Climate Sense

[

] 89

Earth observation and global environmental

research for adaptation to climate change –

a Japanese perspective

Hiroshi Ono, Director, Research and Information Office,

Global Environment Bureau, Ministry of the Environment, Japan

s climate change becomes a real threat, there has been

increasing emphasis placed on earth observation and

global environmental research to help understand and

assess the potential vulnerabilities and impacts it heralds, as well

as to enable informed policy-making on mitigation and adapta-

tion. At its third session the Earth Observation Summit, held in

Brussels in February 2005, adopted a Global Earth Observation

System of Systems Ten-Year Implementation Plan. The Ten-Year

Implementation plan made it clear that understanding the earth

system – including its weather, climate, oceans, atmosphere,

water, land, geodynamics, natural resources, ecosystems, and

natural and human-induced hazards – is crucial to enhancing

human health, safety and welfare, alleviating human suffering

including poverty, protecting the global environment, reducing

disaster losses, and achieving sustainable development. The

observation of the earth system constitutes a critical input for

advancing this understanding.

In Japan, the government’s Earth Observation Promotion Strategy

recommended the establishment of a national earth observation alliance

to enhance cooperation among organizations, ministries and institu-

tions. As such a Japanese Alliance for Climate Change Observation

(JACCO) was launched in April 2006, co-chaired by the Ministry of

the Environment, Japan (MOEJ) and the Japan Meteorological Agency

(JMA). In March 2008, JACCO delivered its first assessment report on

the needs and priorities of climate change observations. It also functions

as an inter-agency node to facilitate the accessibility and comparabil-

ity of observation data, as well as the coordinated use of observational

platforms by relevant organizations.

One of the most innovative initiatives relating to climate change

observation recently reached fruition, when the world’s first satel-

lite dedicated to the observation of greenhouse gases (GHGs) was

successfully launched on 23 January 2009 from the Tanegashima

Space Center in Japan. The Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite

(GOSAT) – or IBUKI

as it is nicknamed in Japanese – measures

the global distributions of carbon dioxide (CO

) and methane (CH

)

concentrations with 56,000 measurement points, and produces the

geographical distribution and seasonal and interannual variations in

the emissions and removals of GHGs. The GOSAT mission is a joint

effort involving MOEJ, the National Institute for Environmental

Studies (NIES) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. The

analytical results will bring a breakthrough in the scientific under-

standing of the global carbon cycle in relation to the

atmosphere, land ecosystem and ocean, thus providing

climate modelers with key information for significantly

reducing uncertainties in climate change prediction.

In May 2009 the initial analysis of CO

and CH

concentrations was released, though still in the process

of calibration and validation.

The global distribution

of average column concentrations analysed by NIES

using a nine-day data set showed higher CO

and CH

concentrations in the northern hemisphere compared

with those in the southern hemisphere, which is

largely compatible with the existing ground measure-

ment results. Although any decisive interpretation of

individual data could not be derived from this initial

analysis – since data calibration and validation was

incomplete – the result positively demonstrated that

there are no mechanical issues or unexpected prob-

lems in the measurement and data retrieval system. In

the future, compiled data sets will be provided first for

researchers contributing to calibration and validation,

with a calibrated and validated data set expected to be

released to all users in the next five to eight months.

Global environmental research is another important

element of helping those in power make scientifically

informed, sound decisions on mitigation and adaptation

to climate change. In recognition of this, MOEJ operates

a competitive grant scheme for global environmental

research contributing to formulating and implementing

global environmental policies. The scheme was initi-

ated in 1990 and is called the Global Environmental

Research Fund (GERF). Since then the GERF has

played a unique and leading role as a core fund in

Japan for promoting, global environmental research

related to the interdisciplinary integration of natural,

social and political sciences. Impacts, vulnerabilities

and adaptation relating to climate change are identified

as high-priority research areas in relation to policy-

making. A current GERF flagship project involves

the identification of risks and vulnerabilities relating

to, as well as the quantitative assessment of, climate

change impacts on key sectors in Japan. The project

focuses on water resources, human health, agriculture,

overnance

and

olicy