We held the FY2020 Climate Change Adaptation Training.

Training was held three times on July 31, August 7, and August 28, 2020. Training was held for local governments, Local climate change adaptation centers (LCCAC: Local Climate Change Adaptation Center), and other staff to deepen their understanding of how to collect and organize regional climate change impact information and formulate Local climate change adaptation plans (Local Adaptation Plans). In the total of three training sessions, approximately 140 participants from approximately 90 local governments and related organizations throughout the country participated in vigorous discussions.

In order to prevent the spread of pandemic coronavirus infections, we conducted training in the Tohoku and Chugoku Shikoku regions for both local and online participation, and in the Kinki region for full online participation. This was not inferior to active discussions at local conferences, and active discussions took place online. This was a training program that heightened expectations for online use in promoting adaptation in future regions.

Single frame at the Tohoku training site	Chinese Shikoku Training Participants One frame of a screen shot	Kinki Training Participants One frame of a screen shot

In order to share basic ideas and knowledge, the program centered on lectures was implemented in the morning. National Institute for Environmental Studies Climate Change Adaptation Centre (CCCA: Center for Climate Change Adaptation) gave lectures on the themes of "Objectives and Concepts of Regional Climate Change Adaptation Plans", "Support for Local Governments by National Institute for Environmental Studies", and "Climate Models and Climate Scenarios". The local weather stations gave lectures on the themes of "Current State and Future Projections of Regional Climate".

Kinki Training Lecture Screen

One frame of the Tohoku training course

Participants asked the following questions about the morning lecture.

• Framework and Participation Requirements for Joint Research-Adapted Implementation Conducted by CCCA in Cooperation with LCCAC, etc.
• Methods of obtaining the latest data on observations and projections of climate change impacts in the region, as well as points to remember
• Methods for checking the content of academic papers referred to in the second impact assessment report
• Specific ways to utilize Web GIS that CCCA is implementing implementation support

In the afternoon, after lectures on the concepts of STEP of the Regional Climate-Change Adaptation Plan Formulation Manual, we introduced concrete examples of regional adaptation plan formulation from prefectural and municipal governments, one by one. Following this, we conducted panel discussions with local governments, Ministry of the Environment, and CCCA members who introduced the case studies on the topics of information-gathering and inter-departmental collaboration in the formulation of regional adaptation plans.

Part of the Tohoku Training Panel Discussion

One point of the Kinki Training online panel discussion

Many questions were asked about case studies by local governments and panel discussions, and we felt the high level of interest and the large amount of heat generated by the participants.

• Measures and initiatives implemented by each department within the agency and devising a connection with "adaptation"
• Initiatives for holding study meetings and study meetings across government offices
• Utilization and collaboration of research institutions in the collection and evaluation of regional climate change impact information
• Response and response to the progress of the plan and the implementation of various measures and initiatives
• Development of Adaptation Measures and Efforts in Business Fields

Later, we shared the issues that participants faced regarding the themes of panel discussions, such as "Issues for collecting information on impacts of climate change" and "Issues for collaboration with other departments and intra-agency coordination," and held group discussions on "What we can do at present to resolve issues." The seminars were divided into five to seven groups, each of which participated locally and online. The results of the discussions were presented to the public as a whole.

One of the group discussion presentations on Tohoku training

Example of slide for presenting group discussions at the Shikoku Training in China

At the Tohoku Training, we finally conducted a group work in which only local participants had a role-play experience of the specific tasks in STEP1 3 of the "Manual for Establishing Regional Climate Change Adaptation Plans." While moving our hands, we expanded our image of information gathering work on impacts of climate change, etc. and deepened our understanding of where information is available and how to use related information acquisition tools.

Part of the Tohoku Training Group Work

Part of the Tohoku Training Group Work

• STEP1: Preparations for Formulation/Change of Regional Climate-Change Adaptation Plans
• STEP2: Organizing the Impacts of Climate Change So far
• STEP3: Organizing Future Climate Change Impacts

In the Chugoku-Shikoku and Kinki regions, the dialogue-based group work was discontinued to prevent the spread of new coronavirus infections. After the training, the Secretariat provided additional explanations on how to obtain data related to STEP1 3 of the Regional Climate Change Adaptation Planning Manual for applicants. Despite the long period of training, many people participated in this explanation and lively questions and answers were also developed.

As part of the technical assistance to local communities based on the Climate Change Adaptation Law, the training was conducted mainly for local government officials considering the formulation of regional adaptation plans and officials with little experience in climate change adaptation. The theme of the training was the formulation of regional adaptation plans. Based on the requests from the participants, we will continue to plan training that will help promote adaptation to local communities.