Bridging Science and Society: The Key to Well-Informed DRR Decisions to Fight Climate Change
Innovative ways to reduce water-related disasters under climate change by bridging the gap between science and society and translating advanced science into decision-making and action. Japan has experienced severe water-related disaster damage numerous times in its history due to its climate, topography, and socio-economic activities. Then, Japan has taken decisive actions to mitigate the damage, such as establishing laws, formulating plans, and making advance investments in infrastructure and has significantly reduced the human suffering. Japan has “Traditional capacity” to mitigate damage. Climate change is emerging. Water-related disasters have become more intense and more frequent worldwide. Addressing water-related disasters is increasingly more challenging. Developing new strategies is indispensable to manage this fast-growing risks effectively. All of the world, including Japan, needs “innovative” ideas, methods and tools. In the session, the panelists and the audience discussed how to bridge the gap between the science community and society and link advanced science to decision-making and action to strengthen water and climate “resilience” of people, community and society. Prof. Samehahmed KANTOUSH, Professor at the Disaster Prevention Research Institute (DPRI) at Kyoto University, has been collaboratively leading water and sediment-related disasters, including the flash flood management projects in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). He presented his industrial expertise, which was mainly related to wadi flash floods, integrated flood and sediment management, dam upgrading projects, reservoir sedimentation and sediment management techniques, and river projects. He proposed the following multidisciplinary approach for: 1) innovative approaches, 2) data-based networks, 3) teamwork, 4) risk reduction and sediment management, 5) water harvesting and water management, 6) society and environment, and 7) decision-making, planning, and governance. Dr. QIN Menglu, Research Specialist at the International Centre for Water Hazard and Risk Management (ICHARM), has been developing a basin-scale rainfall and sediment runoff model to predict multi-component sediment-related hazards exacerbated by climate change. She introduced a basin-scale rainfall and sediment runoff model to predict multi-component sediment-related hazards in watersheds triggered by extreme rainfall events. Her work provided insights into the interactions and transformations among landslides, debris flows, and sediment-inundated floods within a watershed, thereby improving our understanding of water-related hazards under climate change. She also emphasized the importance of baseline measurements to improve prediction accuracy. Dr. Martin Gomez Garcia Alvestegui, Climate Change Adaptation Specialist, Nippon Koei Company, Limited, Japan, has been incorporating climate projections into adaptation and risk assessments for Nippon Koei’s engineering projects in water resources management, environmental impact assessment, disaster preparedness, and sustainable development. He presented the development of interactive online portals that provide global, rapid access to global climate projections, extreme weather metrics, uncertainty quantification, and water scarcity risks. Mr. Illangasingha Sanjeewa, Deputy Director for Water Resources Planning at the Mahaweli Authority of Sri Lanka, is completing the last year of his Ph.D. studies at ICHARM in Japan. He presented methodologies for incorporating the results of climate projections into the decision-making process for transboundary water sharing. He also suggested developing a holistic analysis system, establishing or strengthening an integrated basin management authority, improving climate resilient infrastructure, implementing an automated water management and distribution system, and promoting international cooperation.
To improve resilience to floods and droughts under climate change, the science and technology community must maximize the use of existing knowledge and introduce new types of science and technology that serve broad and collective societal needs. Building this new approach requires interdisciplinary research, collaboration, and cooperation among the natural sciences, engineering, social and political sciences, and the humanities. Transdisciplinary collaboration and excellent communication between scientists, practitioners and policy makers are also essential. The science and technology community and society should support the formulation of a national or regional platform as a cross-sectoral governance body where all stakeholders hold serious communications on a regular basis, take a holistic view of related data and information as well as other practices/issues, draw ideal future pictures, and design actions to be taken in a comprehensive manner. This entire process is referred to here as “synthesis,” which includes data and model integration and capacity building. To support the enhancement of these synthesis processes, it is necessary to develop a data and knowledge integration system which should be equipped with functions for users to explore, collect, archive, and search scientific data and information as well as information of experiences, including good practices and success/failure stories. The system should also have functions to integrate this data and information, perform forecasting and simulation, facilitate effective risk communication through visualization, and establish information exchange and dialogue among stakeholders. Based on the syntheses, the science and technology community and society e should establish cross-sectoral frameworks at local, national, regional, and global levels to link cutting-edge science across disciplines with on-site decision-making and action on the ground, using an “end-to-end approach.” The outputs of climate projection models, after downscaling, bias correction, and uncertainty quantification integrated with observed data are used as inputs into water simulation, forecasting, and management systems. The results of climate change impact assessment on floods, irrigation, hydropower, water supply, water quality, urban wastewater, groundwater, and droughts can be interpreted in terms of ecological, socio-economic, and cultural and historical aspects in a society. Based on such comprehensive assessments, adaptation measures should be selected from various options. By replacing the climate models with weather forecast models and managing the workflow in real-time configuration, it can be used for early warning. To promote the “end-to-end approach,” it is necessary to foster “facilitators” who can act as catalysts, able to provide expert advice based on a broad range of scientific and indigenous knowledge about climate change in the local context. Facilitators can bridge the gap between the science and technology community and local stakeholders, support education and training, and inform pathways leading to practical solutions. These facilitators can be members of the science and technology community, the education community, the private sector, or local government, with experience and skills in communication. In this way, we can bridge science and society to make well-informed DRR decisions to fight climate change. Organized by: International Centre for Water Hazard and Risk Management (ICHARM)
