Japan Geoscience Union Meeting 2015

Presentation information

Oral

Symbol U (Union) » Union

[U-05] Future Earth - The Integrated Research for Sustainable Earth

Mon. May 25, 2015 9:00 AM - 10:45 AM 103 (1F)

Convener:*Yukio Himiyama(Faculty of Education, Hokkaido University of Education), Teruyuki Nakajima(Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute), Makoto Taniguchi(Research Institute for Humanity and Nature), Eiji Ohtani(Department of Earth and Planetary Materials Science, Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University), Chair:Kenji Satake(Earthquake Research Institute, University of Tokyo), Yukio Himiyama(Faculty of Education, Hokkaido University of Education)

9:15 AM - 9:45 AM

[U05-01] On the development of Future Earth in Asia

*Tetsuzo YASUNARI1 (1.Research Institute for Humanity and Nature)

Keywords:Environmental problems in Asia, Futurability, sustainability, natural disasters, Future Earth, Human-Nature interactive system

Future Earth is a global research platform designed to provide the knowledge needed to support transformation of society to a sustainable world. We seek to build and connect global knowledge to increase the impact of research and to find new ways to accelerate transitions to sustainable development. Future Earth will contribute to achieving the goals of the high level UN General Assembly resolutions on global sustainability, as articulated at the 2012 Rio+20 Summit and subsequently. Future Earth will work with partners in society to co-develop the knowledge needed to support decision makers and societal change by focusing on three Research Themes ? Dynamic planet, Global sustainable development and Transformations towards sustainability.
Here, I would like to emphasize the important role of Future Earth particularly in Asia. This region as a whole is characterized by rapid population and economic growth and urbanization, where great disparities of wealth both within and between countries, and social and ecological vulnerability to the potential impacts of climate change are increasing. Associated with this rapid population & economic growth, this region has become a huge hot-spot of greenhouse gas increase, air and water pollutions, affecting regional to global climate change. In addition, this region is located in the midst of monsoon climate and the huge active tectonic zone. These natural conditions cause high frequency of natural disasters, but also provide rich natural resources for agriculture & fisheries. The science community and society should tightly collaborate particularly in Asia to form Future Earth in Asia initiative, including the tight collaboration with IRDR. I do believe that without achieving sustainable society in Asia we cannot achieve global sustainability.