Dr. Taura listed a number of examples, drawn from various countries, where natural disasters due to climate change have occurred. He mentioned recent floods in Europe and in Japan's Kurashiki Prefecture, the droughts and the forest fires in California, and the typhoons in the South East Asia.
Additionally, there are a number of changes in the environment that have been observed, including sea level rise in the Pacific Ocean that endangers the small island nations and extreme rise in temperatures in Europe.
The professor then stated the significance of the two main international treaties signed to tackle these global issues; the Kyoto Protocol in 1997 and the Paris Agreement in 2016. He stated that the Kyoto Protocol was only influential to the developed countries, while the Paris Agreement covers developing countries as well.
He is also interested in the recent movement for 100% renewable energy, which involves many large influential companies. He believes that the research in renewable energy sources is the ‘hope’ for a future sustainable energy based society.
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