Stakeholder survey leads to production of climate change adaptation pamphlets for children.
| Date of interview | January 17, 2022 |
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| Targets | Public Health and Environmental Science Research Institute, Department of Health Policy, Kochi Prefectural Government Kochi Prefectural Climate Change Adaptation Center Gakuji Ichimura , Planning Chief Hiroshi Yamashita, Environmental Science Division Manager Ryou Taniwaki, Senior Research Staff Saki Takahashi, Researcher |
Please give us an overview of Kochi Prefecture’s Local Climate Change Adaptation Center.
Mr. Ichimura: While the Local Climate Change Adaptation Center was officially established in FY 2019, Kochi Prefecture had served as chair of the national council of the Environmental Laboratories Association in the year prior, which is comprised of local testing and research bodies. While serving in this capacity, we became privy to the information ahead of anyone else on the details of the Climate Change Adaptation Act that would be enacted and that each prefecture and municipality would be required under the law to endeavor to set up their local climate change adaptation centers. So Kochi Prefecture was also reportedly eager and willing to establish its local climate change adaptation center.
While the founding members of our Center included three researchers, none of them were climate change experts. So, especially in the first year of our Center in operation, we attended discussion sessions organized in Tokyo by the National Institute for Environmental Studies’ Center for Climate Change Adaptation and it was such an important learning experience for us, as we were able to witness various municipalities conducting their activities on their own, which gave us great motivation.
So your getting motivated apparently led you to start your stakeholder survey.
Mr. Ichimura: Although the Kochi Prefectural Climate Change Adaptation Center was the first one to get established in the Chubu and Shikoku regions, at first we did not know what activity to start. So we concluded after observing other Local Climate Change Adaptation Centers’ activities that our first necessary action was to make allies.
One key example that we learned from was Mie Prefecture’s activities. They were interviewing and communicating with quite many farmers and business operators for their input and were cultivating a professional network in the process.
We then followed suit and conducted a stakeholder survey of research institutes that were studying climate change in Kochi Prefecture and also business operators that were implementing climate change adaptation measures whether they knew what they were doing or not, to develop rapports with them, which was the first phase. We then internally shared the survey results at the Local Climate Change Adaptation Center.
After having accumulated a reasonable amount of knowledge and information ourselves, we realized that our Center needed PR tools to communicate information to the public concerning our activities, which led us to the pamphlet production project.
So your pamphlet entitled Me de miru! Kochi no kikohendo to tekiouzukan (Visualized! pictorial guidebook on Kochi Prefecture’s climate change phenomena and adaptation) has been posted on the official website since March 2022. Please tell us about its content.
Mr. Ichimura: We designed the pamphlet for your children that were in the fifth grade of elementary school or older. While other prefectures and municipalities were mainly making pamphlets for adults, we thought making one for young children would also allow us to get the adults to clearly understand its content. In addition, we thought the pamphlet production might allow us to improve our own understanding of climate change and adaptation as a side benefit.
Then we distributed the print version of the pamphlet to all elementary schools across Kochi Prefecture. Initially, a copy was sent as a sample to each school, and if they thought they wanted to use it as their teaching material, our website has downloadable and printable files, so they could freely access and use them. (*Click here to see the pamphlet.)
In terms of content, we focused on Kochi’s renowned agricultural and fishery products and other local specialties. The intention was to get the readers to become interested not only in climate change adaptation but also in the prefecture’s delicious foods and other fun aspects along with its industries.
For example, Kochi’s locally brewed Tosa sake is prone to undesirable bacteria propagation during an extended period of exposure to high temperature and humidity, so the brewers install air-conditioning in the rooms where the fermentation tanks are installed to keep them cool and prevent bacterial growth. Also, when they add koji fungus to the rice from which sake is brewed, if the temperature is too high, the sake production volume decreases due to slowed saccharification. So they apparently use the strains of koji fungus that have high saccharification capacity or increase the amount of koji fungus that is added to the rice to adjust for optimal results.
Mr. Yamashita: Farmers are also implementing adaptation measures for their crops. As Kochi Prefecture has a temperate climate, its environment has allowed them to grow their rice early for shipment around September. However, due to the rising temperatures in recent years, we have been seeing more reported cases of damaged rice, with cracks and white murkiness. As there is this general perception that early shipment rice tends to have a lower percentage of first-grade certification and not so delicious, 14 years were spent to cultivate new types of rice that could defy the biased view of early shipment rice, and this new cultivar named yosakoibijin was created, which produces high-quality rice even in high temperatures and is critically acclaimed as an equal to the famous koshihikari cultivar.
Mr. Taniwaki: As far as fishery is concerned, while the hauls of yellowtail have been on the rise, the bullet tuna catches – from which sodabushi (special kind of katsuobushi (bonito flakes)) is made – are reportedly declining. While it cannot be determined with certainty that climate change is the cause, it must be one of the contributing factors.
In addition, the rising seawater temperature has been causing the populations of sea urchins and other algae-feeding organisms to increase, resulting in the disappearance of seagrasses along the coastal area, the phenomenon of which is locally known as isoyake. To address this, we have been working hard to reduce and control the sea urchin population.
Ms. Takahashi: Concerning our dams, we have procedures in place to allow a wider range of water levels in the reservoirs in order to prevent inundation of areas downstream even during flood events of highest magnitude expected. In terms of annual precipitation, our numerical data does not indicate any significant increase. However, as the figures fluctuate from one year to the next, and the incidence of cloudbursts has been on the rise, we believe the risk of flooding is starting to increase.
Do you experience any particular difficulty or frustration concerning your operation of the Local Climate Change Adaptation Center?
Ms. Takahashi: Because our organization is not made up of climate change experts, we are still learning and catching up on quite many related topics. As people over at the National Institute for Environmental Studies have been kind enough to answer any questions we might have through online conferences and other means, that has been a tremendous help.
Mr. Ichimura: In that connection, I would also like to say that human resource development is such a key issue for our future operation. If any staff member is reassigned to another job, all the activities that the individual has been conducting might get reset, which also means that all the skills that the individual has learned might not get transferred to its successor. So if I think us setting a course in a visible manner for the Center’s future operation is a good practice, as our successors can easily notice be guided by it, and the pamphlet might be a good example of this.
As we have not been able to hold our on-site classes and other events normally in recent years due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, although the level of awareness on climate change adaptation among prefectural residents is still low, we must work on improving it.
Ms. Takahashi: As 2021 came and went while we were unable to show our exhibition on climate change adaptation to the public in any meaningful way although we put so much effort into its preparation, we are hoping to hold the event this fiscal year.
Please tell us what motivates you to do your work.
Mr. Taniwaki: At the Public Health and Environmental Science Research Institute, we provide experiential learning sessions to middle school students every year. In FY 2021, we included climate change in the curriculum and were able to directly hear their reactions in amazement of the far-reaching effects of climate change, which was a fun moment. While we don’t get such opportunity much still, I feel it motivates us more if we get direct interactions with prefectural residents this way.
Mr. Ichimura: Our projects such as pamphlet production and exhibition events are highly motivating to me, to see the progresses being made. It is particularly exciting for me, the process of thinking about what can be done to improve publicity and get media exposure. Stakeholder surveys are also fun to me personally because they involve direct face-to-face interactions with people.
Please tell us about your outlook on the future.
Mr. Yamashita: During our previous stakeholder survey, many business operators and farmers told us that they were only doing what they felt was necessary and never thought of it as climate change adaptation. So I believe we need to continue our public awareness and education by communicating to them that what they are doing really are adapting to climate change.
Mr. Ichimura: While I also agree that it is our job to offer advice to business operators in the private sector that are implementing adaptation measures without realizing it, we might need to go a step further beyond educating the public on the concept of climate change adaptation and help them integrate it into their business operations and activities of daily living. In this connection, A-PLAT has information on the case studies of climate change adaptation businesses, which is quite helpful.
I would like to see the public’s reception of the pamphlet and decide on our next step.
Ms. Takahashi: We have not been able to hold themed exhibitions and other activities much that allow us to feel the audiences’ reactions directly, so for FY 2022 I would like to focus more on tasks that would produce tangible results.
Every time I get to observe other prefectures’ cases presented at regular report conferences, they positively affect me and drive me to do a better job. So I am fully motivated that way.
Mr. Taniwaki: To be honest, before I was assigned to work here, I only had a scant understanding of what climate change action might entail, thinking of it as mainly mitigation. However, during the course of our stakeholder survey, I came to realize that there were far more adaptive measures that could be implemented.
As I often experience moments of amazement and exhilaration during the publicity activities I handle for the Center when I learn from business operators about various adaptation measures, I am keen on sharing them with people from local communities.
(Posted on June 6, 2022)
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