[Conference presentation] Japan Geoscience Union Meeting 2016

CTR researcher, Dr. Abhik Chakraborty presented papers at Japan Geoscience Union Meeting 2016.

Date

22th May (Sun) – 26th May (Thu), 2016

Venue

Makuhari Messe (Chiba, Japan)

About the JpGU

Japan Geoscience Union (JpGU) is the largest annual gathering of geoscientists in Japan, with participation from organizations like the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), JAMSTEC and many other international and national research centers.

• JpGU2016  Official Website ¡¡¡¡http://www.jpgu.org/meeting_e2016/

Report

This year I co-organized a session: “Complexity, Change and Adaptive Management of Socioecological Landscapes: An Earth System Perspective” on 22 May and presented a paper: “Analyzing the Relationships between Disturbance, Landscape-level Change, Land-formation Mechanisms and Biota in Complex Socioecological Systems” in this session. I analyzed the fundamentally complex interactions between ecosystem and human components at the landscape level based on my research at the Shirakami Mountain World Heritage Site; particularly emphasizing the implications on human-driven processes such as land-management, creation of touristic landscapes and hazards management.

I presented another paper in the special international session on the International Geoscience and Geoparks Programme (IGGP) of UNESCO, held on 24 May. This paper was titled “IGGP and Geoscience for Future Society: Exploring a Framework for Managing Earth Heritage”. I argued for valuing abiotic ‘processes’ rather than specific landforms that fetch high monetary value for a more holistic and long-term management of the Earth diversity in geoparks, and the need for critically reviewing human-induced change on the geo-biosphere in the Anthropocene. The implications of valuing abiotic natural diversity and appreciating earth processes for human communities and resource formation (including tourism resources) were discussed.

This paper was presented in the same session where Professor Patrick J. McKeever, the Chief of Earth Sciences and Geohazards Risk Reduction Section and the Secretary of the International Geoscience Program (IGCP) of UNESCO, and Dr. Guy Martini, the Secretary of the Global Geoparks Network (GGN), spoke.

I thank the Center for Tourism Research, Wakayama University for providing an academic presentation incentive award for these presentations.

Abhik Chakraborty