Overview of Studies in Japan on Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation : Towards Climate Risk Management Based on Scientific Evidence

Abstract

Persistent efforts to improve scientific understanding of climate risks and countermeasures against them are indispensable for keeping strong momentum of coordinated climate risk management efforts. For example, the long-term climate target for the global mean temperature increase from the pre-industrial period of less than 2 degrees Celsius in the Paris Agreement is not fresh-off-the-farm but has a long history of political discussion supported by the science available at any given time. On another front, Japan published its first national adaptation plan in November 2015. When we look at domestic climate policies, rapidly growing attention to adaptation in Japan also revolves around the intensified public perception of existing and anticipated climate impacts. Based on the above, the primary purpose of this article is to give an overview of previous, ongoing and future studies on climate impacts and adaptations in Japan with regard to domestic and international policy support. This overview of the studies provides suggestions for some important directions or aspects of future research on climate risks. These include the importance of co-design and co-production in fields of study to support decision making and strategy planning against global environmental problems; improvements to quantification and communication of uncertainties in climate risk analyses; the importance of participation in internationally coordinated research activities, including impact model inter-comparison projects; archiving and management of tools and data developed for risk analysis for portability and transparency; and responsibility of researchers in the iterative process of periodic climate risk assessment.