ISSN 0912-7402

No.65 : March 2018

– Save Water, Save Lakes –Message from New President

Kazuhiko Takemoto
I am honored to take over Professor Hironori Hamanaka as

climate change.

the President, the International Lake Environment Committee

Only slightly

Foundation (ILEC) in June 2017. In the recent years, ILEC

less than one

has strategically advanced its activities, such as promoting

percent of all the water resources on earth is the freshwater that

the Integrated Lake Basin Management (ILBM), which is a

is readily available for human use, with approximately ninetyconceptual framework for the environmental protection andpercent of this portion belonging to lakes and their basins. In

management to be applied to lake basins in various countries.

other words, deterioration of lake environment can heavily affectIn 2005, the ILBM was first proposed to the world in the 11th

water resources.

World Lake Conference in Nairobi. In 2011, ILEC concluded

In September 2015, the United Nations General Assembly

a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Division

adopted the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”

of Early Warning and Assessment of the UN Environment.

including Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particularThis empowered us to further address challenges in improving

SDG6 on clean water and sanitation and SDG15 on biodiversity

world’s lake environment. In the national context in Japan, ILEC

and ecosystem services. I believe that ILEC is expected to

was designated as a Public Interest Incorporated Foundation incontribute to achieving SDGs.

2013 by the Cabinet Office of Japan, which guaranteed us withmore robust organization of the Foundation.

ILEC is committed to continue its support for addressing
environmental conservation of lakes around the world,

I would like to draw your attention to the fact that thedisseminating ILBM, and, in collaboration with the UN

environmental conditions of lakes around the world have

Environment, taking a leading role in promoting activities incontinued to deteriorate due to overexploitation resulting fromthe field of lake environment. I thank you for your continued

human activities within and outside of their basins, and due tosupport to our Foundation toward achieving our common goals.

IN
THIS
ISSUE

■ Message from New President■ Biwa Kids Ambassadors: Activity Report for FY 2017

■ Special Events Commemorating the 30th Anniversary of ILEC

■ WLC17 Pre-Conference in Tsukuba■ Retirement Message from Former President■ Letter from Scientific Committee (Australia)■ ILEC TWAP Lakes Portal Is Launched■ ILBM South American Workshop in Brazil■ Report from a Former JICA Training Participant (Zimbabwe）■ Our Activities Overview (FY2017)■ Board Members Reorganized■ WLC17 CALL for Your Participation & 2nd Announcement■ Thank You for Your Support!

1Retirement Message
from Former President
Hironori Hamanaka

Development Goals (SDGs)”
as the action guidelines to bea ch ieve d by 2030, a nd t hat“e n s u r i ng ava i l a bi l it y a ndsust ai nable ma nagement ofwater and sanitation for all”

It has been my great honor to serve as President of ILEC for twelve

was established as the 6th Goal

years since 2005. During my services, I got to be part of organizations(SDG6) among the 17 SDGs.

in the six World Lake Conferences, from 11th held in Nairobi toD r . K a z u h i k o Ta k e m o t o ,16th in Bali. It was my pleasure to witness how the Integrated Lake

Director of the Instit ute forBasin Management (ILBM) we proposed during the 11th World Lake

the Advanced Study of Sustainability, the United Nations University

Conference as a concept to enhance conservation and sustainable(UNU-IAS), who has been committed to promoting the SDGs foruse of resources of lakes and their basins, was later developed as theyears, is succeeding my role at ILEC. I believe that his inauguration

ILBM Platform Process in several countries in Asia and Africa, andto this Foundation has a significant meaning for ILEC to further drive

ILBM-driven initiatives evolved into various projects. Furthermore,

its activities forward.

I LBM got recog n i zed by i nter nat ional orga n izat ions wh ich

This coming October 2018, the World Lake Conference, which

eventually led to the conclusion of a Memorandum of Understanding

triggered the establishment of ILEC, is celebrating its 17th edition in(MOU) with the Division of Early Warning and Assessment of

Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. I wish a successful organization of the 17th

U N Environment for our mutual cooperation in the lake basin

World Lake Conference, as well as further fruitful years to come formanagement. This MOU later helped both of us advance various

ILEC, under the direction of my successor, Dr. Takemoto. Finally, I

collaborations in the Transboundary Waters Assessment Programme

would like to extend my sincere gratitude to the Members of ILEC

and other activities. Another notable moment for me was when “theBoards, Scientific Committee, as well as Governors and Officials

2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” was adopted at the Unitedof Shiga Prefectural Government, who have supported our activities

Nations Summit in September 2015, which included “Sustainable

over the last twelve years.

Special Events Commemorating
the 30th Anniversary of ILEC
The International Lake Environment Committee Foundation (ILEC)
was established in 1986 by Shiga Prefectural Government. One of its
objectives was to support continued organization of the World Lake
Conference to succeed the 1984’s Shiga Conference on Conservationand Management of World Lake Environment, held in Otsu, Japan.
ILEC conducted two projects commemorating its 30th anniversary
over the last year. The first one was organized as a special exhibition

among the lake users in Shiga Prefecture, by introducing them totitled “Living with Lakes; from Lake Biwa to the World, toward the

ILEC’s world-wide activities in addressing global crisis of lakes andFuture!” during March 4 through April 9, 2017 in Lake Biwa Museum

their basins’ environment, showcased over a series of panels, videos

in Kusatsu, Japan. The exhibition was aimed at raising awarenessand some visual attractions. During the 35 days, approximately 11,500of the importance of lakes and the need of conservation, especiallyvisitors came to the exhibition.
The second one was a public symposium held on January 27, 2018,
also in Lake Biwa Museum. The symposium was held on the occasionof the General Meeting of ILEC Scientific Committee, which seven
Members attended from different parts of the world. Under the themeof “Global Efforts for Conservation and Sustainable Use of Lakes andRivers,” the symposium had three presentations from South and South
East Asia (including two by Scientific Committee Members), and three
from Shiga Prefecture. Following which a panel discussion on thetheme of “Diverse Linkages among People, beyond Boarders” washeld. Despite that it was one of the coldest winter days on the shoreof snowy Lake Biwa, in total 130 audience came and also contributed
their valuable opinions from the floor. We thank once again to all thesepeople and organizations took part in our anniversary events.

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Letter from Scientiﬁc Committee (Australia)

Sensitivity and Resilience of Lakes
and Wetlands in Drylands
Colin Maxwell FINLAYSON

Director, Institute for Land, Water and SocietyCharles Sturt University

The concepts of sensitivity and resilience of lakes and wetland

populations that inhabit these ecosystems, for at least someecosystems have been much discussed. The Ramsar Conventionof their life cycles, but possibly not enough information abouton Wetlands has considered these concepts and adopted the IPCC

how those that are most prevalent in the dry periods shape thedefinition of vulnerability to encompass both the sensitivity

conditions of the ecosystems. Hence, how do we contend withof the system, and its adaptive capacity or resilience. In thisthe dryness when looking at these lakes and wetlands? Thissense it has equated resilience with adaptive capacity. Further,extends further to how do the plants that characterise the wet

vulnerability is determined at specific spatial and temporalphase survive the dry, or otherwise establish when it is wet, andscales and is dynamic. A lake or wetland may be vulnerable to adoes the loss of dry phase vegetation have an effect? Then we

specific pressure at a particular time, but not vulnerable at otherhave the switching that can occur between saline and fresh watertimes. To complicate matters, the present condition may not be a

conditions, and the organisms that thrive in the water and thegood indicator of vulnerability at other times. These definitional

sediments, under such conditions. With such information we canand concept ual issues are impor tant, and deser ve criticalbetter determine if these systems are sensitive and also where

attention, but should not delay our consideration of the changes

their inherent resilience comes from. This is being addressedthat are occurring in lakes and wetlands in drylands where they

through the development of conceptual models that help toare already known to be vulnerable to a number of pressures,

explain these patterns and their interactions and provide a basis

including to climate changes. With this in mind we have beenfor establishing plausible scenarios for managing lakes andconsidering the extent of variability that characterises lakes andwetlands in drylands.

wetlands and look at these from a contemporary and historicaltimescale, and in particular how plant species may respondthrough propagules stored in sediment seedbanks.
As there are a wide range of pressures on these ecosystems
that have continued to impact on the ecological processes thatshape their ecological character, the questions we are addressing
are; “how vulnerable are these lakes and wetlands to suchpressures, and how well can we interpret such change?” In
other words, “how much do we know about them and do wehave sufficient information on changes in ecological state, on
species composition and their variability, on their nutrient andsalinity dynamics, productivity and seasonal, annual and decadal
successional change?”
We tend to have more information on some of the vertebrate

seedbank germination experiment

ILEC TWAP Lakes Portal Is Launched
The Transboundary Waters Assessment Programme (TWAP) is an international project funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to
conduct a global-scale assessment of transboundary water systems for the purpose of ranking them, in regard to their degree of vulnerability tohuman impacts. The portion of the TWAP dealing with lakes and reservoirs was conducted by the International Lake Environment Committee
Foundation (ILEC). ILEC developed the assessment methodologies
ILEC TWAP Lakes Portal
during 2009-2011 and carried out this project in collaboration with the
UN Environment, the Research Center for Sustainability and Environmentof Shiga University, Japan and the Meadows Center for Water and theEnvironment of Texas State University, USA. The final report was
published in May, 2016. Lately, ILEC launched the portal site in August
2017 that shows the assessment methodologies, data maps, assessment
results and important findings obtained through the project activities.
URL: http://ilec.lakes-sys.com/

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ILBM South American Workshop in Brazil
Du r ing July 28-29, 2017, a t wo day

Management (ILBM), targeting researchers,and Ur uguay. It was followed by a series

workshop of the Integrated Lake Basinstudents, and government officials in Southof case study repor ts from each countr y,America, was organized in Rio de Janeiro,

including the one from our past JICA Training

Brazil. Prof. Walter Rast of Texas State

Participant, Dr. Marcelo Luiz de Souza of

University, USA (ILEC Scientific Committee

National Water Agency (ANA), Brazil. The

C h a i r) g ave h i s key not e le c t u r e t o t heworkshop successfully closed, with several

enthusiastic participants gathered from five

strategies and suggestions made for enhancing

countries; Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia,

capacity building, networking, and generating

Report from a Former JICA
Training ParticipantLightone Takawira Marufu (Zimbabwe)
I cu r rently work as
Aqu at ic Ecolog ist a nd
Lecturer at Biological Sciences Department, University ofZimbabwe. I was one of the nine participants that went throughthe JICA facilitated Integrated Lake Basin Management (ILBM)
training course at ILEC in 2015. The course was practicaland provided hands-on approaches that could be used as partof resolving some of the problems in lakes. I am happy toreport on some of the practical aspects that we are applying at
our Department to help manage Lake Chivero following thetraining. Lake Chivero is the main supplier of industrial and

The author explaining the problem of wetlands being used as
dumping sites by some industries.

domestic water for Harare, the capital city of Zimbabwe, andis hyper-eutrophic owing to point and non-point pollution sources

other surrounding towns which include Ruwa, Norton, andwithin its catchment area. Furthermore, the lake is located

Chitungwiza. The lake also serves as a recreational facility fordownstream of its catchment causing all activities within its

speed boats, bird watching, and game viewing, etc., and has acatchment to ultimately affect its water quality.

thriving fish industry for locals. Despite its importance, the lake

Here are some of the activities I would like to report to you:

Research and Monitoring: Despite

Capacity Building: Besides teaching some

Awareness: I have had the privilege

challenges of funding, over the past two

ILBM concepts to undergraduate students,of being interviewed by the national

years we have had four undergraduate

my department has developed a MSc

television network (Zimbabwe

students undertaking projects in rivers that

program within which the ILBM concept

Broadcasting Cooperation) on issues

feed into Lake Chivero, namely Marimba

will be taught to future catchment managers,

affecting Lake Chivero. During theRiver and Mukuvisi River. We have also

water experts, and aquatic ecologists. We areinterview, I emphasized importance

had three students working on various

currently awaiting approval of the programof concepts like ILBM in managing

wetlands within the lake’s catchment. At

by the university. The department has also

problems in Lake Chivero, as well

our department, we have also had an MSc

managed to run a short course and training

as possible methods of dealing withstudent and a PhD student working on

program to members of the Harare Citya problematic invasive plant species

important aspects in the lake such as the use

Council and other stakeholders on water(water hyacinth).

of GIS in monitoring the sediment quality

quality management and monitoring as partand quantity in the lake.

of the ILBM initiative.

Finally, we also plan to implement 1) continuous monitoring on rivers that flow into Lake Chivero, 2) monitoring and protection of
wetlands within the Lake Chivero Catchment and 3) developing the MSc program to empower future water experts and decision makers
on concept of ILBM (already being underway), toward the future.

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collaboration activities amongt he pa r t icipated cou nt r ies.
Special than ks to ou r local
o r g a n i z e r, C a r l o s C h a g a s
Filho Biophysics Institute ofBrazil Federal University of
Rio de Janeiro, especially toProf. Sandza Azevedo (ILEC
Scientific Committee Bureau
Me mb e r), a n d t o a l l t h eparticipants.

Biwa Kids Ambassadors: Activity Report for FY 2017
Have you heard of the Ramsar Biwa
Kids Ambassadors? They are selectedprimary school children aged between 10
to 12 reside in Shiga Prefecture, home toLake Biwa. They learn about the lake andits culture in a year-long environmental
educational program, and also to participate
in an international exchange program. This
environmental education project was started
by Shiga Prefectural Government back in2008 in the aim of training young generation
to play a leading role in the future’s
environmental conservation activities. Since
the edition of the fiscal year 2015, ILEC has
been committed to conduct this program
three years in a row. Here is a report fromthis year’s Ambassadors’ activities:
In FY 2017, ten Ambassadors learned
about the creatures living in Lake Biwa andthe culinary culture, through experiencing
traditional fishing methods. The highlightof their program was to present in the
KODOMO Wetlands Exchange Programin Arao Tideland, which was organized in
Kumamoto Prefecture during November
4-5, on the occasion of the 8th Asian
We t l a n d S y m p o s i u m h e l d i n S a g a
Prefecture, Japan. In preparation for theirpresentation in Arao, a series of preparatory
workshops were organized: On June 24,
they cooked crucian carp and hemibarbus
barbus they caught earlier in the morningby gillnetting in Lake Biwa. The fish weredeep fired or boiled with soy source. On
July 23, they experienced eri fishing, ora traditional fishing method unique toLake Biwa, in the morning and learned
how invasive species such as largemouth
bass, affect the endemic species. They
also prepared traditional funa zushi, or

PIC①

PIC③

a fermented sushi made with carassius
buergeri grandoculis (PIC①). This one-day
precious activity taught them two traditionsof Shiga Prefecture. On October 14, they
tried catching seta shijimi, an endemic
mussel, by their hands. They learned that the
number of seta shijimi has been decreasing
each year, and research and other attempts
are being carried out, gradually improving
this situation. Back on August 23, theAmbassadors met their predecessors at thetransgenerational exchange event, which
was organized for the first time in the historyof this project (PIC②). They got together tocook endemic fish from Lake Biwa, as well
as a variety of vegetables locally grown in
Shiga Prefecture. All these activities weresummarized in their presentation madein front of five other groups working on
the environmental protection in wetlands
in Japan during the aforementioned
KODOMO Wetlands Exchange Programin Arao Tideland. They made friends fromother parts of the country through working
together on a poster and field visit to thetideland (PIC③). Finally, in the anniversary
symposium of ILEC held in Lake Biwa
Museum on January 27, 2018, theyreported all these activities in front of theaudience came from all parts of the world.
ILEC is proud of having another group of
Ambassadors who accomplished a series ofvaluable learning activities, and wishes themevery success in the years to come.

PIC②

5

Our Activities Overview (FY2017)
April 11-29 ILEC takes part in the Ha Long Bay Project for Green Growth (Quảng Ninh Province)
May 9 ILEC receives 1,630,000 Japanese yen donation from Kansai Urban Banking Corporation (Otsu)
24 ILEC receives 250,000 Japanese yen donation from Kinki Labour Bank (Otsu)
June 17 Workshop for the Shiga Labour Bank (Kusatsu)
24 Ramsar Biwa-Kids Ambassadors 1st Pre-Workshop (Nagahama)July 23 Ramsar Biwa-Kids Ambassadors 2nd Pre-Workshop (Moriyama & Yasu)
28-29 ILBM workshop for South America (Rio de Janeiro)
August 4 A JICA commissioned training of integrated wetland management for Olomega
Lake and El Jocotal Lagoon (Kusatsu)
23 Transgenerational exchange program for the Biwa-Kids Ambassadors (Kusatsu)
26-31 Study tour to Japan under the JICA commissioned Project for Green Growth Promotion
in Ha Long Bay, Vietnam (Otsu, Takashima, Omihachiman & Kusatsu)

PIC ❶27- ILEC, in partnership with UN Environment, exhibits at Stockholm World Water Week
(Stockholm, through Sept.1):【PIC❶】
30 Six delegates from GEF China PA System Program visit ILEC (Kusatsu)
September 1 A JICA commissioned training program, “Integrated Lake, River and Coastal
Basin Management for Sustainable Use and Preservation of Water Resource” kicks off(Kusatsu, through Oct. 27)
7 A JICA commissioned project in Myanmar of capacity building for water environment
management and environmental impact assessment (Kusatsu)

PIC ❷8-14 ILEC visits a Malaysian river basin environmental education program site (Kuala
Selangor):【PIC❷】
14-16 ILEC participates in the Bridge Project of Japan-Taiwan Industrial Cooperation:
Technical Exchange Meeting and Business Matching on Water Environment (Kaohsiung)
October 14 Ramsar Biwa-Kids Ambassadors 3rd Pre-Workshop (Otsu & Kusatsu):【PIC❸】
16 Seven local high school students and teachers visit the JICA training participants at ILEC
(Kusatsu)

PIC ❸17-21 ILEC invites three Quang Ninh Province officials from Vietnam to the Lake Biwa
Environmental Business Exhibition etc. (Otsu, Kusatsu, Omihachiman & Nagahama)November 1-2 Pre-Conference for the 17th World Lake Conference (Tsukuba)
4-5 Ramsar Biwa-Kids Ambassadors participate in the KODOMO Wetlands Exchange
Program in Arao Tideland (Arao)
7-11 ILEC presents and exhibits in the 8th Asian Wetland Symposium (Saga)
13-25 ILEC takes part in the Ha Long Bay Project for Green Growth(Quảng Ninh Province)
25 ILBM-ESSVA Workshop, in collaboration with the Wetland International South Asia
(Delhi)27- The Japan-Asia Youth Exchange Program in Science (Otsu & Kusatsu, through Dec. 6) PIC ❹28-30 ILBM Workshop for Kenya (Nakuru):【PIC❹】
2018
January 24 ILEC Scientific Committee representatives visit Ibaraki for the preparatory
meeting of 17th World Lake Conference (Mito and Tsuchiura):
25-26 ILEC Scientific Committee General Meeting (Kusatsu)【PIC❺】
27 ILEC 30th Anniversary Symposium (Kusatsu)
February 26- ILEC participates in the Ramsar Pre-COP13 Asia Regional Meeting PIC ❺(Chilaw, through March 2)
27 The Integrated Lentic–Lotic Basin Management (ILLBM) Workshop for West Africa (Dakar, through March 2)
March 4 Ramsar Biwa-Kids Ambassadors report their activities for FY2017 to the Vice-Governor of Shiga Prefecture (Kusatsu)
15 ILEC participates in the regional forum “Rehabilitation Ecology of Rivers and Lakes of Mexico” (Patzcuaro)
18-23 ILEC participates in the 8th World Water Forum and organizes a special session with Shiga Prefectural Government (Brasilia)

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WLC17 Pre- Conferencein Tsukuba
This coming October 2018, ILEC

attracts runners and how important it

is co - h o s t i n g t h e 1 7 t h Wo r l d L a k e

is to let children enjoy sports in nature.

Conference (WLC17) with Ibaraki

In the latter half of the symposium,

Prefectural Government. To call forpanelists from three lakes in Japannation-wide participation in Japan, the(Biwa, Mikata-Goko, and Kasumigaura)

Government and ILEC co-hosted thediscussed their ongoing challenges in the

WLC17 Pre-Conference in Tsukuba

lake basin management. The discussion

during November 1-2, 2017. On thecontinued to the second day’s roundtables

first day, around 400 people (citizens,

where experts and government officials

researchers and government officials)

from 14 different lakes nationwide

attended a public symposium, at which

gathered to exchange their views anda former Olympic marathon runner,experiences in the theme of Water Quality

Ms. Yuko Arimori, came on stage toand Ecosystem Services.

DAY 1

DAY 2

address how nature, especially lakes,

Board Members Reorganized
Trustees
Shinji Ide

The new Board Members of ILEC as of June 13, 2017 are as follows:
Professor, School of Environmental Science, University of Shiga Prefecture

Toshio Takasago

Director General, Department of Lake Biwa and the Environment, Shiga Prefectural Government

Reiko Nakamura

Secretary General, Ramsar Center Japan

Machiko Nishino

Professor, Biwako Seikei Sport College

Kazuhiko Matsui

Director of Technical Department, Hiyoshi Corporation

Saburo Matsui

Professor Emeritus, Kyoto University

Shinya Yamaguchi

Sales Department Sub Manager, HORIBA Advanced Techno Corporation

Directors
Kazuhiko Takemoto(President)

Director, Institute for Advanced Study of Sustainability, United Nations University (UNU-IAS);
Former Vice-Minister for Global Environment, Ministry of the Environment

Masahisa Nakamura(Vice President)*

Professor by Special Appointment, Research Center for Sustainability and Environment, Shiga
University

Kaori Kubo

Professor, Faculty of Education, Shiga University

Toru Shinohara

Director General, Lake Biwa Museum

Yoshihisa Shimizu

Professor, Research Center for Environmental Quality Management, Graduate School ofEngineering, Kyoto University

Hirofumi Takagi

Director, Environmental Policy Division, Shiga Prefectural Government

Kenzo Hiroki

Sherpa, The United Nations-World Bank High Level Panel on Water;

Former Vice-principal for College of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism

Full time*

Auditors
Manabu Hishikari

Certified Public Accountant; Licensed Tax Accountant

Mitsuru Sakurada

Managing Executive Officer, Kansai Urban Banking Corporation

AdvisorHironori Hamanaka

Special Research Advisor, Institute for Global Environment Strategies (IGES);

Former Vice-Minister for Global Environment, Ministry of the Environment; Former President, ILEC

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WLC17 CALL for Your Participation & 2nd Announcement
For more information, visit the Conference Website at www.wlc17ibaraki.jp/en!

The latest program as of February 2018
is available in the 2nd Announcement!

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Thank You for Your Support!
● In 2017, ILEC received sponsorship from the following Supporting
Member Organization (90,000 JPY or more)Your donation could provide funding to our activities
on the world lake environmental conservation.
Online donation system is also available. If
you are interested, please visit our webpage at
www.ilec.or.jp/en/advertise.

INTERNATIONAL LAKE ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE FOUNDATION (ILEC)

1091 Oroshimo-cho, Kusatsu-city Shiga 525-0001, JAPAN
Tel:+81-77-568-4567 / Fax:+81-77-568-4568 /Website: www.ilec.or.jp / Facebook: www.facebook.com/ilec.english*The latest issue and back issues of this newsletter are also available on our website above.

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