Future Earth Asia Centre

Session 1   Trans-spatial Connections

(Local-regional-global connection, Climate-Hydro- Ecosystem-Economic connections)

In this session, we will focus on the synergy/conflicts of multi-resource utilizations among spatial scales. Interlinkages among multi-resources and conflicts over resources, including ecological resources, among those stakeholders who utilize them are key issues to be solved to attain sustainable resource utilization. Such a synergy/conflict structure may exist across spatial scales, from the local between urban and suburban areas, to the global through international trade. We would like to discuss the possibilities to develop technology to analyze this complicated structure of the interlinkages among spatial scales, and models or scenarios with new approaches.

Session 2   Trans-temporal Connections

This session will discuss research perspectives to make fuller use of future projection for today's decision making. When decisions are made for future planning, they have been done at scales smaller than the country level, and goals for the residents' wellbeing were set only in a short-term perspective. To achieve the sustainability of the entire earth, however, more emphasis should be put on environmental sustainability involving a broader range of stakeholders and longer temporal and greater spatial dimensions, and this applies to local decision making as well. We try to identify the key elements to fill this gap, for example, by 1) finding good indices, other than economical values, which make it possible to convert long-term sustainability into short-term target relevant to planning, 2) understanding the nature of human being in terms of sense of values about future generations and 3) integrating the possible causal-interactions between present decision and future environmental status, with which we try to clarify the necessary elements and conditions to develop scenarios which can bridge the gap.

Session 3   Social Responses to Tipping Points

In this session, we consider the notion of tipping points in both trans-spatial and trans-temporal terms, focusing on the methodological question of how to identify the critical moments of social responses to tipping points on natural resources. They include the surge of citizen's movements, and policy and institutional changes, as well as deeper changes in values, norms and principles, some of which involve a very long period of time. We take up water and water-related issues as a case study, and invite discussions on the possible applications of these research findings to tipping points in other spheres.