2021BluePlanetPrize

Commendation Special Site

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For the global environment
For all living things
For the future

Program1

Introductory Remarks

Takuya Shimamura, Chairman
The Asahi Glass Foundation

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Program2

Introduction of Blue Planet Prize

Hiroyuki Yoshikawa
Presentation Committee Chairman

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Program3

Award Winners

Prof. Veerabhadran Ramanathan (USA)
Prof. Mohan Munasinghe (Sri Lanka)

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Program4

An Address by
His Imperial Highness Crown Prince Akishino

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Program5

Congratulatory Remarks

Fumio Kishida, Prime Minister of Japan
Raymond F. Greene, Charge d’Affaires, a.i. (USA)
Sanjiv Gunasekara, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Sri Lanka
Tsuyoshi YAMAGUCHI, Minister of the Environment, Japan

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Program6

Congratulatory Message

Monsignor Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo,
Chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences
Honourable Karu Jayasuriya,
Former Speaker of Parliament, Sri Lanka

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Program7

Statements from the Winners

Prof. Veerabhadran Ramanathan (USA)
Prof. Mohan Munasinghe (Sri Lanka)

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Interviews with the Winners

Prof. Veerabhadran
Ramanathan

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Overview

Prof. Ramanathan found that short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs), including black carbon and methane, have great impact on global warming and that SLCPs’ reduction is effective for both improvement in atmospheric pollution and near-to-mid-term global warming mitigation.

What Prof. Ramanathan talked in the interview

  • Introduction
  • Q1: SLCPs and their impact on climate
  • Q2: Effective methods for reducing CO2 and SLCPs
  • Q3: Benefits of dialogue with world leaders
  • Q4: Message to younger generations

Interviewer

Akio Kitoh

Researcher at the Japan Meteorological Business Support Center
He graduated from the Faculty of Science, Kyoto University in 1975. He joined the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) in 1978. During 1983–1985, he was a Staff Research Associate at the Department of Atmospheric Science, University of California, Los Angeles. He received a degree of Doctor of Science in Geophysics from Kyoto University in 1991. After serving as a Director of the Climate Research Department at the Meteorological Research Institute (MRI) of JMA, and as a Senior Researcher in the Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences at University of Tsukuba, he is currently a Researcher at the Japan Meteorological Business Support Center and a Guest Researcher at MRI/JMA. His research topics include climate modeling, climate variability, climate change and monsoon. For about 30 years, he has been a lead author of the Second to Fifth Assessment Reports of Working Group I and the Sixth Assessment Report of Working Group II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He authored about 200 (of which more than 50 first authored) peer-reviewed papers.

Prof. Mohan
Munasinghe

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Overview

Based on the innovative sustainomics framework, which views development issues from economic, social, and environmental perspectives, Prof. Munasinghe has been doing practical research and development, including environmental economics, environmental policy, and sustainable development.

What Prof. Munasinghe talked in the interview

  • Introduction
  • Q1: The background of Sustainomics
  • Q2: Realizing harmony between Economy, Environment, and Society
  • Q3: Achieving Millennium Consumption Goals (MCGs)
  • Q4: Message to younger generations

Interviewer

Ayumi Onuma

Professor at the Faculty of Economics, Keio University.
He graduated from the Department of Economics at Tohoku University in 1983. In 1991, he gained a doctorate in economics from Tohoku University. He became a lecturer at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, an associate professor at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, an associate professor of the Faculty of Economics at Keio University. He became his current position in 2003. During this time, he has been a visiting researcher at the Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment at the University College London, a visiting professor at the Institute for Energy Economics at the University of Cologne, president of the Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, vice president of the East Asian Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, and the lead author of the first report of the Intergovernmental Science and Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). His publications include "The Economics of Biodiversity Conservation".

Guidance

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