Many Japanese Feel the Impact of Global Warming

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The Biodiversity Center of the Japanese Ministry of the Environment started a year-round biodiversity observation program involving one million people known as "IKIMONO-MIKKE" in July 2008, and the results collected for the summer survey were released on October 16, 2008. Many people pointed out the "Guerrilla" downpour as one of the phenomena demonstrating the serious impacts of global warming.

The program consists of two types of survey; "IKIMONO-SHIRABE (I found it!)", a survey on plant and animal species, and "Feel Warmer?", a survey on the people's awareness of global warming. The latter received 385 comments and opinions.

Many expressed concerns about animals and plants, such as cicadae and butterflies, or about temperatures and climate changes such as extreme heat and snow accumulation. In particular, concerns about "Guerrilla" downpours and other extreme weather events in the summer of 2008 were noticeable, with the largest group (22).

One of the respondents said, "I think that sudden and local downpours are being observed more frequently in recent years, especially in urban areas. We've never had such heavy rainfall that swelled the river in just 10 minutes and left people stranded". Another said, "From August 2008 onward, we seem to have more thunderstorms in the evening. They are like squalls in tropical countries." The center receives various responses from all over the country.

- IKIMONO-MIKKE official website
http://www.mikke.go.jp/english
- Citizen Participation-Based Biodiversity Survey Starts (Related JFS article)
http://www.japanfs.org/en/pages/028673.html

Posted: 2009/02/26 06:00:15 AM

TAG Ecosystem , Global warming , Government , NGO/Citizen