Director of The REDD-plus and Forest-DRR Research and Development Center
The Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute
My name is Koji Tamai, and I have been appointed Director of the Center in April 2023. I look forward to working with you.
The Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute (FFPRI) established the "REDD Research and Development Center" in July 2010, and for about 10 years since then, we had been developing the methods necessary to implement REDD (plus) and collecting knowledge to promote the participation of private companies in Japan.
As for climate change countermeasures, not only "mitigation” such as REDD-plus, but also "adaptation” is important to prepare for various phenomena that will be brought about by weather and climate extremes. According to the Summary for Policymakers (SPM) of the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) Synthesis Report released in March 2023,
A.2 Widespread and rapid changes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere and biosphere have occurred. Human-caused climate change is already affecting many weather and climate extremes in every region across the globe.
A.3 Adaptation planning and implementation has progressed across all sectors and regions, with documented benefits and varying effectiveness. Despite progress, adaptation gaps exist, and will continue to grow at current rates of implementation.
The need to increase the pace of adaptation measures goes without saying. However, it is obvious that the higher and stronger the breakwater is built, the more expenditure will be required. It is important to select methods and develop technologies to achieve a large effect with as little investment as possible.
Japan is one of the most active regions in the world in terms of crustal movement. In addition, our country is located in a climate zone where heavy rains caused by typhoons and the rainy season occur frequently, so we have suffered from frequent mountain disasters. Forests have the function of reducing the occurrence of mountain disasters, and techniques have been developed and implemented to control mountain disasters by utilizing forest functions.
FFPRI has also been conducting research on disaster prevention and mitigation technologies that utilize forests. In recent years, FFPRI has also been conducting research on disaster prevention and mitigation technologies using forests. In particular, FFPRI has been promoting research on methods for rapid afforestation of disaster-stricken areas, disaster risk mapping technology in forested areas, and the effect of tree bodies on tsunami and avalanche reduction.
Forest-based disaster prevention and mitigation technologies are one of the "green infrastructure" and "Nature based Solutions" that are expected to be useful in developing countries.
FFPRI reorganized the "REDD Research and Development Center" into the "REDD-plus and Forest Disaster Risk Reduction (F-DRR) Research and Development Center" on September 1, 2020, in order to promote the use of forests for disaster mitigation and prevention in developing countries, with Vietnam as our immediate field of activities. We will continue to play the role of a "bridge" between research and the field, and strive to disseminate the technology and knowledge required by those working on REDD-plus and F-DRR.