By Suvendrini Kakuchi
TOKYO, Feb 14 2007 (IPS)

A call by the United Nations to restore and protect biodiversity in the world through a global convention is seen as being of particular importance to Japan, a leading importer of natural resources.

”As a resource-poor country, Japan is acutely aware of the benefits of sustainability especially from the side of the user,’’ explained Seizo Sumida, head of the Japan Biotechnology Association.

Japan’s biotechnology industry, estimated at around 25 billion US dollars with more than 2,500 companies involved, is the second largest in the country but heavily dependent on access to the world’s natural resources.

”Asia’s biodiversity is of particular importance to sustain Japan’s domestic biotechnology industry. Guidelines based on developing mutual trust and understanding between Japan and its suppliers are crucial for both sides,’’ said Sumida in an IPS interview.

Japan is now planning to host the 10th conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Nagoya, its third largest city, in 2010 during which an agreement on accessing and sharing the benefits of genetic resources is expected to be hammered out.

‘’Nagoya is crucial in the debate to not only reduce the massive loss of biodiversity in the world but also develop a means that could ensure an equity agenda,’’ said Balakrishna Pisupati, biodiversity expert at the U.N. University’s Institute of Advanced Studies.

Pisupati explained to IPS that Japan has already moved towards its conservation goal by developing positive guidelines and taking on a leading role in the world.

Described as a practical manual, the guidelines outline steps like sharing of Japan’s efficient environmental protection technologies with developing countries, strict adherence to biodiversity protection regulations in each country and, in cases where such laws are not available, a pledge to rely on the Bonn Guidelines on the Convention.

Despite the high expectations, experts and environment officials here acknowledge that Japan faces a tough situation where issues involving protection of biodiversity at home as well as abroad remain on the backburner. ‘’Our surveys have shown that only six percent of the Japanese public is aware of the notion of biodiversity protection. Raising awareness of the issues of sustainability is the first step and remains a daunting task by 2010,’’ said Wataru Suzuki, an official at the environment ministry.

He explained to IPS that the concept of protecting the eco-system on the basis of benefit sharing despite the Convention being not binding, is only just emerging among the public and private enterprises in Japan.

‘’For instance, the Convention involves getting private companies to accept a system whereby products must display labels that indicate its sustainability – this is not an easy task,’’ Suzuki said.

Such obstacles are highly explosive issues that can jeopardise the success of the Convention, opine ecologists in Japan referring to problems faced in the Kyoto Protocol, the U.N. convention aimed at stemming climate change and an important diplomatic goal for Japan.

‘’The lessons of Kyoto for the upcoming conference, if held in Nagoya, is the importance of getting approval from as many countries as possible, especially the United States which plays a vital role in successful implementation of global treaties,’’ said Sumida.

Shin-ichi Suzuki, a researcher at the Yokohama-based Japanese Centre for International Studies in Ecology, also warns of unsound ecology programmes that purport to be benefit-sharing.

‘’To ensure the effectiveness of the Convention there must be stipulations that do not allow short-cuts for economic benefits such as tree planting for reforestation using species that are not native to the areas,’’ he told IPS.

Still, experts point to the recent implementation of effective biodiversity protection and sharing projects in Japan that bode well for the future.

Suzuki’s research group, for example, has conducted a highly successful forestry project in Malaysia with funding from Mitsubishi Corporation where depleted tropical rain forests have been replanted with seedlings of indigenous trees that were grown in the area together with local people, grass root organisations and academia.

The result was the creation of a diversified natural forest that will grow naturally. Japan is the biggest importer of tropical timber from Asia and Malaysia is the second largest supplier after China.

At the domestic level, Chiba prefecture, a peninsula to the west of Tokyo, is now the first regional office in Japan to develop its own biodiversity guidelines where regulations are being developed to protect local eco-systems.

Minoru Ooki, ecologist, told IPS that the city office is working hard to implement the concept of the Convention by raising local awareness through regular town meetings with residents, environmental groups and business representatives.

”Chiba contains beautiful oceans and mountains that must be protected from overuse for the benefit of our future. We show the public how genetic species support our lives, socially and economically which is the most effective way to protect biodiversity both domestically and internationally,’’ he said.

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