Conference: Earth System Governance Tokyo Conference: Complex Architectures, Multiple Agents (28 - 31 January 2013)

Monday to Thursday, 28 - 31 January 2013

Earth System Governance Tokyo Conference:
Complex Architectures, Multiple Agents

Venue: United Nations University, Tokyo

Hosted by: Earth System Governance Project
International Environmental Architecture Research Group
United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies

Co-hosted by: Tokyo Institute of Technology
The Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership
Institute for GlobalEnvironmental Strategies
Institut du Développement Durable et des Relations InternationalsL’Agence Nationale de la Recherche
Japan Science and Technology Agency

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Event Description 

The challenge of establishing effective strategies for mediating the relationship between humans and the natural world represents one of the most daunting tasks in the quest for environmental sustainability at all levels, from the local to the global. Environmental problems, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, water quality and access problems, soil erosion and others, call into question the fundamental viability of how humans have organized the relationship between society and nature. There is an urgent need to identify and develop new strategies for steering societies towards a more sustainable relationship with the natural world.

The Earth System Governance Project was launched in 2009 to address these problems of environmental governance. In this project, “earth system governance” is defined as the interrelated system of formal and informal rules, rule-making mechanisms and actor-networks at all levels of human society (from local to global) that are set up to steer societies towards preventing, mitigating, and adapting to global and local environmental change and earth system transformation, within the normative context of sustainable development. The Earth System Governance Project’s Science Plan is organized around five analytical problems. Architecture relates to the emergence, design and effectiveness of governance arrangements. Agency addresses questions of who governs the earth system and how. Adaptivenessresearch explores the ability of governance systems to change in the face of new knowledge and challenges as well as to enhance adaptiveness of social-ecological systems in the face of major disturbances. Accountability refers to the democratic quality of environmental governance arrangements. Finally, allocation and access deal with justice, equity, and fairness. These analytical problems are united by the cross-cutting themes of power, knowledge, norms and scale.

The Earth System Governance Tokyo Conference will address these five analytical problems with a focus on complex architectures, multiple agents.

For further information and to register, please visit the Tokyo Conference website.

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Programme

Monday, 28 January 2013
17:00 - 19:00	Registration
17:30 - 19:30	Opening Reception
Tuesday, 29 January 2013
8:00 - 9:00	Registration
9:00 - 10:30	Opening Plenary Chair: Ruben Zondervan, Executive Director, Earth System Governance Project Keynote Speech Naoto Kan (TBC), Former Prime Minister of Japan; and Member of UN High-level Panel on Post-2015 Development Agenda Govindan Parayil, United Nations University Vice-Rector and Director of United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies Norichika Kanie, Chair of the Earth System Governance Tokyo Conference and Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Decision Science and Technology, Tokyo Institute of Technology; Senior Research Fellow at United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS) Frank Biermann Chair of the Earth System Governance Project; Professor of Political Science and of Environmental Policy Sciences at the VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and Visiting Professor of Earth System Governance at Lund University, Sweden
10:30 -11:00	Coffee Break
11:00 - 12:30	Semi-plenary I		Semi-plenary II
12:30 - 14:00	Lunch
14:30 - 15:30	Session I	Session II	Session III	Session IV
	Session V	Session VI	Session VII	Session VIII
15:30 - 16:00	Coffee Break
16:00 - 17:30	Session I	Session II	Session III	Session IV
	Session V	Session VI	Session VII	Session VIII
18:00 - 20:00	Tokyo Excursion
Wednesday, 30 January 2012
8:00 - 9:00	Registration
9:00 - 10:30	Plenary Nuclear Governance Keynote speech Kiyoshi Kurokawa, the Chair of the National Diet of Japan Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission and former Chair of Science Council of Japan (TBC)
10:30 - 11:00	Coffee Break
11:00 - 12:30	Session I	Session II	Session III	Session IV
	Session V	Session VI	Session VII	Session VIII
12:30 - 14:00	Lunch Speaker
14:00- 15:30	Semi-plenary III The Institutional Fragmentation of Global Environmental Governance – Causes, Consequences and ResponsesChair: Harro van Asselt, Stockholm Environment Institute Discussants: Frank Biermann, VU University Amsterdam Oran Young, University of California, Santa Barbara		Semi-plenary IV Earth System Governance Methodology Group
15:30 - 16:00	Coffee Break
16:00 - 17:30	Session I	Session II	Session III	Session IV
	Session V	Session VI	Session VII	Session VIII
18:00 - 20:00	Documentary Showing(Open to the Public)
Thursday, 31 January 2013
8:00 - 9:00	Registration
9:00 - 10:30	Semi-plenary I Post Rio + 20 Roundtable: Achievements and challenges Chair: Steinar Andresen, Brookings Institution Michelle Betsill, Colorado State University Frank Biermann, VU University Amsterdam Pieter Haas, University of Massachusetts Amherst Oran Young, University of California, Santa Barbara		Semi-plenary II Multi-level Governance Co-chairs: Laurence Tubiana (TBC) and Benoit Lefévre (TBC), Institut du Développement Durable et des Relations Internationales (IDDRI)
10:30 - 11:00	Coffee Break
11:00 - 12:30	Session I	Session II	Session III	Session IV
	Session V	Session VI	Session VII	Session VIII
12:30 - 14:00	Lunch
14:00 - 15:30	Semi-plenary V Sustainable Development Goals in the Asian Context: Case Studies and lessons learnt from implementation mechanismsCoordinator: Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES)		Semi-plenary VI Global oceans governance: the science-policy interfaceChair: Oran Young, University of California, Santa Barbara Robin Mahon, University of the West Indies
15:30 - 16:30	Closing PlenaryChair: Norichika Kanie, Tokyo Institute of Technology and United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies Yvo de Boer, Special Global Advisor, Climate Change and Sustainability and Global Ambassador at KPMG, former Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Junichi Iijima, Dean of the Graduate School of Decision Science and Technology
18:00 - 22:00	Conference Dinner

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Please register from the ESG Tokyo Conference registration page. For further information, please visit the ESG Tokyo Conference website.
For more information: http://www.ias.unu.edu/sub_page.aspx?catID=8&ddlID=2364