Science Communication

Research Institute for Humanity and Nature

TACHIMOTO Narifumi
Director-Generalto Kauram

As a national research institute, RIHN is expected to conduct
exemplary science; it also must communicate its research
agenda and results to the public and contribute to publicawareness and discussion ofcontemporary environmentalism.
A number of public symposia,campaigns, seminar series, andpublications are designed toreach specialist and generalaudiences.

Rakuhoku
Hospital●Nikenchaya station
Kyoto-Seikadai-mae station
Kyoto SeikaUniversity●40Kurama Kaido

Kyoto Bus
●Kyoto Sangyo
Chikyuken-maeUniversitybus stop

RIHN International
Symposium

Eizan Railway Kurama line
Kino
Iwakurato Dema

HokuryoHigh School●anagiMyomanji卍

Inter-University Research Institute Corporation, National Institutes for the Humanities

Kokusaikaikan

卍EntsujiCity Subway
Karasumaline

Grand Prince
Hotel Kyoto●

to Central

The RIHN Encyclopedia of
Global Environmental Studies
was published in 2010 tocommemorate RIHNʼ s 10thanniversary.

chiyKyoto

Research Institute for
Humanity and Nature

Nikenchaya

N

KokusaikaikanealinmraKitayama St.

ay

Research Institute for
Humanity and Nature2011

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UCT[At RIHN we believe that the global
environmental problems humankind
faces today are basically rooted inhuman cultures. As a consequence,RIHNʼs mission is to conduct integrative and cooperative research into theinteractions between human andbiophysical systems, and to suggest how harmonious humanenvironmental relations can be established or enhanced. We mustbring the full range of human intelligence to this task.
RIHN Research projects last from three to five years, involve
scholars from a wide range of academic disciplines, and aresupported by cooperative agreements with universities andinstitutes at home and abroad. This fixed-term project structure
and internationalist orientation allow RIHN to bring an uncommon range of specialists, methodologies and resources to bear ona particular research question, while also advancing the field ofglobal environmental studies.
As RIHN enters its second decade, we seek greater integration of
our research structures and deeper interaction in the wider worldof environmental research. As always, we invite your continued
support of, and critical engagement with, RIHN activities.

ResearchResearch IInstit
nstitutenute forfor Humanit
Humanityy and Natu
Naturere 2001-20
2001-201111Organization

Inter-University Research Institute Corporation,
National Institutes for the Humanities（as of April 1, 2011）

Kuilw●Hankyu Railway
Kyoto line

to Osaka● NIHU 17th Open Lecture and Symposium (Co-hosted with NIHU)

Kyoto International Conference Center● RIHN 6th International Symposium

Beyond Collapse
26-28 October, 2011

Karasumaoike
Karasuma

Demachiyanagi

National Institute of Japanese Literature

Advisory Board

National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics
President

Board of Directors
International Research Center for Japanese Studies

Sanjokeihan
Kawaramachi

Kyoto station

Administrative Council

Research Institute for Humanity and Nature

Academic Senate

National Museum of Ethnology

to Tokyo

JR Tokaido line

RIHN 10th ForumRIHN ForumReﬂections on the Water Around Us
3 July, 2011
Kyoto International Conference Center
7 October, 2011

City Subway Tozai line

Shijo St.

Shijo

People and Nature in Eastern Eurasia:
Twenty years after the Soviet Union
12 June, 2011
Hokkaido University

Oike St.

National Museum of Japanese History

Auditors
Shirakawa St.

● RIHN 9th Area Seminar (Co-hosted with Hokkaido University)Ra

Keihan Railway

Eight public seminars will be held in ﬁscal year 2011.

EiKawaramachi St.

● RIHN Public Seminarsnza

City Subway
Karasuma line

Imadegawa St.

Karasuma St.

Main Events

Horikawa St.

Kitaoji St.

By City Subway
From Kyoto Station, take the Karasuma Line to Kokusaikaikan Station (the last station),and transfer to Kyoto Bus as below.
By Kyoto Bus
From Kokusaikaikan Station, take bus No. 40 or 50 to Chikyuken-mae.
RIHN is at the base of the hill to your left.

Board ofAdvisors

Deputy Director-General,
Research

DirectorGeneral

Deputy Director-General,
Planning and Coordination

Research Department

Center for Coordination,
Promotion and Communication (CCPC)By Eizan Railway
From Demachiyanagi Station in Kyoto City, take the Kurama line.
Exit at Nikenchaya Station. RIHN is a 10 minute walk to the South.

General Affairs Section
Planning Unit

RIHN Lecture Hall● The Earth Forum Kyoto International Symposium(Co-hosted with Kyoto Prefecture and others)

February, 2012 Kyoto International Conference Center
Photo JASHENKO, Roman

Inter-University Research Institute Corporation, National Institutes for the Humanities

Research Institute for
Humanity and Nature
457-4 Motoyama, Kamigamo, Kita-ku, Kyoto 603-8047
Te l : +81-75-707-2100 ‫ؙ‬Fax : +81-75-707-2106:HE6HDUFKURL : http://www.chikyu.ac.jp 5,+1

Administrative OfficeExecutive Board

Accounting Section
Accounting ＆Procurement Unit
Research Cooperation Section

Project Evaluation Committee (PEC)

CCPC Support Unit

RPresearchstco je

RIHN solicits, hosts and funds integrative, cooperative research projects that advance one of ﬁve
principal RIHN research domains: Circulation, Diversity, Resources, Ecohistory and Ecosophy.

D Diversity Program
Program Director ・NAKANO Takanori

Project Leader・KAWABATA Zenʼ ichiro

Global Warming and the Human-Nature
Dimension in Siberia: Social Adaptation tothe Changes of the Terrestrial Ecosystem,with an Emphasis on Water Environments
C-07

Project Leader・HIYAMA Tetsuya

This project uses multiple satellite and surface
systems to track changes in the circulation ofcarbon and water in Siberia, and the eﬀect of theirchange on ice, snow and permafrost environments.
Project researchers assess the interactions of suchchange and their cumulative signiﬁcance to humanand animal populations in the region.

Physio-Medical, Ecological and Cultural Adaptationin “Highland Civilizations”
D-03

Project Leader・OKUMIYA Kiyohito

This project examines the long- and short-term
eﬀects of high-altitude environments on humanphysiology and health. Focusing on several
common health problems associated with aging
and contemporary lifestyle in the Himalaya-Tibet
region, researchers examine human cultural, physiological and ecological
adaptations to high-altitude environments, and how recent changes in lifestyle
have aﬀected the health and quality of life of the elderly.

Collapse and Restoration of Ecosystem
Networks with Human Activity
D-04

Project Leader・YAMAMURA Norio

This project applies new network science to theproblem of ecosystem deterioration and collapse,
and to the prospects of ecosystem restoration. The
project examines social -environmental interactions
in two distinct ecosystems that are being
dramatically altered by humans, and attempts to
identify general properties of productive anddestructive ecological change.

Megacities and the Global Environment
C-08

Project Leader・MURAMATSU ShinHow can megacities̶cities of more than ten
million inhabitants̶become earth-friendly, andhow can the present and future welfare of their
inhabitants be improved? Focusing on Jakarta,
Indonesia, project researchers identify the potential
advantages in being a “latecomer” megacity, andthe relevance of customary patterns of behavior
and urban life to contemporary social andecological problems.

H Ecohistory Program

CC-09-Init

Project Leader・WATANABE TsugihiroThis project conducts interdisciplinary investigationof the merits and demerits of distinct water
management regimes, especially related toirrigation, in several semi-arid and humid
environmental contexts. Field and modelingstudies are integrated to develop an advanced description of the knowledge
systems aﬀecting water management and to enable comprehensive analysis of
the key elements in improved basin management.

Program Director ・TANIGUCHI Makoto

Environmental Change andthe Indus Civilization
H-03

Project Leader・OSADA Toshiki

This research project examines the social characterand environmental context of the ancient Induscivilization. Drawing on archaeology, Indology, andpaleo-environmental investigation, researchers
reconstruct the social and environmental histories
of several Indus cities in order to determine
whether environmental factors contributed to thecivilizationʼ s short life and rapid decline.

Initiative-based Project
Designing Local Frameworks for
Integrated Water Resources
Management

R-03 Project Leader・KUBOTA Jumpei
This project utilizes ice-core, lake sediment-core, andtree-ring evidence in combination with archaeologicaland textual analysis to describe the historical interactionsof humanity and nature in semi-arid Central Eurasia.
Focusing on the ecological eﬀect of human boundaries
and subsistence patterns through time, the study will
suggest how such semi-arid regions can best bemanaged in the future.

Program Director ・KAWABATA Zenʼ ichiro

Human Life, Aging and Disease in
High-Altitude Environments:

Eﬀects of Environmental Changeon the Interactions
between Pathogens and Humans
This project examines the direct and indirect
human actions that create favorable ecologicalconditions for infectious disease. Field study
examines the intertwined ecological and social
causes and eﬀects of Koi Herpes Virus disease,which has caused episodic mass mortality of common carp raised for humanconsumption, as a model of pathogen-human interactions.

Program Director ・MOJI Kazuhiko

Historical Interactions between Multi-CulturalSocieties and the Natural Environment
in a Semi-Arid Region in Central Eurasia（as of April 1, 2011）

C Circulation Program

C-06

R Resources Program

Neolithisation and Modernisation:
Landscape History on East Asian Inland Seas
H-04

Project Leader・UCHIYAMA Junzo

This project examines the long-term landscapehistory around the East Asian Inland Seas.
Comparing “Neolithization” and “Modernization” ,the two most important historical stages in whichhumans changed their landscapes on a large scale,project researchers examine the cultural andnatural factors that have signiﬁcantly aﬀected thelandscape formation process in the past and may
do so in the future.

Environmental Change and Infectious
Disease in Tropical Asia
R-04

Project Leader・MOJI Kazuhiko

How is the health of a human community aﬀected by itsenvironment? Beyond the conventional medical description,individual and population health can be described in part asan ecological phenomenon. This project develops theconcept of “ecohealth” to describe this wider context andfacilitate appropriate health policy in Southeast Asia.

A Study of Human Subsistence Ecosystems
in Arab Societies: To Combat Livelihood

Degradation for the Post-oil Era
R-05 Project Leader・NAWATA Hiroshi
This project examines the life support mechanisms andself-suﬃcient modes of production of Arab peoples who
have survived in arid environments for more than amillennium. It examines key environmental problems
such as desertiﬁcation and invasive species, and identiﬁes
the “keystones” to successful human-ecologicalinteraction on which social life in the post-oil era will
depend.

Managing Environmental Risks to Foodand Health Security in Asian Watersheds
R-06 Project Leader・KADA Ryohei
This project combines the social, medical and physicalsciences in order to develop strategies of ecological risk
management for sustainable food production, healthsecurity and watershed planning in the Laguna Lakeregion, the Philippines. Organized by researchers fromJapan and the Philippines, this project critically examines
resource degradation and pollution, its origin and eﬀect
on aquatic life, food production, food quality, and publichealth.

E Ecosophy Program

Program Director ・YUMOTO Takakazu

Vulnerability and Resilience ofSocial-Ecological Systems
E-04 Project Leader・UMETSU Chieko
This project uses the concept of social-ecologicalresilience in order to evaluate the attempts of agricultural
peoples in Sub-Saharan Africa to adapt to environmental
and socio-economic change. Project researchersinvestigate how households and communities recoverfrom speciﬁc social and environmental perturbations, thefactors inﬂuencing their capacity to adapt, and the role ofinstitutions in strengthening the overall resilience ofsocial-ecological systems.

The Center for Coordination,Promotion and Communication (CCPC)The Center for Coordination, Promotion and Communication is
responsible for cross-project, cross-domain investigation,
research and support that concerns the entire institute.
The Division of Coordination guides the instituteʼs research
trajectory. It evaluates the domestic and international trends inenvironmental studies and facilitates collaborative interaction
with other institutes.
The Division of Promotion maintains the laboratory facilities
and information systems necessary for research, and guides theadoption and implementation of new research technology andinfrastructure.
The Division of Communication promotes inter-project
collaboration on key research topics and the publication anddissemination of institute ﬁndings to both academic and publicaudiences.
The Core Research Hub coordinates RIHNʼs new set of Futurability
Initiatives, which are intended to enhance design-oriented,
problem-solving approaches to contemporary environmentalproblems.

Facilities
The RIHN campus is centered aroundone large curved building 150 meters inoverall length that contains project
research rooms and basement laboratories. Research rooms are designedwith an open plan in order to facilitate
interaction between researchers andinterconnection between projects. The
main building also houses administrative
offices, a library and computing center, alecture hall and several seminar andResearch rooms
other meeting rooms. At the base of thecampus, the RIHN House offers accommodation for visiting guests
and resident fellows.
RIHN maintains
eighteen laboratories,
including specialized
facilities for DNA andstable isotope analysis, mass spectrometry, and several
rooms for chemicaland biochemical
analysis, m i c r o s Laboratory technicians
c o p y , incubation,
hazardous materials, fieldwork and sample preparation, and cold
storage.
Photo NACHINSHONHOR, G.U.