Preface to the Special Issue on ＂Climate Changes and Their Impacts in Taiwan

Climate change and global warming may no longer be a matter of faith. A huge number of researches on climate change and global warming have been reported since the late 20th century. The Fifth Annual Report (AR5) from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released in 2013 and 2014 reports an observed increase of 0.85°C in the global average temperature during 1880 - 2012 with an accelerating increase rate in recent years. Many events and evidences around the world also reveal that extreme climates, such as heat waves, droughts, and torrential rainfalls are changing in terms of their frequency of occurrences and severity.