Because the conference theme of the IGU Kyoto Regional Conference is “Traditional Wisdom and Modern Knowledge for the Earth’s Future”, the Organizing Committee is holding plenary sessions (plenary lectures) related to this theme. As this theme is somewhat broad, the Organizing Committee has come up with three subthemes: traditional wisdom, the environment and the Great East Japan Earthquake. Each of the three scheduled sessions will have three plenary lectures for each subtheme. Speaker names and lecture titles are shown below.

Traditional Wisdom
Prof. Minoru Senda (Director, Nara Prefectural Library and Information Center):
Why There Were not Originally in the Japanese Language Equivalents to the Words ‘Environment’ and ‘Nature’

Prof. Jianxiong Ge (Professor, Institute of Chinese Historical Geography, Fudan University):
The Traditional Wisdom in Calendar and Urban Development in Ancient China

The Environment
Prof. Kazunobu Ikeya (Professor, National Museum of Ethnology):
Biodiversity, Native Domestic Animals, and Livelihood in the Monsoon Asia:
Pig Pastoralism in the Bengal Delta of Bangladesh

Prof. Paul Robbins (Director, the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison):
No Going Back: The Political Ethics of Ecological Novelty

The Great East Japan Earthquake
Prof. Kenji Satake (Professor, Earthquake Research Institute, the University of Tokyo):
The 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster

Prof. Mikiko Ishikawa (Professor, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Chuo University):
Developing Resilient Infrastructure as a Basis for Restoration from the Great East Japan Earthquake

The Organizing Committee is planning to issue an English-language book published by Springer, including full papers of these nine plenary lectures, until the beginning of the Kyoto Regional Conference.