(JP)New national biodiversity plan approved

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http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20020326a6.htm

 

PRESERVATION, RESTORATION, PREVENTION

New national biodiversity plan approved

 

A new national biodiversity strategy that calls for

enhanced environmental monitoring and a stricter

system to keep foreign species from ravaging domestic

wildlife was approved by an Environment Ministry

advisory committee Monday.

 

The new blueprint, which was submitted to Environment

Minister Hiroshi Ohki the same day, is slated to be

approved on Wednesday by a group of Cabinet-level

ministers dealing with global environmental issues and

will be the the first update to the original strategy,

which was drawn up in late 1995.

 

Under the new strategy, the government aims to

establish 1,000 monitoring points around the nation to

get a better idea of various ecosystems and gather

data that can be used for early detection of

ecological issues and their causes before they

snowball into unwieldy problems.

 

Ministry officials say they hope findings from the

monitors will contribute to the drafting of preventive

measures and that monitoring sites will be established

not just to assess fragile, remote nature areas, but

also to check those near urban areas, which are often

the most susceptible to human activities.

 

Monday's plan emphasizes not just the preservation of

nature, but the restoration of damaged areas, such as

an ongoing government project to restore bends in a

Hokkaido river that had been straightened to

revitalize the Kushiro wetlands. Similar plans are

being eyed for the Kunugiyama area of Saitama

Prefecture and the Sanbanze tidal flats off Tokyo Bay

in Chiba Prefecture.

 

The paper specifically addresses three impending

dangers in the area of biodiversity and how to tackle

them: active destruction of nature through development

and exploitation, passive destruction through neglect

or a lack of manpower and the introduction of foreign

species that overwhelm domestic ecosystems.

 

As a result, the strategy calls for an expansion of

protected areas, such as parks, as well as enhanced

preservation of wetlands and tidal flats. To

revitalize natural areas historically close to human

habitats, ecosystem-specific pilot programs will be

implemented to develop a framework and manual for how

best to involve citizens in the restoration of nature.

 

To stem, reverse and prevent the damage that foreign

species can wreak on Japan's wildlife, such as the

mongoose in Okinawa Prefecture, or various fish in the

nation's rivers, the strategy trumpets the need for

preventive measures as well as the removal of these

species in some cases.

 

Officials said they received an unprecedented number

of opinions in response to the strategy -- nearly

2,000 letters and e-mails -- with more than half from

sport fishermen fearing the removal of the black bass,

a foreign species sport fish.

 

The new biodiversity strategy is a domestic effort to

follow through on the internationally sanctioned

Convention on Biological Diversity. Adopted at the

Earth Summit in 1992, this treaty has 182 signatories.

Japan will report on its new strategy at a meeting of

members of the convention later this year.

 

The Japan Times: March 26, 2002

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