Harufumi Nishida

Organizer of the 34th General Assembly of IUBS “Unifying Biology for Changing Earth and
Human Beings”
Chairman of the IUBS Committee of the Science Council of Japan
National Delegate to IUBS from SCJ since 2003

Welcome to the 34th General Assembly of the International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS) “Unifying Biology for Changing Earth and Human Beings”!
　On behalf of the Organizing Committee, I am very happy to finally be able to post a welcome message. I think that everyone who was planning to participate was worried about whether it would really be possible to hold it even now. After the 100th anniversary GA in Oslo, the various domestic and international events that have taken place up until now have not necessarily been a tailwind for our preparatory activities. On the other hand, the difficulties that the world has faced over the past three years underscore the relevance of the theme of this conference, “Unifying Biology for Changing Earth and Human Beings.”The situation is not necessarily something that mankind should be happy about, but I would like the world today to share more the importance of biology through the Tokyo GA.
　The GA will also host an international joint symposium with IYBSSD (International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development) 2022 program of the United Nations. The SDGs concept has become universal now, but it tends to emphasize human-centered goals. On the contrary, what biologists are worrying about is that Earth‘s ecosystem itself is approaching an ecological Tipping Point. For this reason, Tokyo GA would like to make a strong appeal to the world that the future keyword for the sustainability will be (Mutualistic) Co-Existence. We are also planning a public lecture for that purpose. For details, please refer to the homepage.
　Tokyo GA is sponsored by the Science Council of Japan. To realize the meeting, we received the cooperation of the Organizing Committee members consisting of the IUBS Subcommittee members of the Science Council, as well as of members from academic societies and organizations that are academic cooperation groups of the Science Council. I would like to express my special thanks to the venue host, Chuo University, for tremendous support.
　The Organizing Committee and all staff wish the General Assembly a great success and that IUBS will continue to serve the world well over the next triennium. It goes without saying that we will do our best to ensure that participants take home fruitful results and good memories.

On the Girl’s Day (Hinamatsuri)