the mechanisms of the global environment and to
observe and predict global change.
Against this background, the Subcommittee on Earth Science and
Technology, the Council for Aeronautics, Electronics, and Other
Advanced Technologies, and the Science and Technology Agency
(the present Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science
and Technology, or MEXT) published a report entitled "Towards
the Prediction of Global Change" in July 1996. The
report highlighted the need to integrate research and development
into one system that incorporates process research, observation,
and simulation.
To realize this objective, the National Space Development Agency
of Japan (NASDA) (the present Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
[JAXA]) and the Japan Marine Science and Technology Center (the
present Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology
[JAMSTEC]) established the Frontier Research System for Global
Change in October 1997. The aim of the system was to implement
process research (modeling) for predicting global changes.
In July 2004, following the restructuring of the Japan Agency
for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, the Frontier Research
System for Global Change became the Frontier Research Center
for Global Change (FRCGC) and began research activities based
on a new five-year mid-term research plan. The FRCGC aspires
to become a center of excellence in global-change research,
and to actively contribute to international cooperation in science
and technology. It will focus on international joint research
and participate in evaluation projects such as the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the World Climate Research
Project (WCRP).
 Importance
of the prediction of global change |
