A commoning approach for democratic, community-centric weather modification

Climate change and extreme weather drive a globally growing interest in technologies to control the weather. Japanese government research seeks to harness such technology to reduce storm and flood damage. Yet such interventions could fundamentally change the relationship between people and the weather. New research published in npj Climate Action proposes “Weather Commons” as a democratic, community-centric approach that puts people in charge, and calls for a broad public conversation about weather control.

As climate change and the resulting extreme weather intensify, interest in weather modification is growing around the world. In Japan, under Goal 8 of the Moonshot Research and Development Program led by the Cabinet Office / JST（Japan Science and Technology Agency）, a research and development program for weather control has been launched to mitigate extreme wind and water damage. This project aims to use advanced technologies such as artificial rainfall, offshore wind turbines, and offshore curtains to intervene in weather conditions and suppress the frequency and intensity of heavy rain and typhoons. While such technologies could help reduce damage from increasingly severe heavy rains and typhoons, they also carry the potential to fundamentally alter the relationship between humans and weather that humanity has built over time.

An article recently published in the journal “npj Climate Action” proposes a new concept called “Weather Commons” as a democratic, bottom-up approach centered on local communities, setting it apart from the top-down, technocratic approach to weather control. Here, the term “Commons” emphasizes the idea that weather “belongs to everyone”, drawing upon research on common resources management and commoning. The authors define “Weather Commons” as “social-ecological systems that enable collective stewardship of weather-related resources and processes, by promoting cooperation and trust between actors across scales.” The concept of Weather Commons is expected to help shed light on the rich relationship between humans and weather, critically examine the technocratic approach to weather control and its dominant position, and serve as a powerful corrective to excessive reliance on technological fixes.

The authors emphasize the need to increase society’s ability to embrace the weather in parallel with technological development of weather control. The framework of the Weather Commons seeks to provide both a starting point and platform for a broad civic dialogue to decide if, when, and how we should engage in weather control.

Reference URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s44168-025-00302-w

Bibliographic Information

Title：Commoning the weather: weather commons for a post-1.5 °C world
Authors：Tsuyoshi Hatori, Christoph Rupprecht, Chris Berthelsen, Manon Simon, Rei Itsukushima, Takuya Iwahori, Kazuki Kagohashi, Kunihiko Kobayashi, Tomohiko Ohno, Masamitsu Onishi,Tomoki Takada, Norie Tamura, Kosei Yamaguchi and Aoi Yoshida
Journal：npj Climate Action
DOI : 10.1038/s44168-025-00302-w

Fundings

• The Moonshot R&D Project funded by the JST（Japan Science and Technology Agency）［JPMJMS2283］

Media

• 

  Conceptual visualization of weather commons

  This diagram is based on a series of facilitated online workshops in 2023-2024 with 15 experts from diverse disciplinary backgrounds such as engineering, law, commons, geography, art and public governance. It is intended to be a tool for imagining, sharing, and developing the concept of weather commons with diverse stakeholders by visualizing the scope of what a “weather commons” could comprise. All elements are interconnected and interrelated, an assemblage which comes together to form the concept of weather commons.

  credit : Tsuyoshi Hatori（Ehime university）
  Usage Restriction : Please get copyright permission

• 

  Overall image of weather modification technologies

  Overall image of weather modification technologies developed within the Japanese government's Moonshot R&D program to mitigate torrential rainfall disasters.

  credit : Tsuyoshi Hatori（Ehime university）
  Usage Restriction : Please get copyright permission