“New Toyama Stop Global Warming Program” Which Utilizes Scientific Findings

Toyama Prefecture has beautiful and rich natural environment, including the Tateyama Mountain Range with mountains of 3000 m-class elevations, mysterious Toyama Bay, which is a member of the “World’s Most Beautiful Bays Club,” and forests of the highest vegetation naturalness in Honshu, and is especially characterized by the rich and clear aquatic environments. To protect the important water resources of the prefecture and construct a healthy water circulation system, the prefecture developed the “Toyama 21st Century Water Vision,” etc., and implement measures while including global-scale water issues in our scope. In April 2020, the “Toyama Prefecture Climate Change Adaptation Center” was newly established, and we interviewed Manager Tomoko Mori and Chief Chisato Ito from the Environmental Policy Section, Living Environment and Culture Department, Toyama Prefectural Government, who work on promotion of adaptation in cooperation with the Toyama Prefectural Environment Science Research Center.

Details about plan development

Please tell us the details about the development of the “New Toyama Stop Global Warming Program,” which was positioned as local climate change adaptation in August 2019.

Ms. Mori: We developed the “Toyama Stop Global Warming Program” in March 2004 as a plan for global warming countermeasures, and have implemented efforts. In FY 2013 and FY 2014, we felt that local governments should also start acting in a precursory fashion, based on the publication of report on the effects of global warming by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the summary of the impacts of climate change by the national government. Therefore, we organized for the first time the impacts of climate change and adaptation measures in 4 fields of agriculture, forestry, and fisheries, natural ecosystems, natural disasters, and health, when we developed the second term of the “Toyama Stop Global Warming Program” in March 2015. Starting in FY 2017, we also participated in the “Regional Adaptation Consortium Project,” which is a cooperative project between the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, and worked on investigation and research on the timings of snow fall and melting, and use of water resources in our prefecture. Due to such a history, I feel that our prefecture started working on the impacts of climate change and adaptation measures at a relatively early stage. Based on the enforcement of the Climate Change Adaptation Act in 2018 and preparation of the national adaptation plan, we prepared the “New Toyama Stop Global Warming Program” in August 2019, which described the adaptation measures while expanding the fields to 7.

You actively used the scientific findings including the future prediction data.

Ms. Ito: Since the Environment Science Research Center had been participating in the “Research Program on Climate Change Adaptation (RECCA)” of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology at the time, we used in the Toyama Stop Global Warming Program the scientific findings such as the future prediction data, which were the research outcomes of RECCA. Our prefecture recruits employees for environmental occupations, and we, who are in such positions, have human resource exchanges between the Environmental Policy Section and the Environment Science Research Center. In fact, we both have experience working as researchers at the Environment Science Research Center. I feel that it is our strength that we have a system in which the research outcomes and scientific findings can be properly reflected on administrative measures.

Ms. Mori: In the “New Toyama Stop Global Warming Program,” which we developed in August 2019, we actively adopted such scientific findings and included the sustainable development goals (SDGs) for 2030 in our scope. While we do not have a plan to review it at present, we are willing to consider revisions based on new findings, including social conditions and adaptation measures we should work on.

Cross-cutting coordination with concerned departments within the government office

The Toyama Prefecture Climate Change Adaptation Center was newly established in April this year.

Ms. Mori: It was big that a department which specializes in handling “adaptation” was established in the administrative organization. Placing this at the core, we expect that we will be able to form a cross-departmental organization on the research level, unearth operations related to adaptation from the concerned departments, and collect and share the basic data for promoting adaptation measures, while receiving opinions from experts. Since an environmental education facility is scheduled to be opened at the Environment Science Research Center in October, we would be happy if this facility provides an opportunity for awareness raising in young people.

Ms. Ito: In the future, it is important that the understanding of adaptation by the concerned departments within the government office should be promoted. I feel that it is an advantage for our prefecture that it is easier to cooperate and grasp the department in charge because our prefecture is not as large in scale as others.

Ms. Mori: A characteristic of Toyama Prefecture is that we are rich in aquatic environments. We have programs specializing in conservation of groundwater and water resources which are not often seen in other prefectures, such as the “Groundwater Guideline of Toyama Prefecture” and the “Toyama 21st Century Water Vision.” As changes in quantities of rainfall and snowfall, as well as concurrent fluctuations in river flow and groundwater abundance are matters of concern that may be caused by climate change, we hope to work on prediction of impacts and development of adaptation measures.

Please tell us about your future prospects.

Ms. Ito: I joined the Environmental Policy Section in FY 2014 and became involved in the development of the Toyama Stop Global Warming Program. I then worked on the “New Toyama Stop Global Warming Program” again 6 years later, and now realize that we are making progress regarding adaptation, although gradually. In fact, that we were able to add the three fields of water environment and resources, industrial and economic activities, and life of prefecture residents to the new program felt to me like a large step forward.

Ms. Mori: We had little snow last winter. So little that we worried that we might not be able to hold the Winter National Athletic Meet. There were also cases where ski resorts at lower elevations closed with having too little snow being one of the reasons. Seeing the situations of the recent serious disasters, information transmitted by the Japan Meteorological Agency, etc., I expect that people of the prefecture are feeling the impacts of climate change around them more frequently. In the future, I hope to work in transmission of precise information while coordinating with the Adaptation Center. Since adaptation covers a wide range of fields, I hope that the cooperation among the concerned agencies and ministries will be further promoted on the national level, so that cooperation is also ensured at the local level.