On March 23 and 24, Sophia University hosted a workshop of Environment and Climate Change Consortium Division from the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities in Asia Pacific (AJCU-AP).
The Consortium was planned by AJCU-AP General Conference as part of Jesuit Higher Education Networking to cope with the world-wide challenges, and this is the first meeting of the Environment and Climate Change Consortium Division consisting of 8 universities and leaded by Sophia University.
Titled "Coping with Climate Change and Environmental Degradation:Theories and Practicable Options", the workshop gathered the participants from Ateneo de Manila University (Philippines) , Sanata Dharma University(Indonesia), National Institute of Environmental Studies(Japan), Graduate Program of Global Environmental Studies and Institute for Studies of the Global Environment from Sophia University.
In the workshop, 13 different themes such as relativity between local government policies and natural disasters, media coverage on the climate change, the latest CO2 trade model, etc were presented by the participants, and after each session there were very active floor discussion and exchange of opinions.
Prof. Washida, Dean of Graduate Program of Global Environmental Studies who coordinated and supervised the workshop commented, “The viewpoints of adaptation and mitigation to cope with the climate change were presented with balance. Through the variety of expertise and the latest research outcome, we could get a lot of fruitful and comprehensive perspectives. The countries in Asia and Pacific are economically and geographically very much linked, and as researcher of Asia Pacific region we could find out many common issues such as the increasing typhoon disasters caused by global warming, the adjustment problems of those who gain benefit from the ocean resources by traditional fishing method”, He also expressed his expectation on the further development and the possible future collaboration of the participants involved in the Consortium.
