Project
Field of Research
Ecology, Taxonomy, Molecular Biology, Medical Science, Agro-Forestry, Marine Biology, Museumology
Duration: 2012-2015
Leader
Harufumi Nishida
Steering Committee
Hiroyuki Takeda, Hiroo Fukuda, Hidetoshi Ota: Possible International members: DedyDarnaedi (Indonesia), Kunio Iwatsuki, Karyn Arroyo (Chile), Motonori Hoshi, Makoto Asashima, Noriyuki Sato, Steven Wagstaff (New Zealand) Ikuko Nishimura
Countries involved
Australia, Chile, China, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, Phillippines, Russia, others may be added
Publications
IUBS triennial DAB Programme in cooperation with Biodiversity Network Japan. 6-9 Sept 2014, Japan. A symposium abstract is printed. The pdf is available from BDNJ web site: http://www.bdnj.org/pdf/abstract0824.pdf
Action plan for the triennium 2012-2014
The IUBS Committee of the Science Council of Japan, Term 22nd had its first meeting on April 22, 2012, where the first discussion on proposing this DAB program was opened. Therefore, the present program for the first year of triennium will start to organize an international working group to summerize recent information related to DAB worldwide in order to address the activities for the next two years. The DAB action can be planned tentatively as below.
- 2013: Start a DAB Working Group (WG) consisting of Japanese members and up to fiveselected international members. To start with, one workshop meeting will be held in Japan.
- 2014 : Organize at least one workshop and one international symposium. The frequency of the workshops and the meeting places will be decided in 2013 workshop. The symposium can be held either in Japan or other countries depending on national fund-raising results and the amount of IUBS funding.
- 2015: At least one workshop for editing a publication of the results. The final goal of this triennium is to issue a publication on DAB at the end of 2015.
About
Disaster and Biodiversity
The Great East Japan Earthquake that occurred on 11 March, 2011 followed by the collapse of the Fukushima Atomic Power Plant not only destroyed local human life and properties, but also seriously damaged biodiversity and primary industry of the area. Furthermore, many local museums and biological specimens were also lost or damaged. The local biodiversity and biological records are a part of global biological resources that insure future sustainability, and best be inherited to the next generation as good as possible. Japan has paid large attention to biodiversity, e.g., renewing four times the National Biodiversity Strategy since 1995. However, the 3.11 disaster clarified the lack of national academic and social systems that could continuously monitor local biodiversity and biological information to provide necessary data for urgent rescue activities of various aspects and fields. It is also an urgent need to establish a protocol for precautious measures in case of future disasters. Based on the experience in Japan the DAB project aims to accumulate similar problems worldwide in order to present a standard measures and policy from various aspects for minimizing disaster influences.
Background
One of the peculiar features of the current human and earth history is that human acitvities have reached to the level that could cause disasters. Possibly originated from human activities, huge storms, sea-water raise, and other unpredictable climate fluctuations caused serious biodiversity loss which is disadvantageous to the local as well as global economy. Recent natural disasters that have occurred wroldwide, though incidental, even caused human-based second disasters such as the Fukushima atomic pollution. Disasters, irrespective of natural or anthropogenic, destroy local biodiveristy, ecosystems that provide ecological services and human life and culture. The 3.11 earthquake and subsequent disasters in Japan in 2011 gave us an opportunity to think and act seriously and globally on this issue. Similar disasters have recently occurred in various countries, e.g. China, Indonesia, New Zealand, and Chile. It is time that international academic societies should deal with this issue.Objectives
The Japanese Tsunami and Earthquake disaster and further collapse of the Fukushima Atomic Power Plant in March 2011 evoked national movement to monitor the loss and recovery of biodiversity and related biological resources in local (affected) environments. The disaster also damaged many local museums and preserved biological specimens, including type specimens. Various natural disasters and related human-invoked chain disasters, such as one in Fukushima, and even wars, not only influence local biodiversity and bio-resources, but also damage biological records which should be kept safely for the future generations. The biological communities have never took an international action to discuss aboutthe influence of such disasters, recovery process, and future precautional approaches.
Summerize recent disaster-related biodiversity loss, influence on the primary production (agriculture, fishing .. etc.),damages to biological information and records, their rescue and recoveryprocess, then establish an international protocol for establishing an effective logistics to minimize disaster influences based on precautional risk management.
Activities
Activities are summarized every year for review through the Executive Board of IUBS. Activities in the Disaster and Biodiversity Programme have been summarized for the years:Conferences and Workshops
Information about conferences and workshops in the Disaster and Biodiversity programme is available here.