Organizer

• Ministry of the Environment, Japan (MOEJ)

Event Overview

Opening Remarks

Ms. Keiko Segawa, Deputy Director-General for the Global Environmental Affairs, Ministry of the Environment, Japan

Introductory Remarks

Ms. Jessica Troni

Presentation

• Professor Dr. Masa Watanabe, Chair of the GAN Steering Committee
• Dr. Marc Schlossberg, President of the EPIC Network and Co-Director, Sustainable Cities Initiative (SCI), University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA
• Dr. Sean O’Donghue, Co-Lead for the EPIC Africa Regional Network and Manager, Climate Protection Branch, City of Durban, South Africa (via Zoom or Skype call)
• Dr. Armen Rostomyan, Senior Programme Specialist, Regional Resource Centre for Asia and the Pacific (RRC.AP), Climate Change Cluster, Asian Institute of Technology
• Mr. Mozaharul Alam, Regional Coordinator, Climate Change Sub-Programme Asia and the Pacific Office, UN Environment Programme (UNEP), and Head of the Asia Pacific Adaptation Network (APAN) Secretariat, Bangkok, Thailand

Panel Discussion

Moderator: Ms. Jessica Troni

Speaker

• 瀬川 恵子　環境省大臣官房審議官
• Jessica Troni　世界適応ネットワーク（GAN）事務局（UNEP）
• 渡邊 正孝　中央大学研究開発機構教授／GAN運営委員会議長
• Marc Schlossberg　EPICネットワーク代表、Sustainable Cities Initiative (SCI)共同代表、オレゴン大学
• Sean O’Donghue　EPICアフリカネットワーク共同代表、南アフリカ・ダーバン市気候変動防止支局　マネージャー
• Armen Rostomyan　アジア工科大学院アジア太平洋地域資源センター（AIT RRC.AP）シニアプログラム専門家
• Mozaharul Alam　アジア太平洋適応ネットワーク（APAN）事務局長（UNEP ROAP）

Event Summary

The session focused on the university-city partnership project, EPIC (Educational Partnerships for Innovation in Communities), which has been working with GAN to extend their model to all continents around the globe.

Prof. Watanabe who is also chair, presented the role and history of the GAN in sharing adaptation knowledge and its importance of collaborating with other networks and initiatives to promote adaptation.

Jessica, GAN secretariat, and Marc, representative of EPIC spoke about EPIC's efforts as the effective way to build the capacity in local governments and communities. They mentioned that the EPIC also has the potential to increase resilience and sustainability including disasters　risk management, and it is important to make linkage between research and education functions to local government and community SDGs target 11 and 13.

Mr. Sean, Co-Chair of EPIC-Africa, introduced that the partnership, which has developed in the United States, begun to role out in Africa, and some related workshops already begun in South Africa and Zambia.