ISSN 0912-7402

No.47 March 2005

NEWSLETTER
International Lake Environment Committee=Promoting Sustainable Lake Management=This Newsletter is also available in Japanese.

Prof. Hironori Hamanaka and Prof. Masaaki Naito appointed
New Director General and Vice-Director Genaral
Mr. Kei Yamazaki and Dr.Tatsuo Kira, who have been ILEC's Director General and Vice-Director General
respectively since its inception, retired their posts at the end of last year. To replace them, Prof. Hironori Hamanaka(Faculty of Environmental Information, Keio University; former Vice-Minister for Global Environmental Affairs) became
the Director General and Prof. Masaaki Naito (Faculty of Sociology, Bukkyo University) became the Vice-Director
General. In addition, executive Director Hiroya Kotani and eleven other Directors, two auditors, and thirteen councilors
were appointed to establish a new administration (the 10th FIY).

various parts of the world, ILEC has

Inaugural Address

published interim reports on the Survey

Hironori Hamanaka
It is my great honor to be given

size edition of Data Book of World Lake
Environments, and a book series on

the responsibility of such an

Guidelines of Lake Management inimportant post as the Director

cooperation with other organizations,

General of the International Lake

including UNEP. ILEC also contributes

Environment Committee (ILEC) ingreatly to the promotion of environmental

succession to Mr. Kei Yamazaki.

education and professional training. I

ILEC has developed to ahave the highest admiration for theremarkable degree under theefforts of Mr. Yamazaki, the successive

direction of Mr. Yamazaki and isGovernors of Shiga Prefecture, and all

playing a very important role inother people involved.

international

Many world-class intellectuals point

cooperation on sustainable

out that the water problem is, along withmanagement and conservation ofclimate change, the highest priority issue

world lakes and reservoirs. In

in the 21st century. Being limited andaddition to the organization ofvaluable water resources, lakes andWorld Lake Conferences inreservoirs are expected to gain more

the

IN
THIS
ISSUE

of the State of World Lakes, a compact

field

of

■ Prof. Hironori Hamanaka and Prof. Masaaki Naito appointed New Director General and Vice-Director Genaral■ Retirement Address Kei Yamazaki, former Director General■ My Days with ILEC Tatsuo Kira
■ Water Quality Management Training Course Organized as a Support of Iraqi■ Workshop in Indonesia■ Lakes of the World: Lake Vostok, Antarctica■ The 63rd Board of Directors’ Meeting and The 55th Councilors’ Meeting were held
■ 2nd Announcement for the 11th World Lake Conference■ The 15th JICA-Lake Water Quality Management course had finished1

importance as global water issues

is one of the most critical challenges in

Director General for ILEC to fulfill theseincreasingly become severe. In thisthe 21st century.

globally important tasks. I beg yourcontext, the sustainable management

Under these circumstances, I will

and conservation of lakes and reservoirs

dedicate myself to my duties as the

additional guidance and cooperation withus.

Retirement Address
Kei Yamazaki, former Director General
After serving as the Director General

my position of responsibility, fortunatelyof the International Lake Environment

had the opportunity to meet many

Committee (ILEC) for seventeen years

people, gaining their support during thesince its foundation in September 1987, I

17 years. Thanks to all this, I am highly

recently decided to retire from the post.

satisfied with the current situation, which

ILEC was established in the period

the importance of water problems andwhen Japan had just begun cooperating

issues concerning lakes and reservoirs isintowards

gradually becoming recognized in theenvironmental protection. I believe weinternational community. Additionally, thehave been keeping pace with theWorld Lake Conference, the organization

national trend since then, steadilyof which was one of the most importantsuitable successor in good conscience. I

solidifying our foundation. It was theaims in the establishment of ILEC, will

would like to thank you all for yourgreatest pleasure and honor for me tosoon be convened for the eleventh time.

generous support over the years.

participate in the changes. ILEC and I, in

Now I hand matters over to the mostinternational

effortssuch as the creation of the World Lake

My Days with ILEC

Database, publication of the Guidelines

Tatsuo Kira

2of Lake Management, and the trial
project of environmental education atin the birth of ILEC. From the beginning,

schools in six countries, based onwhen ILEC consisted of Scientificsuperb ideas presented by theCommittee members only, I presided atmembers, who were all experts in their

preparatory meetings, chairing thefield and able to display our presence at

Scientific Committee for a long time.

home and abroad.

Upon ILECﾕ s establishment as a

In these years in which manyfoundation, I became a member of theincorporated foundations face financial

Board of Directors, and served as Vice-difficulties, the ILEC office staff is facing

director General in recent years.

unimaginably difficult challenges. I have

Consequently, I have been taking steps

only been able to make limitedwith ILEC for twenty years.

contribution towards the resolution of thisDuring my term as the chairperson ofsituation since completion of my

the Scientific Committee I tried to provide

responsibilities upon retirement as

members with maximum opportunities tochairperson of the Scientific Committee.

As of well known, ILEC was

fully express their opinions and every

Retirement from the post of Vice-director

established at the first World Lakeidea. This lengthened the meetings so

General, honestly speaking, comes as

Conference (1984) on the request of Dr.

much that I was advised to make more

somewhat of a relief. I feel confident that

Tolba, then UNEP Executive Director,

expeditious decisions on simple mattersthe new members of the Board ofand through the subsequent prompt

in my role as chairman. Nevertheless, I

Directors and the Scientific Committee

response of the former Governor of

could not change my style because

will introduce novel ideas, furthering theShiga Prefecture, Masayoshi Takemura.

unexpected ideas, even on minor issues,achievements

I was appointed as chairperson of thewere always offered. As a result, we

accomplished by former staff. Thank you

executive committee of the Conference

successfully launched some long-wished

for your cooperation over the years.

and, in the course of time, came to assist

projects that had not been implemented,

andreliabilities

Water Quality Management Training Course Organized
as a Support of Iraqi
conducted a "Water Quality
I LEC
Management Training Course" from
Dec. 6-17, 2004 at the request of UNEPIETC by receiving 28 participants from
Iraq. It was part of Iraq Support Program
launched by UNEP under the support ofJapanese government. The course wasa capacity building component of theentire program and organized by UNEPIETC, a responsible agency of thisproject in UNEP. The training program
was intended to increase the capacity
and skills of officials of the Ministry of theEnvironment of Iraq and representativesof the relevant agencies and academia
in the knowledge of Water Quality
Management and Policy Development,
which will be applicable to the integrated
management of water resources in the
Iraqi Marshlands.

monitoring from its basics to application.

Japan, as well as the role of wetlands

Experts from GEMS/Water and WHO

and Lake Biwa cases.

program included 17 lectures
T heand five field visits, inviting two

discussed the Iraqi marshland issues

oversees and 13 Japanese experts as

the need for international cooperation.

participants visited water
T hequality/quantity control facility, waterlecturers. It stressed the need forJapanese experts and representatives ofpurification plant, and landfill, etc. They

restoration of Iraqi marshland andvarious institutions and universities

met an NPO in Shiga Prefecture andcovered a wide range of lectures onpresented examples and experiences onlearned the role of community people inwater

water management and monitoring inwater quality management. Field visits

quality

management

andfrom global perspectives and addressed3

provided a good opportunity to theparticipants to see themselves Japanesesystems and conditions presented in
lectures, and contact local people ofJapan. Participants also had a chance tovisit Governor of Shiga Prefecture at theofficial residence and received apresentation on the management of
Lake Biwa from the government official.
"These experiences are very useful to
us. All of them will help us working on the
Iraqi marshland restoration back in Iraq"
was the voice of participants
training was a challenge for
T his
ILEC because we had very limited
time for the preparation and had to takecare of as many as 28 participants at
one time with limited number of staff.

from the Iraqi participants at theunderstanding with people of Iraq, who

Also many of the participants were notcompletion of the training program, we

have completely different culture andused to taking a training program,

had a feeling of reward for all of our

tradition from us, through this training

especially in a foreign country. However,efforts overcoming all these difficulties.

program.

when we received the words of gratitude

ILEC was happy to increase the mutualWorkshop in Indonesia
December 8-9, 2004 ILEC
O norganizeda workshop in Jakarta,

Indonesia to promote the sustainable

its World Lake Vision follow-up activities.

lake management in Indonesia as part of

It was co-organized by Indonesian Lake

Question & answer session after experts' presentation (Mr. Matsumoto, ILEC delivering an opening massage)

4Forum, a network oforganizations

andindividuals working on lake
conservation activities inIndonesia. The workshop
was implemented as anational event under the
support of the Ministry oftheEnvironmentofIndonesia. It was also
supported

by

other

government agencies,
international and local
NGOs. The workshop
brought together about
100 domestic participantsfrom various parts ofIndonesia

and

three

international experts in

Participants discussing lake problems in a group discussion

lake management.

1 focused on sharing key issues
D ay
in lake management in Indonesia

role of citizen in lake management by

he workshop started with anmessage

T opening

introducing community participation inand learning international experiences.

Japan.

Haryatiningish Moedjodo of Indonesian

Six

made

emphasized the role of lake ecosystem

Lake Forum. Mr. Satoru Matsumoto,presentations on 1) Lake ecosystem

and gave some lessons learned from therepresenting ILEC, expressed his hopeconservation, 2) Lake management inmanagement of Lake Biwa, Japan. Ms.

for the development of "Indonesian lake

decentralized era, 3) citizen participation

Adelina C. Santos Borja, Philippine

Vision", and made an appeal that thisin lake management, 4) Water quantity

introduced the roles and activities ofworkshop be a good starting point

and quality, 5) Role of private sector in

Lake Laguna Development Authority totowards that process. Followed by thelake management, and 6) International

protect the nationﾕs biggest lake.

other guest speakers, Mr. Sudariyano,cooperation. Three invited international

Deputy Minister of the Ministry of theexperts, two from Japan and one from

Environment of Indonesia overviewed

Philippine, contributed to the workshop

2 discussed workshop themes.
D ay
Participants were divided into threecurrent conditions and issues of

by

and

groups, each group discussing two of theIndonesian Lakes.

experiences. Dr. Shinji Ide discussed thesix themes presented in Day 1.

of

Ms.

Indonesia

sharing

theirexpertsexpertise

Dr.

Takuo

NakamuraInternational experts joined the group to
give food for thought to their discussion.
Discussion results were discussed andshared in the plenary session by all theparticipants and incorporated in theWorkshop Declaration issued at the endof the workshop, which included:.
1. To process the formulation ofIndonesia Lake Vision
2. To develop capacity for sustainable
and wise management of lakes
4. To enhance public participation,
especially local community, inpromoting sustainable and wiselake management.
5. To develop cooperation among
stakeholders through international,
regional and national networking.
Meeting Venue fall of participants from all over Indonesia5Lake Vostok, Antarctica
Thomas Ballatore (Researcher, ILEC)

Lakes of theWorld

Give the recent press coverage about

possibility is what gives the lake afull of lubricants, fuels and organisms

lakes found on Titan, Saturn's largest

distinctive value as one of the lastfrom the surface; therefore, if water frommoon, our thoughts have lately been

untainted reservoirs of life on earth.

the current borehole reached the lake, itturning to "exotic" lakes. What a better

The lake has also been cited as a

could contaminate the lake not only withtime than now to discuss a lake from amodel for understanding and exploring

toxic materials, but also organisms which

continent never covered in the "Lakes oflife beyond earth. Jupiter's moon Europa

would at the least confound any

the World" series!

is thought to have a liquid ocean

sampling and at worst become invasive

Imagine a freshwater lake deeper thanunderneath its frozen surface. That

species.

Lake Tahoe with a volume rivaling that ofsatellite's water is liquid due to the

Fortunately, drilling is still on hold as a

the Lake Malawi that is older than Lakeenergy produced in the core from theproper plan is being developed for how

Baikal: that is Lake Vostok-and its

tidal stresses caused by eccentricity of

to explore the lake without contaminating

location 4,000m below the Antarctic Ice

its orbit around Jupiter. On earth, where

it. Because of the status of Antarctica,

Cap means that no one has ever seen

there is water, there is life. And it is theinternational teams will most likely carryits surface nor sampled its water; mosthope of many that the oceans of Europa

out any sampling efforts. Sampling willreaders have probably never even heard

too may contain life. The experience

also be extremely expensive given theof it.

learned here on earth on how to performlakeﾕs remote location and the need forcontamination-freeofultra-pure sampling equipment andapproximately 70 lakes that lie

underwater lakes would be invaluable forprocedures. Nevertheless, it is likely that

underneath the Antarctic Ice Cap. It has

any missions to Europa.

curiosity will win out and that someday in

Lake Vostok is the largest among

an area of approximately 10,000 km2

sampling

Furthermore, the lake's isolation

the near future we will know the secrets

and a depth of 1.2 km. The tremendous

means

an

of Lake Vostok. The exploration of Lakepressure of the overlying ice (4 km thick!)｡creates conditions where the -3 C water

uncontaminated record of the earth's

Vostok will be a telling chapter in humanpast climates in its sediment core.

environmental history. Will we be able toremains liquid. Geothermal heating is not

Scientists could use the information in

explore it without destroying it? Or willthought to play a large role in keeping

the lake's sediment to improve

we contaminate it like we have all thethe lake from freezing. The lake's age

knowledge of past climates andother lakes covered in this series?

has been estimated at between 20-35

prediction of future ones.

that

it

contains

million years making it a candidate for

The greatest threat facing

the worldﾕs most ancient lake. It has

Lake Vostok is the potential

been isolated from the rest of the planetfor contamination fromsince Antarctica froze over 0.5 million

sampling operations. Before

years ago.

the lake was confirmed to

All of these factors have kept the lake

exist, climate researchers

pure and make the lake a unique

had been drilling a borehole

laboratory for evolution. Ice corein the ice above it to gather

samples take from water that originatedinformationfrom the lake's surface have been foundearth's past climate from ice

to contain bacteria, although biologicalcores. At the request ofcontamination by sampling equipment

biologists, that drilling was

has not been ruled out. If the lake does

stopped in 1998 about 100

contain life, then it is likely that the longm above the lake. The

period of isolation has led to theborehole and drilling bits

evolution of endemic life forms. This

were not sterilized and are

about

the

Photo Credit: RADARSAT

Lake Vostok, as seen by radar through the ice.

Resources: The US National Science Foundation maintains an informative site with links to various resources related to Lake Vostok at
http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/02/fsvostokresources.htm.
Bell, R.E. et al. 2002. "Origin and fate of Lake Vostok water frozen to the base of the East Antarctic ice sheet." Nature 416: 307-310.
Gavaghan, Helen. 2002. "Life in the deep freeze." Nature 415: 828-830.

6

The 63rd Board of Directors’ Meeting and
The 55th Councilors’ Meeting were held
The 63rd Board of Directors' Meeting

discussion, all bills were adopted.
The main projects to be undertaken for

and The 55th Councilors' Meeting were

Also, it was decided to study theheld at ILEC on March 22nd 2005.

fiscal 2005 are:Directors and councilors who were

━ The 11th World Lake Conference inestablishment of the original system inwhich there is a linkage between

Kenya, Africa,

assigned from January this year were incourse,━ Dissemination of "World Lake Vision".

attendance. The budget for fiscal 2004

━ The 16th JICA -Lake Water Quality

was revised and the project budget forManagement course and the 6th

fiscal 2005 was discussed. Through the

JICA-Environmental

Education

database and knowledge base.
The new members of the Board of
Directors and the Council are as follows:

Members of Directors (Random order)
Director General

Hironori HAMANAKA

Professor, Faculty of Environmental Information, Keio University; Former Vice-Minister for
Global Environmental Affairs

Vice-Director General

Masaaki NAITOU

Professor, Department of Public Policy, School of Sociology, Bukkyo University

Executive Director

Hiroya KOTANIFormer Director of Shiga Prefecture

Director

Mr. Takahisa SASAKI

Former Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Nigeria

Director

Hideaki ODA

Secretary General, NPO Japan Water Forum

Director

Masataka WATANABE

Chief, Water and Soil Environmental Division, National Institute for Environmental Studies

Director

Saburo MATSUI

Professor, Environmentally-Friendly Industries for Sustainable Development, Graduate
School of Global Environment, Kyoto University

Director

Masahisa NAKAMURA

Director, Lake Biwa Research Institute

Director

Munetsugu KAWASHIMA

Professor, Faculty of Education, Shiga University

Director

Osamu MITAMURA

Professor, Department of Ecosystem Studies, School of Environmental Studies,
University of Shiga Prefecture

Director

Kazuo MATSUSHITA

Professor, Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Kyoto University

Director

Yukiko KADA

Professor, Department of Environmental and Social Studies, Faculty of Humanities, Kyoto
Seika University

Director

Mikiyasu NAKAYAMA

Professor, Institute of Environmental Studies, Graduate School of Frontier Science,
University of Tokyo

Director

Yoichi TANAKA

Senior Managing Director, Water Policy Administration Division, Department of Lake Biwa
and the Environment, Shiga Prefecture

AuditorKoichi TAKADA

President of Shiga Bank

AuditorYoshio KISHIMOTO

Director General, Treasury Bureau, Shiga PrefectureMembers of the Council (Random order)
Kagechika MATANOFormer Ambassador to the Kingdom of Sweden

Eitaro WADA

Program Director of Ecosystem Change Research Program, Frontier Research Center for Global Change

Motoyuki SUZUKI

Professor, University of the Air

Kenji MORI

Vice-Chairman, The Shiga Economic and Industrial Association

Kiyoshi YAMADA

Professor, Department of Environmental Systems Engineering, College of Science and Engineering, Ritsumeikan University

Kotaro TAKEMURA

President of the Board of Directors, Foundation for Riverfront Improvement and Restoration

Takashi IIJIMA

Director, National Institute for Environmental Studies

Masako HORIKOSHI

Professor, Faculty of Education, Shiga University

Reiko NAKAMURA

Secretary General, Ramsar Center Japan

Hiroshi TSUNO

Professor, Urban and Environment Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University

Fumihiko JIKUProfessor, Department of Environmental Solution Technology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Ryukoku University

Per BAKKEN

Deputy Director, United Nations Environment Programme, Division of Technology, Industry and Economics (UNEP DTIE)

Kiyoshi ITO

Chief, Water Policy Administration Division, Department of Lake Biwa and the Environment, Shiga Prefecture

7

2nd Announcement for the 11th World Lake Conference
The 2nd Annoucement for the 11th

SESSION 6: LAKE BASIN INITIATIVES

2．A 3 day (2 nights) visit to Seven

World Lake Conference that will be held

SESSION 7: THE LAKES ECOSYSTEM

Forks Dam through Mt. Kenya regionin Nairobi, Kenya between 31 October -HEALTH

4 November this year has been opened.

SESSION 8: SESSION8:THREATS TO

Please refer to the the Conference

LAKES: WITH SPECIAL EMPHASIS

by roadON THE AFRICAN REALITIESPreparation Calendar for 11th
World Lake Conference

and ILEC Website at

SESSION 9: CULTURAL ISSUES

April : Second Announcement: Call for(http://www.ilec.or.jp/eg/wlc/2nd_eg/2nd_eg.html).

SPECIAL SESSIONS

Proposed Session Topics

Excursionsof participants will begin and

SESSION 1: GOVERNANCE AND● Pre-conference excursion ●submission of papers as well as

1．A 3 day (2 nights) visit to Lakeannouncement of the detailed

Website at http://www.ileckenya.go.ke ,abstracts
May : Third Announcement-Registration

WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENTSESSION 2: SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
AND MONITORINGSESSION 3: POVERTY REDUCTION
AND CROSS-CUTTING ISSUES

Victoria by air

July: Closing of early registration:

Naivasha, Nakuru and Bogoria all in

Disclosure of additional Papers,

the Rift Valley by road

Revision of the detailed programme

SESSION 4: EFFECTS OF EMERGINGISSUES ON LAKE MANAGEMENTSESSION 5: PUBLIC PARTICIPATIONIN LAKE MANAGEMENT

programme

2．A 3 day (2 nights) visit to Lake,

Sep : Closing of advanced registration● Post-Conference Excursion ●１．A 3 day (2 nights) visit to Mombasa

Oct : On-site Registration required after
middle of October

City by air

The 15th JICA-Lake Water Quality Management course had finishedThe 15th JICA- Lake Water Quality

who are from developing countries andThis course aims at making

Management Course, started on

also are concerned with Lake Water

contributions not only to qualitative

January 17th, was completed on March

Quality Management on their job. Many

improvement of technical staff who are in

17th. This course was for approximatelyof this year's trainees are government

the situation of leadership in their

2 months, and 10 trainees from 6

staff in charge of Lake Management or

countries but also to lake environment

countries (1 from Cambodia, 3 fromanalyst.

management

Kenya, 2 from Sri Lanka, 1 from Syria, 2This training course provides themfrom Tanzania and 1 from Thailand)with opportunities to acquire knowledge

participated in this course this year.

of policy-making in water quality

This training course is designed totrain the decision maker/ technical staff,

andwell-balanced

development.
The major contents of this course arethat:

management trough advanced lectures

Management in General,and practices.

Analysis Method,
Waste Water treatment,
Prediction and Mechanism of Pollution,
Discussion.
Throughout the course, trainees
increase their knowledge for LakeManagement.

Also,

they

make

"Environmental Sound" decision foreach lake.
At the end of this training course, eachtrainee presents their "action plan" andbrings it back to their own countries as
training outcome.

INTERNATIONAL LAKE ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE--Secretariat--

81091 Oroshimo-cho, Kusatsu-city, Shiga 520-0001, JAPANTEL +81-77-568-4567, FAX +81-77-568-4568, E-mail: info@ilec.or.jp