On 7 February 2023, Shinobu Yume Yamaguchi (Director, ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ-IAS) presented on the importance of synergies in achieving a sustainable future, as the featured speaker of the online ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ event series BIG IDEAS: SDGs Dialogue. The session engaged 86 participants and was moderated by Sawako Shirahase (Senior Vice-Rector, ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ).
Prof. Yamaguchi introduced ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ-IAS, explaining its mission to realise a sustainable future for people and our planet. She outlined the institute¡¯s four thematic areas: governance for sustainable development, biodiversity & society, water & resource management, and innovation & education. ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ-IAS also has an operating unit in Kanazawa City (Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan) developing models for localising the SDGs, and offers master¡¯s and doctoral degrees in sustainability science, and various innovative short courses.
The presentation highlighted ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ-IAS activities at UN conferences such as the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), the Transforming Education Summit (TES), the , and the 2022 UN Climate Change Conference in Sharm El-Shiekh, Egypt (UNFCCC COP27). Prof. Yamaguchi discussed how ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ-IAS was enhancing synergies through advancing interdisciplinary approaches for the SDGs, climate change, education, and beyond. She emphasised the growing importance of youth participation worldwide for realising a sustainable future, and reiterated her determination to proactively provide opportunities for learning and capacity development to youth.
As a practical attempt to realise this vision, she introduced a new postgraduate degree specialisation on the Paris Agreement on climate change, to be launched by ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ-IAS in September 2023. She explained four networks that ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ-IAS leads in a secretariat role, and spotlighted the ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ SDG¨CUniversities Platform (SDG-UP), a partnership engaging 32 universities in Japan to strengthen collaborative efforts on the SDGs.
During discussion many questions were raised, mainly from participating students. In response to a question about the slow development of synergistic research in Japan, Prof. Yamaguchi noted the importance of both establishing solid expertise and collaborating with other fields in a cross-disciplinary and integrated way, applying a holistic perspective. She encouraged greater collaboration between diverse stakeholders, including companies.
At the end of the session, in response to the question "What is your BIG IDEA?¡± Prof. Yamaguchi answered that "I spent over 25 years overseas and I returned to Japan eventually, so my big idea is really to contribute and to work with the young generation in Japan and beyond. I really want to transmit what I have experienced and seen in my life¡±.
The video of the seminar (in Japanese) is available on the ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ .
