Kazu Takemoto awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure

© Borodun

The Order of the Sacred Treasure is a Japanese order established on 4 January 1888 and is awarded to those who have made distinguished achievements in research fields, business industries, healthcare, social work, state/local government fields, or the improvement of life for handicapped/impaired persons.

Takemoto has made considerable contributions to Japanese society as well as to the international community over the course of his career. He is currently affiliated with the University of Tokyo as policy advisor for global change research. Prior to this, he developed policies on international environmental cooperation and global environment, in particular, climate change and bio-diversity as Japanese vice-minister for Global Environment Affairs. He also served as a director-general of the Japanese Environmental Management Bureau (2005-08), where he was responsible for air and water quality management and the enhancement of environmental co-benefits. He served as alternate president for the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 10) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), as co-chair of the 18th Session of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD-18), and as vice chair of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Environment Policy Committee (EPOC) (2004-07). In addition, he is chair of the United Nations Centre for Regional Development Advisory Committee, co-chair of the Technical Expert Group for the Basel Convention, and as Vice-Chair of the IIASA Council.

As one of the IIASA founding organizations, the Japan Committee for IIASA has helped to develop a highly-productive relationship between IIASA and Japan. We are honored to count Dr. Takemoto as a colleague and a member of the IIASA Network.