RCJ Action Plan for FY2019 (April 2019 – March 2020)(source : RCJ News Letter No.196 issued on 10 July, 2019)
The RCJ has been formulating its annual plan/policy based on its “Medium
Term Plan/Target” focusing on the next COP after examining the situation in Asia
and Japan based on the trend of the resolutions and discussions of the meetingsof the Conference of the Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention held
every 3 years.
At the COP13 (UAE) in 2018, “Global Wetland Outlook” was published covering
the loss of wetland extent and the critical situation of decreasing wetland faunaand flora and stressing the importance of strengthening networks in a local scale
including Ramsar sites and other wetlands.
RCJ’s basic policy for FY2019 was formulated under the new structure ofyounger board members as the first year of the “10th Medium Term Plan (20192021)” targeting COP14. The Tenth Medium Term Plan supports the importanceof the resolution XIII.9 “Ramsar Regional Initiative 2019-2021” adopted in theCOP13 along with capacity building cited by the resolution XII.9 “CEPA Program
2016-2024”, which RCJ has promoted in accordance with the 9th Medium termPlan. RCJ will sets these targets listed below for the 10th Medium term Plan
The 10th Medium Term Plan (until FY2021)
Target 1 : Strengthening the Bay of Bengal Wetlands Partnership, that
contribute to the promotion of wetland conservation and wise use in the area
along the Bay of Bengal.
Target 2 : Strengthening CEPA and raising human resources for wetland
conservation
Target 3 : Establishing an organization operating system under the new board
members
1 Continuing and strengthening RCJ projects in Asia
The Bay of Bengal Wetland Partnership (BoBWeT) Initiative towardsustainable use of ecosystem services - Based on a new participatory
monitoring activity using SNS. (a BoB activity / supported by Keidanren NatureConservation Fund)This project was granted by KNCF as a 3 year project from April 2019 toMarch 2022 (granted 5,150 thousand yen for the first year). Several actions
have been taken in the area along the Bay of Bengal already. This project aims
to strengthening the wetland conservation network along the Bay of Bengal and①

to promoting activities of the network by establishing and operating an SNS
platform mainly by local NGOs and experts to introduce to the world thesituations and efforts by local organizations along the Bay of Bengal.
②Participatory community managed sustainable life forest and environmental
education for eco-restoration at Gopalpur zone along Bay of Bengal, Odisha,
India. (Supported by the Green Fund of National Land Afforestation Promotion
Organization)
This is a tree planting project started from July 2018 with Pallishree as acounterpart. It was granted as a year project from July 2018 to June 2019. As
it is possible to apply with the same project for 3 years, the 2nd year application
was granted as well.
③「Achieving the SDG#14 through community-based resource management byconserving coastal and marine biodiversity of the Bay of Bengal in Teknaf
Peninsula, Bangladesh. (Supported by TOYOTA Environmental Activities GrantProgram)This is a 2 year project from January 2019 to December 2020 aiming todeveloping the outcome of the JFGE project implemented until March 2019 andto promoting biodiversity conservation along the Bay of Bengal. Bangladesh
POUSH is the counterpart of this project.
2 Support and Cooperation Mainly for Ramsar Sites in Japan
So far, there is no new project planned by RCJ. RCJ is going to engage inthose activities listed below as usual.
・Participating the Meeting of Municipalities Related to Ramsar Sites
・Wetlands investigation (including new Ramsar sites) in Japan
・KODOMO Ramsar Wetland Exchange＊The venue will be Kasai Marine
Park, which was designated as a new Ramsar site at the COP13.
3 Other Main Activities
・Cooperation for the Pallishree’s project “Promoting sustainable crab bank anddevelopment of plastic free zone in Bahuda and Rushikulya estuaries along Bayof Bengal, India“ (the 1st year) granted by JFGE (Japan Fund for GlobalEnvironment). RCJ president Dr. Shimpei Iwasaki is going to support the project
as a Japanese agent.

・ Participation in partnership with RRC-EA to the Asian Wetland Symposium

scheduled to be held in Suncheon, South Korea. RCJ is planning to send
representatives and organize a side event (or session) and a booth exhibition.
・Information Gathering regarding the international trend of wetland conservation
at the Ramsar standing committee held in Geneva, Switzerland.
4 Continuing RCJ’s Basic Activities
・Wise Use Workshop
・RCJ News Letter, Online CEPA activity
5 Organization Structure and the Secretariat
The general meeting of RCJ confirmed that it is difficult with its current humanresource to maintain its operation as before. Therefore, it was suggested that,instead of the former operation, its operation should be based on a system inwhich each project will be managed separately by a person or more who areassigned for the project, and the new operation should be started tentatively after
assigning a distinctive role for each person in charge. The general meeting
approved the proposal to renew the board members and assign supportive
fellows to improve the reliability of the new team.
Based on the above-mentioned, RCJ assigned those persons for the 2019
projects ; Mr. Tanabe and Mr. Koyama for the TOYOTA Environmental Activities
Grant Program, Dr. Iwasaki for the KNCF program, Ms. Ohara for the Green
Donation of National Land Afforestation Promotion Organization (Pallishree) andDr. Iwasaki for the JFGE project (Pallishree). As for the KODOMO Ramsar inKasai, Mr. D. Nakamura, Ms. R. Nakamura, Ms. Sasaki and Ms. N. Suzuki will bein charge of it.
The followings are new board members and fellows for FY2019 ;Board members
President

Shimpei Iwasaki (Fukuoka Women’s University)

Vicepresident

Misato Ohara (INTEM Consulting, Inc.)
Fumihiro Koyama (Omori Nori Musium)
Atsushi Tanabe (Postgraduate course of Kumamoto University)
Daisuke Nakamura (a primary school teacher in Shiga Prefecture)
Akihiko Hayashi (Neitec Co.,Ltd.)Ryo Fujikura (Professor of Hosei University)

Auditor

Hisashi Fujioka (Trustee of Japan Travel Writers’ Organization)

Secretary
GeneralTaketo Kitamoto (DYNAX Urban Environment Research Institute)

Fellows
Motokazu Ando (Former professor of Yamazak Gakuen University)
Hiroshi Isozaki (Honorary professor of Iwate University)Toru Iwama (Honorary professor of Seinan Gakuen University)
Tamotsu Kameyama (Media producer)
Reiko Nakamura (Writer)
Takayuki Musha (Editor)