[U-14] Raising the profile and impact of community engagement in geoscience

[U14-07] Research collaboration related to climate and environmental issues

★Invited Papers

*Hodaka Kawahata¹ (1.School of Creative Science and Engineering, the Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University)

Keywords:global warming issue, IPCC, International Energy Agency (IEA), natural science, social science

Since global warming is a serious environmental issue that requires immediate action from all nations in the world, it is recognized as one of the important issues in the research field of earth science. To solve this problem, the collaboration between natural science and social science is required. However, the challenges are so large that it is difficult to grasp the overall picture. Since the goal of "keeping the temperature increase due to global warming below 2 degrees Celsius by 2100 compared to pre-industrial revolution levels"' has been widely publicized, it is well known by everyone. According to IPCC estimates, cumulative CO2 emissions since 1850 are currently 2,300 Gt carbon, but if this increases to 3,800 Gt carbon, the global average temperature will rise by 2 degrees Celsius. On the other hand, the International Energy Agency (IEA), a group of energy experts, estimates that the need and consumption for fossil fuels will continue to exceed the current level (30Gt carbon per years). This is considered as a realistic estimate. Combining both views, the average global temperature will rise by 2 degrees Celsius in 2070. The predictions for the Earth’ environments half a century from now differ greatly between the IPCC and the IEA. Research efforts beyond research fields are required. Now, one research field related to archeology is interested in the formation of the Japanese people and the evolution of Japanese society. There is a persistent belief that climate change has a significant role on human migration and social changes. I believe that climate and environmental change affect society indirectly rather than directly. Specifically, climate and environmental change has an impact on three issues of "food, livelihood, and economy", "human beings" and "human society, culture, and civilization”. They have an influence on "technological innovation", "customs, religion, and language" and "migration”. Overall, climate and environmental change affect Japanese society. To understand these issues deeply, we believe that the academic field has developed to the point where knowledge from multiple fields such as paleoclimate and paleoenvironmental studies, archaeology, anthropology, history, economics, and sociology must be used under collaboration.