“Policymaking to achieve Sustainable Development Goals” with Mahesti Okitasari

The Japan Times Cube Inc. (representative director: Minako Suematsu) launched Roundtable by The Japan Times, a series of talk events broadcasted in Japan.

The English-language events invites readers of The Japan Times to be guest speakers. Ross Rowbury, a Senior Managing Director at Nomura Holdings, who has a deep knowledge of Japan and boasts a wide network both domestically and abroad, sits down in the role of host with Japanese and non-Japanese to discuss their lives in Japan. The Roundtable is held once a month.

For our special speaker, Mr. Rowbury will welcome Mahesti Okitasari, a Research Associate at the United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS). Her current work includes assessing policy processes to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The contents of Roundtable by The Japan Times will be published as an archive at a later date and will be introduced in the main paper of The Japan Times and the website of Sustainable Japan by The Japan Times. Roundtable is held in cooperation with Nomura Holdings.

Mahesti Okitasari

Mahesti Okitasari is a Research Associate at UNU Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability based in Tokyo, Japan. She joined the institute in 2014 as a JSPS-UNU Postdoctoral Research Fellow. Prior to joining UNU, she has several years of research and consulting experience in disaster management, regional planning, and housing policies in Indonesia.

Mahesti holds a PhD in urban planning from the University of Tokyo with a dissertation on the institutional implication of the decentralized system on the construction and practice of collaborative metropolitan governance in providing better public infrastructure. She is interested in understanding institutional architecture in the age of transition and how development policies are being applied to bridge the gap between social, economic, and environmental sustainability in the Global South. Her current work includes assessing multilevel governance arrangements, policy processes and the politics to implement the 2030 Agenda and Paris Agreement, exploring the ways in which global agendas are translated into national and local development plans, researching gaps and opportunities in the urban sustainable consumption and production, and building knowledge on the partnerships and financing for the SDGs.

Ross Rowbury

Ross Rowbury is a Senior Managing Director and Co-Head of Group Corporate Communications at Nomura Holdings. He has observed Japan while living and working here for four decades. Commencing his career in finance in Tokyo during the early 1980s, he later moved into public relations and communications, holding senior positions at Gavin Anderson & Co. (now Kreab) and PRAP Japan. He headed the Edelman business in Japan for 10 years until July 2020. Prior to joining Nomura in October, he was a freelance consultant to a number of firms on their Japan business strategy. He is also a visiting professor of Asian marketing at Doshisha University in Kyoto and is on the Board of TELL, a suicide prevention and mental health NPO.

◾ The Japan Times

Established in 1897, The Japan Times is Japan’s largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper, providing English-language news on Japan and the world. The Japan Times is “Japan’s Window to the World,” covering politics, economics, culture, society and sports to keep the world informed about Japan and its current situation. As the largest English-language news site in Japan, we offer a variety of unique content.

Website: www.japantimes.co.jp/

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