CompletedResearch

When a project moves to Completed Research (CR) status,
the contract with RIHN is concluded. Research teams
disperse to university research, teaching, and other duties.
Project publications and other communications andcontributions may follow for several years. At RIHN, eachproject forms part of the institute's heritage; project results
and data are entered into the RIHN archives upon which
future RIHN projects may be formulated.

34

Fiscal Year
CompletedLeader

Research Project

HAYASAKA Tadahiro

Emissions of Greenhouse Gases and Aerosols, and Human Activities in East Asia

KANAE Shinjiro

Global Water Cycle Variation and the Current World Water Resources Issues and Their Perspectives

WATANABE Tsugihiro

Impact of Climate Changes on Agricultural Production System in the Arid Areas

NAKAWO Masayoshi

Historical Evolution of the Adaptability in an Oasis Region to Water Resource Changes

YACHI Shigeo

Multi-Disciplinary Research for Understanding Interactions between Humans and Naturein the Lake Biwa-Yodo River Watershed

FUKUSHIMA Yoshihiro

Recent Rapid Change of Water Circulation in the Yellow River and Its Effects on Environment

ICHIKAWA Masahiro

Sustainability and Biodiversity Assessment on Forest Utilization Options

AKIMICHI Tomoya

A Trans-Disciplinary Study on Regional Eco-History in Tropical Monsoon Asia: 1945-2005

SEKINO Tatsuki

Interaction between Environmental Quality of the Watershed and Environmental Consciousness

TAKASO Tokushiro

Interactions between Natural Environment and Human Social Systems in Subtropical Islands

2009

SHIRAIWA Takayuki

Human Activities in Northeastern Asia and their Impact on Biological Productivity in the North Pacific Ocean

2010

TANIGUCHI Makoto

Human Impacts on Urban Subsurface Environments

YUMOTO Takakazu

A New Cultural and Historical Exploration into Human-Nature Relationships in the Japanese Archipelago

SATO Yo-Ichiro

Agriculture and Environment Interactions in Eurasia: Past, Present and Future

KAWABATA Zen'ichiro

Effects of Environmental Change on the Interactions between Pathogens and Humans

KUBOTA Jumpei

Historical Interactions between Multi-Cultural Societies and the Natural Environment
in a Semi-Arid Region in Central Eurasia

OSADA Toshiki

Environmental Change and the Indus Civilization

UCHIYAMA Junzo

Neolithisation and Modernisation: Landscape History on East Asian Inland Seas

UMETSU Chieko

Vulnerability and Resilience of Social-Ecological Systems

OKUMIYA Kiyohito

Human Life, Aging and Disease in High-Altitude Environments: Physio-Medical,
Ecological and Cultural Adaptation in “Highland Civilizations”

SAKAI Shoko

Collapse and Restoration of Ecosystem Networks with Human Activity

MOJI Kazuhiko

Environmental Change and Infectious Disease in Tropical Asia

HIYAMA Tetsuya

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

NAWATA Hiroshi

A Study of Human Subsistence Ecosystems in Arab Societies: To Combat Livelihood
Degradation for the Post-oil Era

KADA Ryohei

Managing Environmental Risks to Food and Health Security in Asian Watersheds

2014

MURAMATSU Shin

Megacities and the Global Environment

2015

KUBOTA Jumpei

Designing Local Frameworks for Integrated Water Resources Management

2016

HABU Junko

Long-term Sustainability through Place-Based, Small-Scale Economies: Approaches from Historical Ecology

SATO Tetsu
KIKUCHI Naoki

Creation and Sustainable Governance of New Commons through Formation of Integrated
Local Environmental Knowledge

ISHIKAWA Satoshi

Coastal Area-capability Enhancement in Southeast Asia

TANAKA Ueru

Desertification and Livelihood in Semi-Arid Afro-Eurasia

ENDO Aiko

Human-Environmental Security in Asia-Pacific Ring of Fire: Water-Energy-Food Nexus

200620072008

2011

2012

2013

2017

35Nexus Project

Human-Environmental Security in Asia-Pacific Ring of Fire:
Water-Energy-Food Nexus
Project Leader

ENDO Aiko RIHN

Climate change and social change, including accelerating
development, urbanization, and globalization are
increasing pressure on water, energy and food resources,
increasing the number of tradeoffs and potential
conflicts among these resources that have their complexinteractions. In order to address these issues, the objectivesof the project were to understand the complexity of thewater-energy-food (WEF) nexus system and to create
policy options to reduce trade-offs among resources and toalleviate conflicts of resource users using scientific evidence
and under assumptions of uncertainty to maximize
human-environmental security. The project also proposedsolutions to local and global environmental problems
by contributing to global research networks associatedwith the Future Earth platform and the U.N. Sustainable
Development Goals.
The project involved 60 researchers from different
disciplines and five countries, including Indonesia, thePhilippines, Canada, Japan and the USA. Five researchgroups carried out the following tasks: 1) the Water-Energy
Nexus Group conducted biophysical measurement
and analysis using space satellites, geothermic, andhydrogeological techniques; 2) the Water-Food Nexus
Group carried out biophysical measurements and analyses
using geochemical, coastal oceanographic, geophysical,hydrologic, and ecological methods, including isotopic
tracers; 3) the Stakeholder Analysis Group conductedstakeholder and social network analyses, communitysurveys, and scenario planning based on social andbehavioral science approaches; 4) the Socio-culture of
Resource Usage Group developed the science-policy
interface based on its examination of the socio-cultural
history of groundwater use; and 5) the InterdisciplinaryGroup completed the research with a mission to: i) identify
research problems; and ii) determine the methods and/orFigure 1 Target research sites

36
http://www.chikyu.ac.jp/rihn_e/project/R-08.html

create new discipline-free methods based on synthesizing
and harmonizing team-based production, collected fromindividual scientists in different disciplines from eachteam in order to assess human environmental security. In
addition, the team further developed these approaches toincorporate non-scientific/non-disciplinary views on theanalyses; and iii) design a nexus system.

Results
For the water-energy nexus component, we calculated
the potential of using groundwater as a source of thermalenergy in Obama. In Beppu, the subsurface environment,
including flow of groundwater and hot springs, have beenclarified by gravity measurement.
The Water-Food Nexus Group identified the location ofsubmarine groundwater discharge at Obama and Beppu
bays, and estimated the supply of nutrients conveyed fromland to ocean by groundwater. Stakeholder analysis of hot
spring resources also clarified key issues related to futurescenarios and social change.
The Interdisciplinary Group developed several
integrated methods, including models of Beppu andOtsuchi, Japan, Pajaro Valley, California, and British
Columbia, Canada. This group also designed a nexus
system at the local scale to understand the complexity of
the nexus system and establish a clear definition of thenexus concept.
For collaborative scientific activities with society, we
designed lectures open to local citizens and conducted aparticipatory survey on hot springs with local residences
and stakeholders in Beppu. We developed a web page,the “Spring Map”, in order to share the results of ourgroundwater survey. Such activities with local governments
and private sector raised awareness of nexus issues.

Figure 2 What is the Water, Energy and Food nexus?

Above: JIANG Hongwei, Departing for a field survey early in the morning, Savannakhet, Laos
Bottom: NAKAO Seiji, A blacksmith is making a toy bird, Burkina Faso37