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This paper conducts a comparative analysis of green industrial policy strategies recently advanced by the European Union (EU) and the United States (U.S.), and extends insights to the evolving policy landscape in Japan. Its analysis underscores how the European strategy is characterized by a systematic approach that balances emissions constraints...

The Forest Environment Transfer Tax (FETT), a scheme similar to Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES), was introduced for Japanese forests at the national level in 2019 to address the challenges of climate change and promote management mainly in privately owned forests under the New Forest Management System (NFMS). Given insufficient human and...

This study assessed the hydropower potential of a mountain watershed within the Sunkoshi River basin in Sindupalchok, Nepal, utilizing Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) hydrological model. Topographical, soil and land use, meteorological, and discharge data were employed to characterize the study...

Globally, urbanization constitutes one of the major underlying drivers of global ecological degradation. Hence, deurbanization, i.e., demographic shift from urban to distant rural areas in a way that increases quality of life (QoL), can be one of the key pathways to address this global challenge. In this study, we investigated the contribution of...

Although the suburbs of numerous cities worldwide are shrinking, research on how to address suburban decline remains scarce. This paper explores participatory mapping in shrinking suburbs as a tool to articulate knowledge co-creation between local officials and communities to inform planning decisions. The paper argues that participatory planning...

This report examines the feasibility of Japan not only achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, but also making significant reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, so as to make its cumulative emissions as small as possible, thereby contributing to the global goal of limiting the average temperature increase to below 1.5°C compared to the pre...

Water resources assessment and management in ungauged basins are highly challenging but important task. It requires accurate simulation and estimation of streamflow characteristics. This study focuses on the simulation of rainfall-runoff processes in an ungauged Fusre River basin, a tributary of Seti River basin, Nepal using a semi-distributed...

This chapter provides the most recent policy frameworks for sound material-cycle society (SMCS) and promoting the 3Rs (reduce, reuse, and recycle) as well as circular economy transition in Japan, with some illustrations of the best practices carried out by the private sector and Japanese local governments as outcomes.

The Forest Declaration Assessment is a continual and collaborative process achieved collectively by civil society organizations and researchers. Since 2015, the Forest Declaration Assessment has published annual updates on progress toward global forest goals. The Japanese case study in the 2023 Assessment Report provides a very brief snapshot of...

Nature-based solutions (NbS) are promising measures for protecting, sustainably managing, and restoring ecosystems as well as addressing societal challenges, including climate change mitigation and adaptation. To consider mainstream NbS for use in disaster risk reduction (DRR) infrastructures, the affected residents’ perception and attitude toward...