First Meeting to Exchange Opinions on Promotion of Adaptation by Local Governments in Tokyo

The Climate Change Adaptation Act took effect on December 1. In response, in order to share information on trends in climate change adaptation at home and abroad and to promote climate change adaptation measures in local communities, an opinion exchange meeting was held for 56 local government officials from all prefectures nationwide.

From abroad, CAS Kim Van Newar, Rotterdam City gave a lecture on "Regional Adaptation Measures in Japan and Overseas," Barry Odwire, College Coke University gave a lecture on "Promotion of Regional Adaptation Measures," and UKCIP Roger Street gave a lecture on "Support for Regional Adaptation Measures: Examples of the United Kingdom and Canada."

From Japan, Mr.Tomohide Shimada, Deputy Director-General of the Saitama Environmental Science International Center, Research and Development Office, gave a lecture on "Promotion of Adaptation Measures through Cooperation between the Saitama Environmental Science International Center and the Global Warming Countermeasures Division," Mr. Takashi Hamada, Chief Researcher, Nagano Environmental Conservation Institute, gave a lecture on the role of the Environmental Conservation Institute, and Mr. Morihiro Harada Associate Professor, Gifu University, gave a lecture on the role of local universities in regional climate change adaptation.

After that, we conducted discussions in eight groups. At the outset, we identified necessary requirements and reasons for the establishment of the Local Climate Change Adaptation Center, and discussed solutions to these issues. Concretely, issues such as collection and distribution of scientific knowledge, necessity of coordinator function, and network creation such as each department and external cooperation were mentioned, and the solution was actively discussed. At the end of the meeting, we received requests from local government officials to the National Research Institute for Environmental Studies, and this was a valuable opportunity to exchange opinions that will lead to future activities.

Efforts to adapt to climate change in Japan have just begun. Overseas invitees commented that the promotion of adaptation would take five years and ten years. In the future, it is necessary to consider and promote adaptation to climate change rooted in each region from a medium-to long-term perspective. A-PLAT strives to collect and distribute more useful knowledge to a variety of stakeholders.