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Emerging Problems Tarnish the Modest Progress on Protecting OUV of Iriomote Island

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Emerging Problems Tarnish the Modest Progress on Protecting OUV of Iriomote Island A review on Nomination of Amami-Oshima Island, Tokunoshima Island, the northern part of Okinawa Island and Iriomote Island for inscription on the World Heritage List Emerging Problems Tarnish the Modest Progress on Protecting OUV of Iriomote Island © Susumu Murata October, 2019 Japan Tiger and Elephant Fund / Yamaneko Patrol 1 October, 2019 Japan Tiger and Elephant Fund 3F Suehiro Bld.2-5-4, Toranomon Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-0001 Japan [email protected] Phone: +81-3-3595-8088 Yamaneko Patrol 656-2 Uehara, Taketomi-cho, Yaeyama-gun, Okinawa 907-1541 Japan [email protected] Phone: +81-980-85-6208 © 2019 Japan Tiger and Elephant Fund & Yamaneko Patrol All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. 2 Background In May, 2018, the technical evaluation mission of IUCN submitted the technical evaluation report of natural and mixed properties including “AMAMI-OSHIMA ISLAND, TOKUNOSHIMA ISLAND, THE NORTHERN PART OF OKINAWA ISLAND, AND IRIOMOTE ISLAND” nominated for inclusion on the World Heritage List. IUCN showed its concerns related Iriomote Island in the report as follows. 4.2 Boundaries “Nevertheless, its ‘wholeness’ will not be fully satisfactory without the inclusion of […] possibly some smaller extensions to include more of the important river valleys in north/northwest Iriomote” (P. 43) 4.5 Threat “[…] disturbance and other impacts from tourism, and associated facilities and activities, are a major future threat (and an important current threat on Iriomote) that needs to be carefully managed. Both Iriomote and northern Okinawa already receive substantial visitor numbers, and Iriomote has seen a dramatic increase in recent years, raising concerns among local communities and stakeholders. Despite various ongoing and encouraging initiatives (tourism planning, tourism guidelines, tour guide training and certification, etc.), there is an urgent need to take a more holistic approach and to proactively plan any future tourism development on the nominated islands, which should address questions such as: how to establish, monitor and enforce island and area specific carrying capacities; how to regulate, minimize, or mitigate impacts from present and planned tourism facilities and activities; and how to protect particularly sensitive areas from any adverse effects of tourism development. ” (P.45) The Government of Japan, in response to the concerns and recommendation including the ones related to Iriomote Island by IUCN, withdrew the nomination, reconsider the boundaries of the properties to be nominated and submit the revised nomination. The problem is whether the revised nomination would have correctly responded to and certainly dispelled the concerns related to Iriomote Island shown by IUCN in 2018. This report will discuss this point through reporting the related actual situation on the ground of Iriomote Island and evaluating the efforts for improvement made by the responsible management authorities. 3 Contents Background………………………………………………………………………………………………………...3 1. Extension of the nominated property…………………………………………………………….....5 1-1 Outline of extension of the nominated property proposed by Japan…………….…….…5 1-2 Summary…6 2. Emerging problems in the nominated properties and buffer zones…………..….6 2-1 Increase of road collision of Iriomote cats…………………………………………………..……6 2-1-1 Increase of collision in the area where no road structure for preventing it is equipped…………………………………………………………………………………………….....6 2-1-2 Acclimation of Iriomote cats to human being……………………………………………..…….9 2-1-3 Summary…………………………………………………………………………………………..……9 2-2 Reconstruction plan of Urauchi Bridge…………………………………………………………..…9 2-2-1 Outline of the reconstruction plan……………………………………………………………..…..9 2-2-2 Impact of filling mounds to mangrove, aquatic organism and Iriomote cats………..….10 2-2-3 Impact of construction traffic…………………………………………………………………...…10 2-2-4 Impact of ancillary work including land development for securing construction materials storage site…………………………………………………………..….11 2-2-5 Summary……………………………………………………………………………………..……….11 3. Holistic controls on tourism development………………………………………………..………..11 3-1 Establishment of an island carrying capacity and a plan / institution for securing tourism impact within the limits of the capacity…………………………………..11 3-1-1 Problems of the process on discussion of a plan for establishing, monitoring and enforcing a carrying capacity of Iriomote Island …………………………………………11 3-1-2 Problem of outline of the “Plan on Management of Visitors for Securing Sustainable Iriomote Island” ………………………………………………………………………12 3-1-3 Summary……………………………………………………………………………………………..13 3-2 Establishment of specific areas’ carrying capacity and a plan / institution for securing tourism impact within the limits of the capacity……………………………………13 3-2-1 Problem of outline of the “Policy on tourism management in the spots for experiences in nature” ………………………………………………………………………………13 3-2-2 Summary…………………………………………………………………………………...…………14 4．Active participation of the communities and stakeholders concerned with the property………………………………………………………………………………………………………….15 4-1 Growing disregard by the management authorities of “active participation” to the sustainable protection, conservation and management of the property……………15 4-2 Summary…………………………………………………………………………………………………….15 5．Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………………………16 6．Recommendation…………………………………………………………………………………………….17 References………………………………………………………………………………………………….……….19 4 1. Extension of the nominated property 1-1 Outline of extension of the nominated property proposed by Japan As aforementioned, in response to the IUCN report submitted to UNESCO in May, 2018, the nominated property in Iriomote Island was extended to include more area in the revised nomination made in January, 2019, compared to the one proposed in 2017 (Figure 1). The major change is the inclusion of river valleys flowing in Funaura Bay including Hinai River and Nishida River, Urauchi River basin between Kampire Falls and Gunkan-iwa Rock, and Nakara River which had been designated as buffer zone in 2017 nomination. 5 However, the river valleys in north coast area from Inda Cape to Geda River, and the Urauchi River from its river mouth to Gunkan-iwa Rock are still left as buffer zones (Figure 2). The river valleys in north coast area from Inda Cape to Geda River are one of the most important habitats for resident individuals of Iriomote cats (Prionailurus bengalensis iriomotensis). It is located at the western edge of north coast area of Iriomote Island, that is characterized as a critical area for securing their gene flow between the west part and southeast part of the lowland1. Urauchi River which is the home of 246 inland water fish species2 is known for the largest number of fish species among all of the properties included in the nomination. Furthermore, there are only 5 species of pure freshwater fish while there are 48 species of diadromous fish, 120 species of brackish water fish, 73 species of peripheral freshwater fish3 and 23 undesignated species4. Therefore, the river mouth and brackish waters area are characterized as particularly important part of Urauchi River in terms of fish species diversity and conservation needs for “inland fish species in 4 islands including nominated properties”5. 1-2 Summary The nominated property still excludes the following areas in north and north western part of Iriomote Island which constitute the OUV of this property. Therefore, the proposed boundary does not ensure the ‘wholeness’ of the property. - The river valleys in the western edge of north coast area from Inda Cape to Geda River, which are critical for dispersal of Iriomote cats distributing in lowland. - The most part of river mouth and brackish waters area of Urauchi River 2. Emerging problems in the nominated properties and buffer zones 2-1 Increase of road collision of Iriomote cats 2-1-1 Increase of collision in the area where no road structure for preventing it is equipped The road collision of Iriomote cats on the Prefectural Highway 215 has increased for 40 years, and 2018 hit all-time highs of 9 cases (Figure 3). In the year, since the first collision had been identified in January, the incidents continually occurred at the highest rate as ever. In October, the number reached to the record-tying of 7 cases identified in 2016. Though the Ministry of Environment called for drivers to secure responsible driving as a matter of urgency on November 28th 6 , additional collisions occurred in December 5th and 7th, so the total number in that year surpassed the past record by 2 cases. In 2019, one case was identified on July 21st at the time of the end of September. 1 JTEF and Yamaneko Patrol, 2017.a https://www.jtef.jp/en/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/20170925-WNH-Iriomote-JTEF.pdf 2 GoJ,2019, 3 Ibid. 4 Suzuki, 2017, 5 Nomination, 2.A.2.2.5 (GoJ, 2019) 6 Yaeyama Mainichi Shimbun, 2018.a 6 Figure 3：Number of road collision of Iriomote cats 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Ministry of Environment, Sub‐committee on the Plan for Protection and Recovery Program of Iriomote Cat, the Committee on Reviewing the Measures for Conservation of Wildlife and press articles Since 2016 around, the collisions have been concentrating on a limited road section in west side of the island (from Funaura to Shirahama). In fact, 14 cases out of 20 cases occurred between
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