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The "EU-Japan Region-to-Region Innovation Cooperation Community of Practice" project, conducted from February to August 2024, was a transitional initiative designed to explore future directions for decentralized cooperation between European regions and Japanese prefectures. Building on the momentum established by previous phases of the...

Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) hinges on well-designed and implemented follow-up and review (FUR) processes. Cities lack official recognition in the FUR architecture of the 2030 Agenda. This is a notable shortcoming, as cities are responsible for implementing at least two-thirds of their targets. To engage with the 2030 Agenda...

This presentation examines how Japanese municipalities are responding to long-term population decline, contrasting Yubari City’s failed growth-centric approach with Shimokawa Town’s efforts to ‘shrink gracefully.’ It highlights how local governments can move beyond pro-growth planning by adopting sustainable, community-oriented strategies better...

​​Introduced in 2015, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with their 169 specific targets, provide a comprehensive roadmap for nations to address urgent global challenges, from eradicating poverty and hunger to fostering sustainable communities and combating climate change. Since 2016, Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) have provided a...

This article examines the implications of demographic decline for local governments, with a focus on small Japanese municipalities that are already navigating the challenges of population loss. Drawing on examples like Yubari, Suzu, and Manazuru, it explores how some towns are rethinking growth-oriented planning and experimenting with alternative...

This is a guidebook for the "City-to-City Collaboration for Zero Carbon Society" program (C3P) developed by the Ministry of the Environment of Japan since fiscal 2013. This publication is intended for potential stakeholders of the C3P, including local governments and private companies in Japan and abroad.

The global food system confronts critical challenges, including food insecurity, small-scale producer vulnerability, and environmental degradation. While locally led initiatives emerge as potential solutions, they face obstacles, such as participant bias and scaling limitations. This study analyzes 157 international and 91 Japanese locally led food...

REDD+ aims to mitigate climate change by reducing deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries while ensuring social and environmental benefits through the involvement of diverse stakeholders. While several studies evaluate stakeholder participation in various aspects of REDD+, such as the level and type of stakeholder participation...