NagaoNaturalEnvironment
Foundation

Nagao Natural Environment Foundation (NEF)
Founded: November 21, 1989
President: Ryutaro Ohtsuka, Professor Emeritus, University of Tokyo
Address: Miyano Building 3rd Floor, 4-20-9 Midori, Sumida-ku,
Tokyo 130-0021 JAPAN
Phone: +81-3-6659-2070
Fax: +81-3-6659-2272
E-mail: secretariat@nagaofoundation.or.jp
For more information about the NEF’s activities,
please visit the following website.

www.nagaofoundation.or.jp(Printed in May 2018)

Mission
The mission of the Nagao Natural Environment Foundation (NEF)
is to promote nature conservation in developing countries byimplementing financial and technical support to researchers,
university students, and residents in those countries, in cooperation with local governmental or non-governmental organizations
and international organizations.

Activities
Grants and Other Funding Activities
Research Grant Scheme
With the aim of strengthening the research capabilities of young
researchers and gathering information necessary for conservation work in target countries in the Asia-Pacific region, the NEF
Research Grant Scheme offers financial support to implement
research and publication projects. The NEF Selection Committee
is responsible for the screening process. Around 480 researchprojects have been approved until April 2018.

• Research Grant Programme
The Research Grant Programme supports academic andscientific research that will deepen knowledge related tonature conservation. Grants are available only for individual
researchers and not for groups or teams. The duration ofprojects in this Programme is 1–2 years, with the maximum
grant amount per project at 500,000 Japanese yen.

• Publication Programme
The Publication Programme supports scientific publications
that are derived from the applicant’s own research work andwill expand on knowledge of nature conservation. Theduration of projects in this Programme is 1 year and themaximum amount is 1,000,000 Japanese yen.
Application deadlines for both programmes are twice a year: in
mid-April and in mid-October.

Scholarship Scheme
The NEF Scholarship Programme offers financial support touniversity students who are willing to study subjects related toenvironmental conservation, but who lack sufficient financial
resources for university level studies. Through the Programme,
scholarship students are expected to major in biological orenvironmental studies in a broad sense and intend to work in thenature conservation field in the future. From 1991 to April 2018, about
6,000 students in 9 countries have been supported under theProgramme.
Currently, scholarships are provided for students in Vietnam, Myanmar, Lao PDR, Cambodia and Bangladesh in cooperation with eachcountry’s NEF counterpart, which is responsible for the primary
selection of scholarship recipients. The monthly scholarship amount
per student is 3,000 Japanese yen for undergraduates and 7,000
Japanese yen for postgraduates.

NEF Commemorative Grant Fund for
Capacity Building of Young Scientists (CGF)
The CGF Programme, which started in 2016 as a 10-year plan, aims tonurture young scientists in developing countries in the Asia-Pacificregion as they endeavour to become world-class scientists in theareas of, or related to, conservation of wildlife and ecosystems intheir own countries. A project scientist is requested to implement
the project with adequate support of, and collaboration with, aproject coordinator who has made excellent achievement in therelevant field and, as a general rule, who has work experience in a
Japanese university or research institution as a scientist.
Application deadlines are twice a year: the end of July and the end ofJanuary. The CGF Management Committee is responsible for thescreening process.

Nagao Wetland Fund in Cooperation withthe Ramsar Convention (NWF)
The NWF is intended to help local governments, researchers,
non-governmental organizations, and local communities of developing countries in the Asia-Oceania region to implement the Ramsar
Convention, and in particular the goals and targets of the Ramsar
Strategic Plan 2016–2024. The NWF prioritizes projects concerning
the conservation, restoration and wise use of wetlands, including
communications, education and awareness, and also training forpark rangers and staff working in wetland education centers. TheNWF supported 1 project in 2016 and 4 projects in 2017. For more
information about the NWF, please visit the Ramsar website below:
URL: https://www.ramsar.org/activity/investing-in-wetlands

Other Activities
Comprehensive Programme forConservation Research and Activities
The NEF began the Comprehensive Programme for Conservation Research and Activities in 2006, to contribute to nature
conservation, focusing on the biodiversity, in full collaboration
with local researchers (research organizations) and local
inhabitants in Asia-Pacific developing countries. The firstproject was conducted from 2006 to 2015 in the Mekong-Chao
Phraya region as mentioned below; the core concept of thisProgramme has been succeeded to ongoing projects, i.e., theabovementioned CGF project and three projects listed below.

• Basic Study of the Aquatic Fauna and Flora andConservation Activities with Participation ofLocal Residents in the Mekong-Chao Phraya Region
The NEF conducted comprehensive surveys on aquatic faunaand flora in collaboration with researchers and, in somecases, local inhabitants in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand andVietnam from 2006 to 2015. Their on-site collaboration wasexpected to contribute to capacity building and empowerment through technology transfers. As the results of thisproject, field guidebooks of fishes for the respective
countries, and the web database on fishes of Mainland
Southeast Asia (http://ffish.asia/) have been made available.

• NEF Bio-ecological Nature Conservation Project inMountainous Region of Northern Vietnam
This Project starts in October 2018 as a 3-year plan. Amongthe various precious environments in Vietnam, the project is
conducted in the limestone (karst) zone of the country’s
north, as limestone environments are highly vulnerable toclimate change as well as economic development such as
land use change.

• Supporting Programme for
Biodiversity Conservation in Myanmar
This Programme started in 2016, in collaboration withscientists and teachers in several universities and governmental institutions in Myanmar, to support their academic
and technical development in the collection, preservation,and exhibition of biological specimens and in education
using those specimens.