In November 2019, a delegation from the Japanese City of Nagano and the neighbouring Town of Obuse visited the Turku, a city on the Finnish Baltic Sea coast, as part of their IUC city-to-city cooperation. The municipalities quickly found a topic of common interest: resilience in the face of climate change.

In the middle of October, Nagano and Obuse were hit by a historically big typhoon. As a result of extreme amounts of rain, the Chikuma river flooded, creating extensive damage. Members of the delegation were personally affected and Turku had seen international news about the disaster. The City of Turku also has experience with unexpected flooding due to rain. 

How can cities deal with vulnerabilities in the face of extreme weather events exacerbated by climate change? How can communities become more resilient?

These vivid experiences of the dramatic effects of climate change quickly led the discussion to climate change prevention, renewable energy and sustainable resource use.

The delegation from Japan were impressed by examples in Turku of focusing sustainability policies on key concepts like resource wisdom, carbon neutrality and circular economy. For example, at the Kakolanmäki Wastewater Treatment Plant, heat is recovered and used to heat apartments, while biogas is produced from the plant sludge. This learning will feed into the cities' collaborative work.

The three municipalities found another common interest in agricultural innovation and food. The Japanese and Finnish peers are both approaching this challenge already, but in different ways. Organic waste from fruit farms in Obuse is being used as energy, Nagano is developing sorghum as a new agricultural product suitable for dry land, and Turku serves vegan and vegetarian lunches at its City Hall.

Common challenges and perspectives will be explored further in the spring of 2020 when a delegation from the City of Turku will visit the City of Nagano and the Town of Obuse. This first visit marked a promising and fruitful start to collaboration, with more success anticipated in the future.

For more information, view the full article written by Lena Lindahl here.

Header image copyright by the City of Turku.