222893e

WATER EDUCATION AND INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENTWater cooperation and disaster risk reductionMany kinds of cooperation activities have been implementedin terms of water. Japanese official development assistance hasbeen contributing to developing countries by constructing waterresources systems, flood control facilities and other infrastructures,such as dams, channels, water supply and irrigation systems in cooperationwith the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).These structural measures have prevented or mitigated water-relateddisasters and their risk.In addition to these, another type of contribution includes emergencymanagement. After the Great Earthquake and Tsunamidisasters in east Japan, including Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushimaprefectures, there was land subsidence in a number of low-lyingareas where water inundation in residential districts, as well asin agricultural lands, was a serious problem. The pumping cars,which were prepared by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure,Transport and Tourism of Japan (MLIT), played a significant rolein the drainage of inundated water. The pumping cars were alsodispatched to the Chao Phraya River in order to drain floodwaterin Bangkok and surrounding areas. This was a notable watercooperation activity made by MLIT and JICA. Other water cooperationexamples can be seen in activities by the Japan Water Forum(JWF), which carries out water supply and sanitation activitiesat the grass-roots level through assistance to non-governmentalorganizations and collaboration with local partners in developingcountries. The JWF Fund awards grants of up to US$1,000 toapproximately 15 grass-roots organizations in developing countriesevery year, to support their activities and projects to improveaccess to water and sanitation. 2It is also important to bear in mind that risk communicationmeasures are useful in raising public awareness and preparednessfor coping with floods and droughts as well as waterborne disastersincluding epidemiological infectious diseases such as malaria,which are triggered by environmental or climatic drivers. Literacy,communication skills and gender issues must be seriously consid-Women collect water from surface sources in the coastal Satkhira district ofBangladesh, where water bodies are mostly salineImage: Dr Rajib Shaw, GSS Programme, Kyoto Universityered. Many cooperation activities for water-relateddisaster risk reduction are implemented throughinternational programmes such as UN Water and theUnited Nations Educational, Scientific and CulturalOrganization International Hydrological Programme,of which the eighth phase (2014-2021) will deal withwater security issues. 3Academic contributionsInterdisciplinary approaches at university (graduateschool) level include the Global COE Programfor ‘Sustainability/Survivability Science for a ResilientSociety Adaptable to Extreme Weather Conditions’(GCOE-ARS), implemented by the Disaster PreventionResearch Institute (DPRI) at Kyoto University, Japan. 4This programme focuses on how human beings andhuman society could adapt to global-scale changesincluding climate change that incur extreme weatherand changes in the Earth’s water cycle, populationincrease, urbanization, land use change, rural development,desertification and so on. It especially emphasizesscientific explanation and the prediction of weather andhydrological disasters as well as social adaptation tothese events.In Asia, as stated above, located in a humid climateand tectonic zone, overpopulation and land developmentare escalating. Africa has arid and semi-aridregions as well as tropical rainforests. The environmentalconditions in these areas are more severe thanelsewhere in the world in terms of social and naturalaspects, and thus especially sensitive and vulnerable toextreme weather. The people’s living and economy inthese areas provide implications for the survivabilityof humans on Earth, while at the same time requiringadaptation strategies to cope with more difficultconditions expected in the future. GCOE-ARS pursuessustainability science for survivability of humankindand fosters world-leading experts by developing practicalresearch in these areas in the world.Another similar programme is ‘Inter-GraduateSchool Program for Sustainable Development andSurvival Societies’ (Global Survivability Studies (GSS)Programme), which was launched in 2011 to form astrong interdisciplinary graduate school educationalsystem. This programme deals with four major areas:• catastrophic natural hazards and disasters• man-made accidents and disasters• regional environment change and degradation• food security.These challenges of academic research and education,led by DPRI, are intended to involve cooperation onwater-related disaster risk reduction with many overseasor international institutions and organizations,as well as with local communities around the world.We believe that this transdisciplinary approach can bestrongly connected to policy or real-world issues andcontribute to disaster risk reduction for sustainabledevelopment of our Earth system.[ 106 ]