Kabukuri-numa, Osaki, Myagi, Japan
Region
Asia
Country
Japan
Flyway
East Asian - Australasian flyway
Initiative
WLI Asia-Oceania
About
Kabukuri-numa is a 150 ha wetland area, and together with the surrounding rice paddies comprises the 423 ha Ramsar site. It is visited by up to 200,000 white-fronted geese, 1300 bean geese, 400 swans, 3000 ducks and an additional 220 species of birds. There are 400 species of plants, 800 species of insects and 32 types of fish.
Funding support: Membership and donations
Number of staff: 2
Overall aims of the centre
Monitoring and conservation of wildlife; communication, education, participation and awareness raising; reducing the conflict between agriculture and reservoir management.
Description of the centre
Kabukuri-numa is a 150 ha wetland area, and together with the surrounding rice paddies comprises the 423 ha Ramsar site. It is visited by up to 200,000 white-fronted geese, 1300 bean geese, 400 swans, 3,000 ducks and an additional 220 species of birds. There are 400 species of plants, 800 species of insects and 32 types of fish.
The main activities are conservation, involving the control of reed and willow, education about wetlands in schools and the prevention of damage to the area by farming practices.
The centre is part of the Ramsar network and EAAF partnership.
Work Areas
Main CEPA work areas
Education in kindergartens, elementary schools, middle and high schools about wildlife, waterfowl, flood control, Ramsar wise-use, and coexistence with agriculture
Communication with RRC-EA (Asian wetland managers), EAAF partnership, Geese research cooperation in Japan, Ramsar Network Japan, JANET(Japanese mailinglist about wild goose swan duck)
Information by website and newspapers
Eco-tourism watching morning flight and roosting geese
Top three successes
1. Education for children. Most of the local people are farmers, many of them hated waterfowl because of the damage to farming. We started to change this situation by educating the children and have been successful over 10 years.
2. Cooperation with local government. Kabukuri-numa water reservoir prevents flooding and the management of the reservoir sometimes conflicts with wildlife conservation. We have on-going round-table conferencing with local government, farmers, NGO, scholars etc. to discuss the problems encountered.
3. Control of reeds. Fast growing reeds choke the areas of water in the wetland every year. These are now controlled and the reeds are made into pellets that can be used as stove fuel.
Top three challenges
1. Communication with foreign schools about Geese and wetland conservation by EAAE twinning network and UNESCO school project.
2. Increase production of reed pellet and spread demand.
3. Bringing up talented people for wetland management.
Expertise
Interpretation techniques
Creating signage / site information; producing written materials
Participation
Engaging young people; working with volunteers; engaging the local community
Education and communication
Early years education; working with primary schools; working with secondary schools
General
Running effective administration
Contact
Kabukuri wetlands club sub chief director Jun Tojima,
51 Maitake Kabukuri Tajiri Osaki-city Miyagi-pref. Japan
E-mail: kabukuri@neo.famille.ne.jp;
Phone=81-229-38-1401; Fax: 81-229-38-1402
website: http://www5.famille.ne.jp/~kabukuri/