Alumni Association
Professor Thomas Fischer (University of Liverpool)
03 April 2013
JSPS/ESRC Joint Research Seminar
Project title: Japan-UK Joint workshop on Policy Integration between Environmental Assessment and Disaster Management
Japanese lead scientist: Professor Sachihiko Harashina, Chiba University of Commerce
UK Counterpart: Professor Thomas Fischer, Department of Geography and Planning School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool
Seminar duration: November/ December 2012
To date, the use of environmental assessment (EA) for
reducing disaster risk has not been something that has been widely researched,
or indeed, been widely implemented in practice, despite its potential to act as
a cost-effective means of reducing disaster risk. However, its benefits have
been recognised by many organisations active in disaster management. For this
reason, a UK-Japan workshop on the integration between EA and disaster
management was held in Tokyo in November/December 2012, funded by the UK ESRC
and the Japanese JSPS and organised by Professor Sachihiko Harashina from Chiba
University of Commerce and Dr Ryo Tajima from the National Institute for
Environmental Studies on the Japanese side, as well as Professor Thomas Fischer
and Tom Gore, both from the University of Liverpool on the UK side.
The idea to this workshop, which brought together 24 UK
and Japan based researchers and practitioners from numerous institutions in the
EA and disaster management fields, was developed during a 6-month research stay
by Dr Tajima at the University of Liverpool and was triggered by a University
of Liverpool MA (Environmental Management and Planning) dissertation on the
role of EA in post disaster management in Aceh province, Indonesia by Tom Gore.
Workshop participants explored the potential role that environmental assessment
can play in disaster risk reduction. An important objective was to learn from
the diverse experiences of the UK and Japanese participants. Total funding for
the event was £35,000. The workshop programme and the proceedings are available
here: http://www.nishikiz.depe.titech.ac.jp/JPUK2012/.
Papers on the event will be published in a special issue
of the Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management. Furthermore,
the workshop organisers are currently preparing a paper for an international
professional journal, summarising main workshop outcomes. Another related paper
will be presented at the annual conference of the International Association for
Impact Assessment (IAIA) in Calgary (Canada) in May 2013 (published in the
conference proceedings). Further joint activities of participating institutions
are planned with regards to student and staff exchange and further joint
research projects.
