May
28 2008 IKAN places high hopes on
Biodiversity Basic Act
IKAN
welcomes the enactment of the Biodiversity Basic Act and believes it is
an important and very positive step forward in protecting nature, the
basis for the health and welfare of all living creatures, including
human beings.
Historically, Japan has not had
comprehensive laws and enforcement powers to use in the protection of
wild life.
IKAN
expects that this new Act will serve as an umbrella law by protecting
wild life that is not yet been properly studied, understood or provided
with any useful measures for their conservation.
On
the other
hand, it is unfortunate that this basic law insufficiently deals with
the conservation of biodiversity in coastal and sea areas, although
this matter was mentioned first in the third national biodiversity
strategy of Japan and is also mentioned in the Marine Basic Plan.
The
conservation of marine biodiversity is essential for food resources,
various local cultural practices and for eco-tourism that is expected
to develop rapidly.
As well, it is clear that the
lives of many
marine creatures, particularly the marine mammals that IKAN works to
protect, need to be urgently protected and conserved. These
animals
have been considered only by industry, primarily due to the harmful
influence given by pyramid-style administration.
Many
marine
mammals are subject to some very difficult circumstances. For example,
dugongs are supposed to be protected by the Wildlife Protection and
Proper Hunting Law, but the actual protection they receive under this
law is minimal at best as it lacks any real, enforceable measures for
protection.
Wildlife such as Western Gray Whales are
not even
protected by the Wildlife Protection and Proper Hunting Law and the
whale fishery keeps threatening the existence of their individual
groups. Needless to say, many marine mammals are key species in marine
biodiversity.
However, since marine environments
have been
increasingly degraded, they are losing their habitats at an alarming
pace. As well, direct capture and inadvertently becoming fishery
by-catch are additional threats to their lives.
IKAN
believes
that the various laws and regulations, such as Wildlife Protection and
Proper Hunting Law, Law for the Conservation of Endangered Species of
Wild Fauna and Flora, and Fisheries Resource Protection Law should be
amended and amalgamated into a single, effective, enforceable piece of
legislation.
Alternatively, IKAN would like to see
an entirely new law or a new framework for conserving marine life.
IKAN
also strongly hopes that in future the principles embodied in the
Biodiversity Basic Act will be well reflected in similar kinds of laws.
IKAN Iruka(dolphin)and
Kujira(whale) Action Network
P.O.
Box #10 Iruma Post Office Saitama Prefecture Japan Email: QWP06555@nifty.ne.jp
