diversity in communities.

For conservation of biodiversity in natural parks, which represent the outstanding natural landscape of Japan, the Natural Parks Law has been revised and entered into force in April 2003, following the revision of the National Strategy on Biological Diversity. To promote the conservation of internationally important wetlands and in response to the resolution adopted at the Conference of the Parties to the Ramsar Convention, Japan is making preparations aimed at increasing Japan’s Ramsar sites from the current number of 13 to over 22.

With the participation of experts, local governments, civil organizations, and local residents, the concerned ministries and agencies are collaborating to undertake restoration projects of natural environments that have been damaged in the past. In April 2003, the Cabinet approved the Basic Policy for Nature Restoration pursuant to the Law for the Promotion of Nature Restoration. In October, the Nature Restoration Promotion Council and the Nature Restoration Expert Committee were established. Nature restoration measures were launched at the Kushiro Shitsugen and Arakawa in accordance with the Law.

For living modified organisms, the Cartagena Protocol was adopted in 2000 and entered into force in September 2003. It establishes an international framework for the import and export of living modified organisms. In preparation for the ratification of the Protocol, Japan promulgated the “Law Concerning the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biological Diversity through Regulations on the Use of Living Modified Organisms” in June 2003 to establish the necessary domestic system. The Law became effective on February 2004.

To review concrete measures for dealing with alien species, the Central Environment Council deliberated “Measures for Alien Species” and a report was issued in December 2003. In line with this report, the import and keeping of invasive alien species are going to be banned and the mitigation of invasive alien species will be conducted by the “Invasive Alien Species Act,” which was submitted to the 159th Diet to prevent the damages to ecosystems.

Threatened Wildlife of Japan (species listed in the Red List and the Red Data Book)

(as of March 2004)

Taxonomical group	Species assessed (a)	Extinct	Extinct in the wild	Threatened species	Near threatened	Data deficient	Threatened local population	Number of threatened species (b)	b/a (approx.)
Critically endangered + Endangered	Vulnerable
Category IA	Category IB
Animals	Mammals	Approx. 200	4	0	32	16	16	9	12	48	24%
12	20
Birds	Approx. 700	13	1	42	48	16	15	2	90	12%
17	25
Reptiles	97	0	0	7	11	9	1	2	18	19%
2	5
Amphibians	64	0	0	5	9	5	0	4	14	22%
1	4
Brackish water and freshwater fish	Approx. 300	3	0	58	18	12	5	12	76	25%
29	29
Insects	Approx. 30,000	2	0	63	76	161	88	3	139	0.5%
Land/freshwater molluscs	Approx. 1,000	25	0	86	165	206	69	5	251	25%
Spiders/ crustaceans	Approx. 4,200	0	1	10	23	31	36	0	33	0.8%
Subtotal for animals	47	2	303	366	456	223	42	669
Plants	Vascular plants	Approx. 7,000	20	5	1,044	621	145	52	0	1,665	24%
564	480
Bryophytes	Approx. 1,800	0	0	110	70	4	54	0	180	10%
Algae	Approx. 5,500	5	1	35	6	24	0	0	41	0.7%
Lichen	Approx. 1,000	3	0	22	23	17	17	0	45	5%
Fungi	Approx. 16,500	27	1	53	10	0	0	0	63	0.4%
Subtotal for plants	55	7	1,264	730	190	123	0	1,994
Total	102	9	1,567	1,096	646	346	42	2,663

(1) Data on the assessed animal species (including subspecies) were derived from the Environment Agency, Checklist of Japanese Species of Wildlife 1993, 1995, and 1998.

(2) Data on the vascular plants (including subspecies, etc.) were gathered by the Japanese Society for Plants Systematics.

(3) Data on the species of bryophytes, algae, lichen, and fungi (including subspecies) were derived from Ministry of the Environment surveys.

Plants I, and Plants II (2000); and the Environment Agency, Red Lists on Mammals and Birds, Brackish Water and Freshwater Fish, and Invertebrates) (1998, 1999, and 2000).

The categories are considered as follows:

Extinct: Species that are extinct in Japan

Extinct in the wild: Species that can only survive by being raised or by cultivation

Critically endangered + Endangered: Species in danger of extinction

Vulnerable: Species facing increasing danger of extinction

Near Threatened: Species with weak foundation for survival

Threatened local population: Population of a species that is isolated in an area and has high possibility of extinction.

Source: Ministry of the Environment