Gaps between expected roles and actual activities of local climate change adaptation centres in Japan

Local non-governmental organisation and research institutes can offer valuable knowledge, technologies, best practices, and resources useful for tackling the impacts of climate change at the local level. In Japan, local governments are encouraged to establish local climate change adaptation centres (LCCACs) tasked with collecting, evaluating, and disseminating information and advice on climate change impacts and adaptation strategies. This study aims to clarify the status of LCCACs in terms of their activities and the challenges they face in carrying out their expected roles. To understand the status and challenges faced by LCCACs, we conducted a questionnaire survey of LCCACs. We found gaps between the activities implemented by LCCACs compared with their expected roles. Many LCCACs acknowledged the importance of roles such as projecting the impacts of climate change but the number of centres with practical experience in these roles was limited. Additionally, providing technical advice to local governments is considered one of the roles of LCCACs but few centres possessed experience in this area. The challenges identified include a lack of expertise as well as inadequate staffing and funding. Based on these findings, we propose 2 key strategies: (1) strengthening collaboration between the scientific community and LCCACs to enhance capacity development and knowledge transfer, and (2) developing comprehensive guidelines for each role of LCCACs in order to clarify expectations and facilitate funding acquisition. These, among other proposals, might contribute to addressing the identified challenges and improve the effectiveness of LCCACs in supporting local climate change adaptation efforts.