The 18th Tripartite Presidents Meeting among NIES, NIER and CRAES

The Tripartite Presidents Meeting (TPM) is an annual meeting since 2004 with the objective of furthering environmental research in Japan, Korea, and China through efforts among the leading environmental research institutions in their respective countries. The Presidents of the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES; Japan), the National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER; Korea) and the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences (CRAES; China) exchanges information, reviews the progress and plans of joint research activities, and discusses future collaborations for the environmental research enhancement in the Asian region.

NIER hosted TPM 18 online on November 4, 2021. This was the first meeting for Presidents of NIER and NIES after their appointment to the position and the three Presidents exchanged greetings with each other.

Each institute exchanged information on research activities and confirmed that every institute has continued to focus on respective research fields despite the pandemic. Researchers representing air, water, climate change and environmental health fields also reported their activities and pointed out directions for future joint research. Through the information exchanges and reports, it became clear that the three institutes need to further strengthen the cooperative system toward common goals and that each institute is expected to play their roles within the system.

The Presidents had a better understanding of the three institutes through detailed analysis on the comparison of each institute’s research implementation systems. They confirmed that achieving decarbonized society is an important global issue and also confirmed each institute’s roles in further strengthening the cooperative system. Future TPM was also discussed with TPM principle “Friendship, Communication, Cooperation and Win-Win” in mind and the Presidents decided to continue discussions for future development of joint research, as well as to continue close information exchanges.

CRAES will host TPM 19 in 2022. Further details will be announced later.