Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
generation of biosphere reserves has been registered in other countries since the
adoption of the Seville Strategy in 1995, Japan's four biosphere reserves are still
not well recognized, even by the Japanese themselves.
All four biosphere reserves in Japan are located in National Parks, although
some parts are under private possession. National Parks in Japan have generally
been fairly well conserved by the efforts made by the Ministry of the Environment
with the full collaboration of the Forestry Agency. In this sense, all four locales are
well conserved, as is expected in the case of first-generation biosphere reserves.
Detailed information on these four Japanese sites is available in the work of
Iwatsuki and Suzuki (
2007
).
It is a pity to note, however, that these biosphere reserves are not being fully utilized
under the current objectives expected for them. The Japanese National Committee for
MAB operates under the Japanese Commission for UNESCO, but it has little financial
support from its parent body and meets only once every 2 or 3 years. Therefore, the
Japanese Coordinating Committee for MAB is organized on a fully voluntary basis for
the purpose of holding activities within Japan in connection with the MAB.
The volunteer committee members are all biologists with their own heavy workloads,
and they can devote only a little energy to MAB activities. Only in years when fund-
raising is successful can the Coordinating Committee run activities, and no one can
predict whether the fund-raising will be able to maintain committee activities beyond
a particular calendar year. Thus, long-term planning for biosphere reserve activities in
Japan is difficult, and despite the MAB Coordinating Committee's recent efforts to
raise the public profile of these reserves, they are still not well known in Japan.
In addition to these reserves, a variety of conservation sites are registered by
various organizations. UNESCO's World Natural Heritage is a system that is very
popular throughout the world. The Ramsar Convention aims to conserve wetland;
while Geopark, which is also affiliated to UNESCO, is aimed at the conservation
of geologically valuable sites. All of these bodies have contributed greatly to the
conservation of valuable natural sites. Every country has its own system of
registering its valuable natural sites for conservation. In Japan, National Parks and
quasi-national parks cover wide areas to conserve beautiful landscapes as natural
monuments. Cultural properties are designated by the Agency for Cultural Affairs,
and a variety of natural monuments have been designated as requiring better
protection. Under various conservation systems, areas are either legally registered
or nominated by the authorities concerned.
Among the four biosphere reserves nominated in Japan, Yakushima Island is also
registered as a WNH site, and Mount Oodaigahara and Mount Oomine are included
in the area of the Kumano Kodo World Cultural Heritage site. Duplicate registration
helps to ensure that the general public knows the high value of these sites and that
local government offices realize the importance of conservation of these areas.
Conservation of the biosphere reserves is guaranteed by various laws and regula-
tions in addition to the National Parks system. It is highly expected by UNESCO
that the biosphere reserves will be utilized positively, for instance for environ-
mental and cultural education, eco-tourism, cultural exhibition, and biodiversity
production.
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