Dr. Kanako Morita is a research associate at the National Institute for Environmental Studies. She earned her Ph.D. from Tokyo Institute of Technology in 2010. Her research interests focus on the effectiveness of climate change institutions and the linkages among international environmental regimes. Her background is in international relations and development financing, and she uses interdisciplinary approaches to address the above issues.
Her current research explores effective and high-performance financing systems to promote climate change mitigation (especially reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation [REDD]) and adaptation activities in developing countries. Her research examines the effectiveness and performance of climate financing systems by analyzing two aspects: (1) the effectiveness of not only public finance but also private finance and (2) the effects of institutional linkages between climate change and biodiversity conservation financing, with a focus on REDD and adaptation, which must be addressed under the two environmental issue areas.
Currently, she is participating in three climate change projects funded by the Japanese Ministry of Environment: (1) Study on Options for Mid- to Long-term Institutions towards a Low-carbon Society in Asia, (2) Study on the Decision-Making Process in Major Countries concerning International Negotiation on Climate Change, and (3) Study on Criteria to Evaluate Vulnerability and Adaptation Effects in Asia and the Pacific Region. Furthermore, she has been involved in climate change–related work at the Ministry of Environment, and she attended the Convention on Biological Diversity COP10 and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change COP16 and intersessional meeting as a member of the Japanese delegation.
