Publication

The Research Center for Climate Change Adaptation (RCCCA) of Keio University conducted an educational programme for students including a fieldwork and workshop in the Horqin Sandy Land from 25 August to 3 September 2012. The Horqin Sandy Land, which is placed in Inner Mongolia of China, is one of the most desertified regions in the world. Desertification in arid and semi-arid regions is a serious environmental problem and would be exacerbated by climate change. This programme aimed to help students comprehensively learn about research and practice for adaptation in the desertified region with the help of a non-profit &ldquo;Green Network,&rdquo; Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and local government, which work on desertification in this area. Chinese, Korean, and Japanese students participated from Keio University, the University of Tokyo, and CAS.</div>

 

In the first half of the programme, students from the Japanese universities joined environmental restoration activities performed by the non-profit. They studied not only individual restoration techniques but also community-based restoration planning that was a kind of adaptation strategy in the local society. Next, they visited theNaiman Desertification Research Station (NDRS), which is a field research station of CAS, to attend the workshop. The workshop consisted of four parts: (1) Lectures on the activities of NDRS (by Professor Xueyong Zhao, director of NDRS), RCCCA (by Professor Wanglin Yan, director of RCCCA), and the former director of the forestry bureau of the local government) (2) Round table discussion with students at CAS about research and practice for adaptation in this area; (3) Training on vegetation and soil surveys and laboratory analysis (4) An excursion to a large sand-dune area.

 

This programme was indeed a training course for the students from the Japanese universities, who had not been familiar with desertification. Moreover, lthough the students at CAS worked on desertification, they had not really considered adaptation because they focused on basic research. Therefore the programme was an opportunity for the students at CAS to learn about adaptation in the desertified area and broaden their horizons. In addition, a relationship between RCCCA and NDRS was established, and future co-operation about a student exchange programme and an international symposium was discussed. Since the programme was successfully done, it is set to be conducted next year.