GRENE Arctic Climate Change Research Project (GRENE-Arctic) and Arctic Challenge for Sustainability project (ArCS) jointly held a public seminar on Saturday, 5th March 2016 at KOKUYO HALL, Shinagawa.
Three lectures and a panel discussion were given from GRENE-Arctic under the theme of “What did we find?” A lecture and a panel discussion were given by ArCS under the theme of “What will to do next?” There were active discussions between panelists and attendees during the seminar, providing a good opportunity to think about Japan’s Arctic research.
The seminar started from a talk by Dr. Takashi Yamanouchi (Project Manager of GRENE-Arctic, NIPR) summarizing the GRENE-Arctic project, which finished on March 2016, including the comprehensive overview of outcome. Two presentations on outstanding results of research and a panel discussion followed. Then Dr. Masao Fukasawa (Project Director of ArCS, NIPR/JAMSTEC) gave an introductory talk on the ArCS project, which had just started from September 2015, named “A new research scheme of Japan’s Arctic research towards the future.” He explained a background, research programs, and its implementation structure. He also highlighted a characteristic of the ArCS project: the project aims to provide the scientific knowledge to the stakeholders worldwide, which shows the difference between ArCS and previous research projects on the Arctic region.
A panel discussion “What to do next?” was run after Fukasawa’s talk. The panelists are: Minako Takigawa who is a science journalist, Dr. Hajime Yamagaguchi (Tokyo University) who is a member of GRENE-Arctic, Dr. Fukasawa, and Dr. Hiroyuki Enomoto (NIPR), Dr. Takeshi Kawano (JAMSTEC) and Dr. Sei-ichi Saitoh who are the sub project directors. The discussion begun from an overview of the international situation, in which the interests over the Arctic region have been increasing, followed by a mention on the importance of knowledge and data acquisition for political judgment. They also confirmed that Japan can take advantage of not being located in the Arctic by offering opinions from the neutral point of view. The discussion includes a broader perspective over the Arctic-related issues, appropriate for ArCS the theme of which is the engagement with scientific research and the society.
There were 231 audiences including scientists, company workers and students. We received expectations from the audience that the ArCS project will provide a new direction of the Arctic research, and also the active announcements on its progress.
Secretariat
PD's introductory talk on the ArCS project
Panel discussion "What to do next?"
