Report on FY2021 Climate Change Workshop in Kumamoto, Saga, and Nagasaki Prefectures & Kuma River Tour

We would like to report on the "FY2021 Workshop on Climate Change" held in Kumamoto, Saga, and Nagasaki prefectures from October 13 to 15, 2021, and the Kuma River inspection tour held on October 12.

2021 Workshop on Climate Change

As part of the Kyushu Wide-Area Action Plan development project, a training course on climate change adaptation and adaptation planning was held for local government officials from Kumamoto, Saga and Nagasaki prefectures and municipalities in each prefecture from October 13 to 15 at three different venues. Mr. Nozuhara, Global Warming Information Officer, Fukuoka Regional Meteorological Observatory, Japan Meteorological Agency, gave a lecture on "Current Status and Future Outlook of Global Warming in Each Prefecture", and Mr. Harada, Assistant Director and Mr. Oshima, Regional Adaptation Specialist, Environmental Policy Division, Kyushu Regional Environment Office, Ministry of the Environment, gave a lecture on "National Trends on Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation". At the workshop in Saga and Nagasaki prefectures, Professor Emeritus Komatsu of Kyushu University gave a lecture on "Adaptation to heavy rainfall disasters in local communities and introduction of adaptation measures for flood control".

Our office provided information on climate change adaptation. Mr. Mukai, Director of the Center, gave a lecture on "Climate Change Impacts in Local Communities and the Flow of Formulating Adaptation Plans (Adaptation Measures)", followed by a presentation on "Manual for Formulating Local Adaptation Plans", "Examples of Challenges and Actions for Formulating Local Adaptation Plans", and "Examples of Formulating Adaptation Plans in Municipalities". We also introduced the information tools and support menu that we provide.

In the part about the "Manual for Local Climate Change Adaptation Planning", an exercise for local adaptation planning was conducted, in which participants were asked to think about the items to be addressed by each municipality. Here are some of the comments made by the participants.

At the end of the session, we also received comments from Kumamoto, Saga and Nagasaki prefectures on their experiences during the formulation of adaptation plans.

• Information sharing and progress management is an issue as it spans different fields.
• It is difficult to obtain information from other departments because there is information that cannot be understood only by the environment department. Horizontal cooperation is difficult. There was not enough time to formulate the plan. It is necessary to work out parts of the plan.
• We conducted questionnaires and hearing inquiries, and were able to obtain the cooperation of the departments in charge. It is also necessary to communicate that we want to do something like this so that we can gain their understanding.

I would like to express my gratitude for the opportunity to participate in this workshop, where I was able to gain knowledge and deepen my understanding of climate change, and to share the current situation and challenges of local governments in the three prefectures of Kyushu.

[Kuma River inspection]

On the day before the Kumamoto training (the 12th), we went to Hitoyoshi City, Kumamoto Prefecture, to inspect the Kuma River.
Heavy rains in July 2020 caused the Kuma River to overflow over a wide area, resulting in a major disaster.
The Kuma River that I saw during my visit was a beautiful river that flowed calmly and leisurely, and I could not imagine it ever flooding.

According to a resident of Hitoyoshi City, the area around "Photo 1" below (central Hitoyoshi City) was flooded up to the ceiling of the first floor of a building, and that flooding occurred from a nearby tributary first, before the mainstream of the Kuma River overflowed.

[Photo 1]

In addition, the following "Photo 2" shows the area around the Watari district of Kuma Village, further downstream from Hitoyoshi City.
The river runs three to four meters below where I took the photo, and the water rose to the second floor of the building in front of me.

[Photo 2]

Excavators were active everywhere in Hitoyoshi City, and work was still being done to remove the influx of earth and sand in order to restore the damaged land as farmland.

In the Kyushu area, disasters caused by heavy rains occur every year.
The importance of adapting to climate change was keenly felt, as was how we can reduce the impact of disasters and how quickly we can recover, assuming that heavy rains will occur.