Includes bibliographical references.

Foreword -- Preface -- Dedication -- Summary for policymakers -- Technical summary -- Cross-chapter boxes -- Point of departure -- Foundations for decision making -- Freshwater resources -- Terrestrial and inland water systems -- Coastal systems and low-lying areas -- Ocean systems -- Food security and food production systems -- Urban areas -- Rural areas -- Key economic sectors and services -- Human health impacts, adaptations, and co-benefits -- Human security -- Livelihoods and poverty -- Adaptation needs and options -- Adaptation planning and implementation -- Adaptation opportunities, constraints, and limits -- Economics of adaptation -- Detection and attribution of observed impacts -- Emergent risks and key vulnerabilities -- Climate-resilient pathways: adaptation, mitigation, and sustainable development.

The volume focuses on why climate change matters and is organized into two parts, devoted respectively to human and natural systems and regional aspects, incorporating results from the reports of Working Groups I and III. The volume addresses impacts that have already occurred and risks of future impacts, especially the way those risks change with the amount of climate change that occurs and with investments in adaptation to climate changes that cannot be avoided. For both past and future impacts, a core focus of the assessment is characterizing knowledge about vulnerability, the characteristics and interactions that make some events devastating, while others pass with little notice.