[M-IS03] [EE] Future Earth - Implementing Integrated Research for Sustainable Future

[MIS03-11] Strategic Research Agenda for Future Earth in Japan: Collaborative priority setting with stakeholders of global environmental issues

★Invited papers

*Yuko Onishi¹, Makoto Taniguchi¹, Hein Mallee¹, Takeshi Nishimura¹, Kuniyoshi Ebina², Masayuki Itoh², Hiroki Tsuruta³ (1.Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, 2.Graduate School of Human Development and Environment, Kobe University, 3.Research Unit for Future Creation & Innovation “Creative Dojo”, Graduate School of Engineering, Kobe University)

Keywords:Future Earth, sustainability, global environment, research questions, priority setting, co-design

Future Earth is a new international research initiative that aims to achieve global sustainability through transdisciplinary approach. The global environment can affect or be affected by everyone in the society. However, the stakeholders of global environmental issues are rarely involved in the research priority setting. Here we present a development of Strategic Research Agenda for Future Earth in Japan through collaborative priority setting with a wide range of stakeholders. We first collected candidate research questions from the general public, local governments and industries, as well as experts. We then convened a workshop where stakeholders and researchers collaboratively identified priority research questions. From an initial pool of 645 candidate questions, 107 priorities were selected. Approximately 70% of the priorities were derived from the questions proposed by the stakeholders. Unlike previous other priorities in global environmental research, the majority of our priorities were social science and inter- or multi-disciplinary questions. The priorities included well acknowledged global problems such as climate change and biodiversity but also provided new perspectives by highlighting the importance of local communities, culture and dialogue. The results also shed light on lack of regional and societal relevance in global research priorities.