2021 Symposium Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of MUA

Nature Reserves Preserved by Local Community= UNESCO Biosphere Reserves =

Date: November 19, 2021 6:30 – 8:30pm
Venue: Auditorium, The International House of Japan

The symposium this time was held in commemoration of the 40^th anniversary of MUA foundation.  It was held in the form of venue participation as well as on-line under the COVID-19 pandemic.  We had the pleasure of having three panelists and a commentator as listed below:

Panelists:
Ms. ISODA Hiroko, Professor, Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences/Alliance for Research on the Mediterranean and North Africa, University of Tsukuba

Ms. SAKAI Akiko (D. Sc.), Professor, Graduate School of Environment and Information Science; Plant Ecology, Yokohama National University

Ms. Aida MAMMADOVA, Ph. D, Associate Professor, Organization for Global Affairs, Kanazawa University

Commentator:
Mr. MATSUDA Hiroyuki (D. Sc.), Professor, Faculty of Environment and Information Sciences, Yokohama National University All three panelists gave speeches on the subject and, then, the commentator did a recap. The summary is as shown below.

The symposium was commenced with a remark given by Mr. NAGANO Hiroshi, President of MUA who played a role of

coordinator.  We at MUA have held a symposium once a year as a series of “think peace”.  The theme of the 1^st symposium was on the climate change, the 2^nd on The UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, and the 3^rd, this time around, on the Biosphere Reserves in commemoration of the 70^th anniversary of Japan’s membership in UNESCO as well as the 50^th anniversary of UNESCO’s Man and Biosphere Program (MAB).

Then, Mr. TAGUCHI Yasushi, Director-General for Internal Affairs, Ministry of Education who was staying in Paris for the general meeting of UNESCO gave a remark on-line followed by the speech by Ms. OKAMOTO Aya, a member of The Japanese National Commission for UNESCO, Office of the Director-General for International Affairs, Ministry of Education.  “This is the year of milestone with the commencement of The UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.  It was decided by the UN general meeting to designate November 3^rd as the international day for UN Biosphere Reserves.  All the people, including those who reside in the metropolitan area, should bear in mind that each and every one gains benefit from Biosphere Reserves as well as ecosystem.”

Speech by Ms. ISODA Hiroko;
The UNESCO MAB program is an intergovernmental scientific program that aims to establish a scientific basis for enhancing the relationship between people and their environments. It combines the natural and social sciences with a view to improving human livelihoods and safeguarding natural and managed ecosystems, thus promoting innovative approaches to economic development that are socially and culturally appropriate and environmentally sustainable.　Biosphere Reserves, known as UNESCO Eco-Park in Japan, is the main activity in MAB program.

131 countries join the program and 10 sites are designated in Japan.  Those are Hakusan; Mount Odaigahara, Mount

Omine and Osugidani; Shiga Highland; Yakushima and Kuchinoerabu-Jima; Aya; Minami-Alps; Tadami; Sobo, Katamuki, and Okue; Minakami; and Kobushi.  These sites are selected under the strict examination criteria and categorized into 3 zones as the core areas, buffer zones and transition area.  Recently, MAB program (2015~2025) was decided and Lima action plan (2016~2025) was adopted as the concrete action plan for the effective implementation.  I am involved in the functional research of biological resources and expect to develop towards the 9^th goal of SDG’s “Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure as well as the 17^th goal “partnership” through the evaluation of biodiversity, contribution for fundamental research and creation of a new industry.

Speech by Ms. SAKAI Akiko;
The deterioration of natural environment caused by human factors is on the way on a global scale.  It is widely said that

the present day is the 6^th mass extinction era.  We must take good care of the ecosystem as human being and its society totally depend on it.  What needs to be done to preserve the plains and village forests where an abundant biodiversity remains.  There could exist two approaches toward the preservation of nature.  The one is protection, and the other is preservation while utilizing it.  It calls for a huge transformation and is not easy at all.  One of the frameworks to consider this would be Biosphere Reserve.  UNESCO Headquarters introduced Rhon, Germany as one good reference.  As the region was left out of development, it became the treasure trove of endangered species.  Reevaluate the abundant scenery and biota within the framework of Biosphere Reserve、and connect the outcome to the regional promotion, which eventually would benefit both human being and the nature.

The importance of networks has been well recognized from the beginning.  The networks provide the opportunity for coordination.  Japan is a member of East Asia Network, and those people in the picture posted here are representatives of China, South Korea, North Korea, Russia, Indonesia and Vietnam.  I strongly felt the picture represents the hope for the world.

Speech by Ms. Aida MAMMADOVA;
I am an Azerbaijani.  Azerbaijan is a country gained independence from Union of Soviet Socialist Republics 30 years ago, and is located 8,000km away from Japan in distance.  I have been involved in the Biosphere Reserve since 2015.  I joined the Youth Forum in 2017 and received the Young Scientist Award in 2019.  Hakusan BR was designated as the first Japanese BR back in 1980.  There are many issues associated with BRs in Japan; i.e., absence of successors and young generations, decrease in employment, depopulation, aging and so forth.  Whether Biosphere Reserve or Geopark could attain the goal under SDGs?

Keeping these in mind, I started an education on Biosphere Reserve at Kanazawa University.  The program started back in 2015 became a very popular program in which 350 people from over 20 countries participated.

Kanazawa University sent 100 students to the 5 neighboring BRs and exchanged with local people there in association with 6 Russian universities.  We started on-line coordination with 3 BRs in Japan 2 years ago and also launched the MAB Network among 6 Japanese universities.  We started coordination with 4 Central Asian countries and 3 European countries as the international network.  Then, we expanded our training course to South East Asia, thereby established ASEAN university network.

Why we conduct these activities?  There are not many young people in the villages of Japan.  We expect to bring up young people who would eventually contribute not only to BRs but other UNESCO activities by getting as many young people as possible involved in our expanded networks.

Recap by Mr. MATSUDA Hiroyuki:
Metropolitan Tokyo area depends on the water source on Minakami BR and Kobushi BR; i.e., Tone River and Tamagawa River.  By the way, Yokohama depends on Sagami River.  World Heritage is the concept for preserving values, whereas MAB Program is designed to create values in an open space.  Furthermore, while world heritages are maintained by member countries, Biosphere Reserves are taken care of by local people or local governments.  The importance of coexistence between human beings and the nature is frequently mentioned here in Japan, the concept of which is quite similar to that of MAB program.  It is occasionally said that the physical contact between human beings and wild animals resulted in infection under the current COVID-19 pandemic.  It cannot be resolved, however, just by segregating them.  They can coexist as they fear each other.  You need to comprehend this aspect.

We had a Q&A session where each panelist gave a short closing remark toward the end of symposium, and then, the symposium was closed at 8:30pm.

(Written by MIYASHITA Yukari, Vice President of MUA, and translated by SUDA Yasushi, the PR & Internet Committee Associate)