Climate Change

Mitigation and adaptation measures to address climate changes cannot be achieved by single country. The Paris Agreement was a historic milestone as the international community as a whole set a common target in addressing the climate change. Mitigation tackles the reduction of industrial, household, and other greenhouse gases (GHG) by diverse sectors in the society and adaptation prevents and alleviates negative impacts being brought about by climate change such as sea level rise and drought. Since there are no national borders for climate change, it is essential for each country to work through mitigation and adaptation in cooperation with other countries. In both instances, synergies must be sought among various measures taken by both developing and developed countries.

Most developing countries need to achieve economic development, and some of them face difficulty in implementing adequate measures on climate change with their scarce resources and capacity. In the meantime, the time is of essence in taking effective measures for adaptation. If no action is taken, Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and Least Developed Countries (LDCs) could face serious situations such as losing their land. The world has to come together to deal with climate change issues, and it is essential for developed countries to reach out their hands to where the support is needed. This is why developed countries devote themselves to assisting developing countries.

In the context of climate change, developing countries are often categorized as one group despite their diverse background and different challenges they face. As seen from (Intended) Nationally Determined Contributions ((I)NDCs) submitted by developing countries, they all have different strategies to tackle climate change. That is why climate-related support is also needed to be structured individually which fits to recipient national plans and strategies.

Japan has been supporting developing countries to tackle climate change, and the climate finance in 2013-2014 reached approximately 20.0 billion USD (see Japan's climate-related support) . The basic principles of international cooperation on climate change are comprised of three parts:

• (1) Balance sustainable growth with tackling climate change;
• (2) Comprehensive support to respond to the needs from developing countries; and
• (3) Promoting partnership both field of development and climate change.

Japan places emphasis on customizing support programs to recipient's specific needs and national strategies for sustainable development.

During COP22, Japan will demonstrate its various cooperative measures as well as its knowledge and experience gained from implementation of climate-related support in partnership with developing countries. There are also opportunities for audiences to hear directly from recipients their experiences through JICA's programs. The seminars and side events will be useful for the other donors as well as those who seek support to understand what kind of programs that JICA can offer and how it can customize them to meet specific needs. It is hoped that the holding of such events will not only increase interests among various stakeholders on measures taken by Japan but also to inspire Japan' partners as well as other stakeholders formulating various creative ways to collaborate efforts in addressing challenges posed by global climate change.

The followings are some of the seminars which Japan will hold at COP22. More detail is available at:

• http://www.oecc.or.jp/cop22-jp/e/index.html