Creation and Sustainable Governance of New Commons

fisherman, Shiraho Village, Ishigaki Island, Japan © Ilan Chabay

The ILEK (Integrated Local Environmental Knowledge) project aims to elucidate the way in which knowledge production can contribute to the solutions of global environmental problems and construction of sustainable societies through the bottom-up processes. It started in April 2012 as a 5-year project in a research framework called the “Futurability Initiatives” run by the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (RIHN), a member institute of the Inter-University Research Institute Corporation, National Institute for the Humanities, Japan. It is one of RIHN’s core research projects. The ILEK project will capitalize on the resources accumulated in RIHN research projects, a vast collection of study results. It will also collect and analyze diverse cases of knowledge production in local communities in various parts of the world, where the knowledge is used to solve local problems. This project aspires to elucidate the way in which science can contribute to solving problems in society, as well as to find proper ways in which society can use science. Gathered in this initiative are more than 100 international researchers from diverse backgrounds. The project makes full use of innovative concepts such as “ILEK (Integrated Local Environmental Knowledge)”, “Residential Research”, and “Bilateral Knowledge Translators”, to make ambitious trans-disciplinary research to transcend the conventional borders between science and society. Posted on this website is the fundamental philosophy of the ILEK project, the basic approach and an account of its most up-to-date progress. Integrated Local Environmental Knowledge (ILEK) Project

Project Leader:　 Tetsu SATO (Professor, Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (RIHN))

Project Co-Leader:　 Naoki KIKUCHI (Associate Professor, Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (RIHN))