The Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (RIHN), established in April 2001, conducts comprehensive research in global environmental studies. RIHN’s research is based on the idea that human culture—beliefs, values and actions—are at the root of contemporary global environmental problems. As a member of the National Institutes for the Humanities, RIHN research investigates the causes and possible solutions of contemporary environmental problems from a wide range of humanities and social sciences perspectives, while also creatively drawing on data defined by the natural sciences.

Today, it’s well known that the Earth is facing many challenges. Rapid increases in population, urbanization, large-scale industrial production and the movement of people and goods have led to significant changes in the global environment. Carbon dioxide emissions, global warming, ocean acidification and tropical rainforest deforestation continue to increase despite years of effort to contain them, while phenomena such as the coronavirus pandemic, for example, draw our attention to the complex intersections of climate change and public health.

Important ongoing efforts, such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals show some signs of promise at the international level. Meanwhile Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the recent military clashes between Hamas and Israel, have increased tensions in the international political order. Governments now face novel challenges as societies around the world appear newly vulnerable to flows of digital information. Information flows may connect people more efficiently and lead to cultural homogenization and loss of ties to local culture and nature. The digital world also can lead to societal fragmentation, and the rise of populism, and mutual suspicion. Fifty years ago the Club of Rome offered concrete proposals to reverse poverty and inequality, empower marginalized groups and transform food and energy—but many of these proposals remain unfulfilled.

At RIHN we believe that addressing such global problems requires not only proper use of science and technology, but also deeper inquiries into the way societies operate, in past and future, and in particular their relationships to and beliefs about nature. Over the past twenty-three years, RIHN has conducted forty-three research projects, many of which were designed to offer specific solution-oriented proposals to their study problems. Such results help us to promote transdisciplinary research, which addresses complex multi-scale environmental problems from the local to the global level, and to create a future-oriented society. Transdisciplinary research involves researchers, governments, municipalities, NGOs, the private sector and other interested parties in solution-oriented projects. It also engages the different kinds of knowledge necessary to culturally-relevant solutions. While we live in knowledge-intensive societies, much wisdom and traditional practices lie dormant in local communities. It’s often said that global sustainability requires total transformation, but we should not overlook such deep wells of human experience.

Since its foundation, RIHN research has sought creative interweaving of the natural sciences with the humanities and social sciences. Our approach has established RIHN as a novel international center for environmental studies. RIHN has made important contributions to the global network Future Earth and the Earth Hall of Fame KYOTO, the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems Programme of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, and many other international endeavors. Nationally, RIHN cooperates with Kyoto Prefecture and the city of Kyoto and universities in Japan to serve as the Kyoto Climate Change Adaptation Center and the secretariat of the University Coalition for Carbon Neutrality, collaborations involving many universities, local governments, and industrial companies throughout Japan. With support of the Uehiro Foundation on Ethics and Education, in 2024 RIHN established the Uehiro Research Center for Japan Environmental Studies to consider the ethical dimensions implicit in our environmental studies. As of 2024 RIHN is also a part of Japan’s Graduate University for Advanced Studies, SOKENDAI, which offers a doctoral course in Global Environmental Studies and accepts postgraduate students. Our research networks continue to grow.

As Director-General, I am determined to deepen our practical and conceptual exploration of the future potential of local places, while also remaining sensitive of the need to extend our concept of the global commons. In this way, we will further demonstrate to the world the significance of the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature. We invite you to join us.