We have formed the Local Science Network for Environment and Sustainability whose members are comprised of diverse parties involved in the production and application of knowledge, including local community stakeholders, residential researchers, visiting researchers and local residents conducting scientific research. The structure and purpose of activities in this network are designed based on results obtained from our analysis on the emergence of solution-oriented scientists mainly at residential research institutions as well as interactions between stakeholders and scientists in environmental efforts in local communities.

Scientists at potential residential research institutions and local stakeholders with pragmatic or academic knowledge in Japan have thus far interacted with each other and tried to establish a mutual network. The Local Science Network for Environment and Sustainability provides a forum beyond disciplinary boundaries for diverse parties conducting solution-oriented scientific research and stakeholders in local communities. The network seeks to help different parties in different localities improve the quality of their environmental efforts, and offer them opportunities of mutual learning and evaluation through collaboration and interaction within the network.

The Local Science Network for Environment and Sustainability also aims at establishing a framework that could cover a wide spectrum of environmental issues on a nationwide scale through interactions with existing networks addressing specific environmental problems. We also promote the participation of researchers at local business sectors and local governments across Japan in the network. We hope that the network will grow into a comprehensive group of residential researchers, visiting researchers, local residents conducting scientific research, and diverse local community stakeholders closely collaborating with each other.

With the Local Science Network for Environment and Sustainability as a basis, we aim to make guidelines for collaboration between scientists and stakeholders, and develop a new system to evaluate solution-oriented scientific research of local environment. Such guidelines are intended to ensure the productive collaboration between scientists and stakeholders in the adaptive management of local environmental issues as well as sustainable knowledge production focusing on solutions. The system to evaluate solution-oriented research is to be comprised of a method to allow the participation of stakeholders at evaluation stages necessary for adaptive management and a framework to evaluate productive collaboration between scientists and stakeholders based on the said guidelines.

In designing such guidelines for collaboration between scientists and stakeholders, we put great importance on the following points:
● The establishment of a scientific basis for adaptive management and risk management.
● The establishment of a system for monitoring regional environment over a long period of time.
● Consistency with the problem mechanism, traditional culture and decision-making processes of each local community.
● Collaborative research system and sharing of research results with stakeholders.
● Validation of the effectiveness of research ooutputs in terms of how it contributes to solving a specific environmental problem.

Research evaluation with the involvement of stakeholders here has two aspects: the evaluation of research efforts with the participation of stakeholders in the process of adaptive management, and the evaluation of collaboration between scientists and stakeholders based on the guidelines. Items to be evaluated include not only research papers and articles in the conventional form but also adaptive management systems being implemented in local communities and continuing monitoring efforts that are not compatible with traditional scientific evaluation. We seek to develop a system to evaluate knowledge production focusing on applicability in real setups and effectiveness in working out solutions.

We disseminate the guidelines for collaboration and the new research evaluation system throughout the network while expanding the network and promoting activities among its members. We also promote the utilization and application of knowledge shared within the network, help activate community-based interactions between science and society, and facilitate the production of knowledge that contributes to solutions meeting local requirements. In this way, we believe, the network will facilitate the emergence of a new circle of scientists committed to local environmental research in collaboration with stakeholders, promote the participation of stakeholders in assessment of scientific research offering solutions to local-specific problems, and ensure the continuing evolution of the scientist community.