Climate variability may exceed the design limits of any disaster prevention programme, and the exponential rise of health hazards due to thermal and other stresses can extensively challenge health systems. In recent years some Japanese studies have quantitatively reported the likelihood of increased risk of drought and torrential rain, loss of natural habitats such as beaches and forests, increase in regional variability of rice yields and more deaths caused by thermal stress and other factors. These adverse impacts cannot be ignored (Project Team for Comprehensive Projection of Climate Change Impacts, 2008: 96, 2009: 38, MOE, 2008: 70). However, the major objective of countermeasures, as indicated under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, must be to ensure that global warming stays below a dangerous level.