Toshio Koike, Executive Director of International Centre for Water Hazard and Risk Management (ICHARM) under the auspices of UNESCO, and Professor Emeritus of the University of Tokyo has chaired the River Council of Japan since 2015 and led discussions on water-related disasters to advise the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) of Japan. Some of the prominent awards he has won recently include the following: "Award for Contribution to the IPCC NOBEL Peace Prize" from WMO and UNEP" in 2008, “Friendship Award” from the Government of China in 2019, and “AGU Ambassador Award” from the American Geophysical Union in 2022.