Japan, UK, PH, eye collaboration for sustainable coastal communities

Boracay Island, Aklan — In a bid to come up with technologies that support sustainable coastal communities, science agencies from Japan, the United Kingdom, and the Philippines initiated the crafting of a framework for a multi-funder cooperation amongst the three countries.

The Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), and Philippines’ Department of Science and Technology (DOST) convened researchers and stakeholders from the Southeast Asian countries to discuss recent studies on coastal communities and brainstorm ideas for possible research collaboration.

JST, UKRI, and DOST are research funders focused on resolving global challenges, propelled by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda. Collaboration among these institutions is encouraged as it increases the complementarity and impact of investments in terms of research funding, people, equipment, data, and other resources.

DOST-Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (PCIEERD) Executive Director Enrico Paringit stressed that the cooperation between Japan, UK and the Philippines should benefit to coastal communities that face threats of climate change.

“Having a multi-lateral approach to support research initiatives is a way for us to optimize resources. There are research resources available in other countries that may be beneficial in the implementation of research projects here in the Philippines,” he said.

The multilateral cooperation focuses on sustainable coastal communities as several projects in the Southeast Asian region were identified as having a thematic focus on water, coastal communities, and aquaculture—topics that are relevant to the SDGs. One major discussion during the workshop was the participants’ experience with funding agencies that will be the basis for the development of an effective multi-funder mechanism.

JST, UKRI, and DOST will consolidatethe input from the workshop and come up with a framework for a multi-funder cooperation that may take effect in the following years.