From 28 July to 03 August 2019, BMA’s executives and governmental officials under the Task Forces of the Project for Strengthening Institutional Capacity for Bangkok Master Plan on Climate Change 2013-2023 traveled to City of Yokohama, Japan, under the site visit program with the aim of studying on relevant policies and strategies of organizational management climate change management by governmental authorities organizations in Yokohama city, eco-friendly technology on transportation, energy, waste management and wastewater treatment including air pollution related to PM2.5. Moreover, the governmental officials between BMA and City of  Yokohama discussed to exchange experiences and share technical knowledge on environmental management, especially in terms of climate change response as well as GHG emission mitigation approaches to pave the way for Bangkok Metropolis’s future climate operation and moving toward the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

          According to the study visit, it was technical knowledge exchange under the Project for Strengthening Institutional Capacity for the Implementation of Bangkok Master Plan on Climate Change 2013 – 2023 cooperated between BMA and JICA. Thus, travel to Yokohama was a good opportunity for BMA to gain technical knowledge, new experience exchange, and challenging lessons learned in different dimensions from BMA and City of Yokohama in order to find appropriate and effective approaches in handling climate change issues at the city level. More significantly, BMA was also capable of learning coordination patterns between City of Yokohama and several agencies to understand on contributing factors to stimulate different sectors to generate collaboration to accomplish the goal. In terms of relevant activities during the study visit, there were to cover different sectors according to the Bangkok Master Plan namely energy, transport, and waste and wastewater sectors. To have the clear visualization along the study visit in Yokohama, Japan, BMA’s executives and governmental staff were allowed to study the operation from different organizations such as Yokohama Environmental Monitoring Center, Northern Sludge Recycling Center, Kanazawa Incineration Plant, and Goon. 

          For the final activity of the study visit program, the Task Force members under the Bangkok Master Plan summarized the outcome of the study from different sectors. Also, the closing ceremony was also arranged for providing all trainees with certificates after the end of the program. Then, it was jointly discussed between BMA and JICA for further actions.

          It was clear that under the long cooperation between BMA and City of Yokohama, BMA was capable of gaining the worth lessons learned from Yokohama, in particular, technical knowledge for supporting the operation on GHG emission mitigation in a concrete manner. Furthermore, such chance was to broaden BMA’s horizons to obtain creative ideas and integrate new knowledge to adjust and develop BMA’s work, planning, and further implementation according to the Bangkok Master Plan on Climate Change so that to prevent and mitigate the impacts resulting from climate change in an effective manner.