Science Council of Japan issues an Urgent Statement on Climate Change and Call for Action

Credit: Science Council of Japan website

On 19 September, 2019 the Science Council of Japan (SCJ) submitted an “Urgent Statement by the President of Science Council of Japan on Climate Change and Call for Action” to the Ministry of Environment (MOEJ) and held a press release at MOEJ.

The statement was created under the leadership of the SCJ’s Committee on Promotion and Cooperation of Future Earth (Chairman: Tetsuzo Yasunari – a Future Earth Advisory Committee member), with the collaboration of 4 other Future Earth-related committees, and the Japan Global Hub and Asia Regional Centre.

The document starts out with an introductory message that sounds the alarm that under our current path, temperatures will pass the 1.5℃ target by 2040, followed by severe impacts on our societies and natural environment. However, there is still hope to steer our course and achieve a prosperous society by changing our economic and social systems. It then calls for action by all citizens to speed up change through their own actions.

After the introductory message, there is the Urgent Statement consisting of five comments. Each comment is backed up by additional commentary and scientific evidence of its occurrence. Here are the five main messages.

  1. Climate change, which could pose a risk to human existence, is definitely happening.
  2. We must move forward quickly to strengthen international and domestic cooperation toward slowing down climate change.
  3. To slow down climate change, we need to integrate management of our basis for survival, including the atmosphere and water, energy, and food.
  4. Terrestrial and marine ecosystems are a prerequisite for maintaining the biosphere on Earth that includes us humans. Protecting our ecosystems plays an important role in slowing down climate change.
  5. We need a new economic and social system for future generations now.

This urgent statement is a response to the many emergency declarations on climate change that are being declared in institutions around the world, and it is addressed to the citizens of the world (especially Japan). The statement was created to coincide with the timing of the UN Climate Action Summit 2019 that will be held in New York next week.

Urgent Statement by the President of Science Council of Japan
on Climate Change and Call for Action (PDF)