2013 Tokyo Conference on Earth System Governance: ‘Complex Architectures, Multiple Agents’

The Earth System Governance Tokyo Conference was held 28-31 January 2013 at the United Nations University Headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. The Tokyo Conference was jointly hosted by the United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS), the International Environmental Governance Architecture Research Group and the Tokyo Institute of Technology on behalf of the Earth System Governance Project.

Conference Streams

A multitude of agents plays a significant role in earth system governance, ranging from traditional state actors to international organizations, civil society organizations, science networks, city coalitions, or business associations. At the same time, the overall governance architecture, from local to global levels, is becoming more complex as a consequence of ever increasing needs for governance and policy-development. This situation poses fundamental questions about the impacts of fragmented and complex governance architectures, the overall effectiveness of earth system governance, and the ways in which multiple agents at all levels influence related processes.

This complex architecture with multiple agents was the core research problem discussed at the Earth System Governance Tokyo Conference. The conference brought together scholars from a wide range of disciplines as well as practitioners from diverse backgrounds to address the nexus between the analytical problems of agency and architecture in earth system governance, and also to consider the other analytical problems identified in the Earth System Governance Science and Implementation Plan. The timing of the Tokyo Conference, half a year after the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (“Rio+20”), made these discussions especially pertinent and timely.

We invited papers on six interrelated conference streams:

1. Earth System Governance Architectures in the 21st Century
2. Climate and Energy Governance Architectures
3. The Nexus between Architecture and the other “A’s” in Earth System Governance
4. Political Dynamics in the Interface of Agency and Architecture
5. Methodological Challenges to Complex Architectures and Multiple Agents
6. Special Conference Stream on Nuclear Safety and Post-disaster Governance

Hosts

• United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies
• International Environmental Governance Architecture Research Group

Co-hosts & Sponsors

• The Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership (CGP)
• Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES)
• Tokyo Institute of Technology
• Institut du Développement Durable et des Relations Internationals (IDDRI)
• L’Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR)
• Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST)

Chairs

• Norichika Kanie
• Erin Kennedy