The Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) will support one jointly selected project in the “Transformations to Sustainability” CRA (Collaborative Research Action)*1, within the framework of the Belmont Forum*2 International Opportunities Fund. The following project was selected for funding:
Transformation as Praxis: Exploring Socially Just and Transdisciplinary Pathways to Sustainability in Marginal Environments (TAPESTRY)
- Nobuhito Ohte, Professor, Department of Social Informatics, Kyoto University (Japan)
- Lyla Mehta, Professor, Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex (United Kingdom)
- Synne Movik, Associate Professor, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Norwegian University of Life Sciences (Norway)
- Devanathan Parthasarathy, Professor, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology (India)
Climate change related uncertainties are the main threats to the sustainability of societies and their environments. To tackle these challenges, systemic transformations are required. Our project focuses on three cases of transformation in marginal environments in India and Bangladesh, and is concerned with: how transformation happens through bottom-up processes in these sites and how that can be scaled up to facilitate wider societal changes. Both require transdisciplinary co-production and the praxis of transformation which presupposes change in social arrangements and reconstruction by individuals. Our project addresses issues concerning governance, wellbeing, identity and quality of life in relation to transformations to sustainability in a lower-middle income country (India) and a least developed country (Bangladesh). Our results should help inform processes that ultimately improve the quality of life in marginal environments, and build action and capacity among all partners.
- *1 Collaborative Research Action (CRA):
- Collaborative Research Actions (CRAs) are Belmont Forum activities, often including a multilateral joint call for proposals, which are set in parallel in various research fields each year. Joint calls are conducted by funding agencies from participating countries and the proposals received are jointly evaluated. Researchers involved in selected projects are supported by the participating funding agencies from their respective countries.
- *2 Belmont Forum:
- The Belmont Forum (established in 2009) is a group of the world’s major and emerging funders of global environmental change research. It aims to accelerate delivery of the environmental research needed to remove critical barriers to sustainability by aligning and mobilizing international resources.
Belmont Forum homepage: http://www.belmontforum.org/
Appendices
Contact
Shinji Kanayama (Dr.)
Department of International Affairs, JST
K's Gobancho, 7 Gobancho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0076 Japan
Tel: +81-3-5214-7375 Fax: +81-3-5214-7379
E-mail: 