Please tell us about Okayama Prefecture’s unique local features and characteristics, what led to the establishment of the Prefecture’s Climate Change Adaptation Center, and what its organizational structure is like.

(1)Okayama Prefecture’s unique local features and characteristics

Located at the midway point of Sanyodo, an area facing the Seto Island Sea from Hyogo to Yamaguchi, Okayama Prefecture has been an important place in terms of transportation across the Chugoku and Shikoku regions since ancient times. The prefecture has a total population of roughly 1,900,000, of which about 1,200,000 (more than 60%) reside in Okayama City and Kurashiki City in the south.

As for its topography and climate, Okayama Prefecture mainly consists of the plain in the south, the hilly terrain in the middle, and the Chugoku Mountains up north. The prefecture’s three major rivers − the Takahashi River, the Asahi River, and the Yoshii River − all originate in the Chugoku Mountains and rapidly flow southward to the Seto Inland Sea, so they are typically short and have high stream gradients. In addition, as the monsoons that occur in the region in summer and winter cause heavy rain and snow as they scale the Shikoku Mountains up north or the Chugoku Mountains down south before entering into the prefecture, Okayama is known as the Province of Sunny Weather, having small amounts of precipitation throughout the year.

Looking more closely at the prefecture by region, the southern part facing the Seto Inland Sea has a temperate climate with low precipitation year round, ranging between 1,000 and 1,300 mm annually. Meanwhile, the central part of the prefecture has a slightly cooler climate than the south with somewhat higher precipitation of 1,300 to 1,500 mm per year. As for the climate in the prefecture’s northern part, the temperature in winter is particularly low, resulting in occasional snowfall, and the annual precipitation there is about 1,600mm to 2,000 mm.

Taking advantage of these climatic features, large volumes of fruits and vegetables are grown in the southern and central parts of Okayama Prefecture − including Shimizu Hakuto peaches, Pione and Muscat grapes − while the farming of oysters and nori seaweed is widely practiced in the Seto Inland Sea. In the prefecture’s north, the farming of Jersey cattle and the production of Japanese cypress timber are commonplace. Okayama Prefecture is also home to a number of manufacturing companies. The Mizushima industrial region in the south has many companies from wide-ranging industries operating in a highly concentrated setting, which include oil, chemical, and steel industries, due to which the share of the secondary sector of the economy in the prefecture is higher than the national average, in terms of industrial output value.

(2)What led to the establishment of the Climate Change Adaptation Center in Okayama and its organizational structure

The Local Climate Change Adaptation Center in Okayama Prefecture was jointly established by the Okayama Prefectural Institute for Environmental Science and Public Health − which is the prefecture’s local environmental and hygiene research bodies operating under the same umbrella − and the Okayama prefectural government through its Alternative Energy and Global Warming Strategy Office, which is part of the Environmental Planning Section at the Environment & Culture Department.

The reason why the Center has been jointly set up and run by the two prefectural bodies is based on the idea that the Center’s function to collect, organize, analyze, and provide information on climate change impact and adaptation and to offer technical advice to promote climate change adaptation in the locale − as set forth in Article 13 (1) of the Climate Change Adaptation Act − might be best achieved by each of the entities playing to its respective strength: The Okayama Prefectural Institute for Environmental Science and Public Health can leverage its collaborative relationships with the National Institute for Environmental Studies (“NIES”) and prefectural research institutions involved in agriculture, fishery, etc. while the Alternative Energy and Global Warming Strategy Office of Okayama Prefecture can efficiently cooperate and coordinate with the national government, municipalities, and concerned departments of Okayama Prefecture as they work toward the same goal.

For this reason, the Planning & Information Office at the Okayama Prefectural Institute for Environmental Science and Public Health and the Alternative Energy and Global Warming Strategy Office at the prefectural government have designated staffs that are performing jobs related to the Center in a well-coordinated manner.

Please tell us about the current activities of the Local Climate Change Adaptation Center in Okayama Prefecture as well as its future plans.

Because the Center was just recently established on April 1, 2022, we have not been able to conduct any major activities as yet. So our initial activities have been centered on disseminating information to the prefectural residents about the concept of climate change adaptation through our website, various events, and other avenues.

In terms of our information gathering activity, we have been mainly working with the NIES, prefectural research institutions, and the Okayama Local Meteorological Office to obtain essential knowledge and facts. In addition, we are always fielding inputs from prefectural residents through our website concerning their experience of phenomena that could be the effects of climate change manifesting across the prefecture.

As for our future plans, we intend to conduct publicity campaigns involving video streaming, radio, and other media as well as exchanging information and improving cooperation with various municipalities and research institutions.

Please tell us about any unique approach that your Local Climate Change Adaptation Center is taking to effectively coordinate with other departments of the prefectural government and to facilitate adaptation by Okayama Prefecture and businesses, as well as any issues, etc. you are experiencing.

In terms of our coordination with various departments of the prefectural government, we have been providing information on climate change adaptation on our website that is specifically curated for them in an effort to raise prefectural employees’ awareness on the topic. In addition, we are closely working with the publicity department of the prefectural government to actively disseminate related information to the public using the radio, television, and other communication tools that are available to the prefectural government.

Furthermore, since Okayama Prefecture has a council of concerned prefectural bodies that has been in existence from before, consisting of prefectural research institutions (including the Okayama Prefectural Technology Center for Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (which houses the Research Institute for Agriculture, the Research Institute for Biological Sciences, the Research Institute for Livestock Science, the Research Institute for Fisheries Science, and the Research Institute for Forest and Forest Products), the Livestock Hygiene Service Center, the Industrial Technology Center, Okayama Prefectural University, and the Okayama Prefectural Institute for Environmental Science and Public Health), we have been partaking in it as a forum through which to regularly exchange information, visit other organizations’ facilities, and interact with each other and hold presentation sessions for research purposes. We are also using the council to exchange information on climate change with other participating members.

Concerning the promotion of climate change adaptation among prefectural residents, we have been disseminating related information to the public by identifying and seizing various opportunities suitable for the purpose. For instance, in FY2022 we invited a staff from the NIES to speak at an event that was organized by the prefectural government to learn about the environment, where the participants were able to hear the experts’ view on climate change adaptation.

Meanwhile, as for our activity to facilitate climate change adaptation by businesses, we are still trying to identify what specific approach we should take to improve awareness on the topic among business operators, since there are a whole host of adaptation measures to select from.

Please tell us what motivates you to do your current work and also your outlook on the future.

In terms of climate change adaptation in Okayama Prefecture, although the concerned departments of the prefectural government had been individually conducting activities to facilitate it, the concept of adaptation itself was not clearly recognized even internally depending on the areas of concern. However, as we have been revising the prefecture’s global warming prevention action plan this fiscal year, which also serves as our local climate change adaptation plan, we believe our interaction with various prefectural departments in leading the aforementioned project and identification of potential adaptation measures that could be employed have helped raise their awareness of the adaptation concept slowly but surely.

The Local Climate Change Adaptation Center in Okayama Prefecture is committed to continuously promoting climate change adaptation by grasping the current status of the prefecture, gathering, organizing, analyzing, and providing information on select cases of model practices that are adopted by municipalities in Okayama and beyond, and also by improving our provision of technical advice in such manners that are optimized for each of the entire prefecture, its municipalities, residents, and businesses.