International Exchanges

My Hometownfs International Exchange-Nagoya City

Saki Yamada (Faculty of Economics, 3rd Year)

  Many migratory birds rest on the Fujimae Tidal Flat. They may have come all the way from north, but they havenft reached their final destination just quite yet. They are ready to fly off from the Fujimae Tidal Flat to some place far away.
  My hometown is Nagoya, Aichi, which is located in the center of the mainland of Japan. Nagoya has a population of about two million and twenty five thousand people, also known as one of the most famous cities in Japan. Nagoya has sister cities relationships with five cities including Los Angeles, Sydney, Mexico, Torino and Nanjing. A number of good will envoys pay a visit during Nagoya Festival to interact with Nagoya residents. In addition, a cuisine from each sister city is served for lunch at elementary schools once a year. For example, tacos are provided as a representative dish for Mexico. The Nagoya International Center, which is a public facility in Nagoya, takes part in the World Terakoya Movement. Thus, Nagoya city attempts in variety of international exchanges and 2010 was a special year because an influential international conference was held that year.
  In 2010, COP10, the 10th meeting of Convention on Biological Diversity was opened in Nagoya. CBD is known to conserve biodiversity and in order to do so, there are two treaties: the Ramsar Convention and the Washington Convention. However, these treaties only apply to particular areas, ergo, it is difficult to preserve biodiversity all over the world. For this reason, CBD is suggested as a comprehensive frame. COP10 has three purposes: the first purpose is to preserve not only a great variety of life but also their habitats, the second purpose is to conserve biological resources, and the third purpose is to distribute the profit which arises from genetic resources fairly and equitably. Therefore, Nagoya city, the venue of COP10, has to apply CBD to the Fujimae Tidal Flat.
  The Fujimae Tidal Flat is located in the southern part of Nagoya and extends across the mouth of the Shounai, Shin and Nikko Rivers. It holds an area of approximately 200 hectares and is one of the most famous wetlands in Japan. There have been 172 kinds of birds observed, with 41 species being snipes and plovers. Snipes and plovers are representative examples of migratory birds at the Fujimae Tidal Flat. The snipes and plovers that come to the Fujimae Tidal Flat stop at Japan during spring and autumn, spend the summer breeding on the tundra of Siberia and Alaska, and overcome winter in Southeast Asia and Oceania. They travel about ten thousand kilometers between the breeding sites in Siberia and wintering sites in Australia. The Fujimae Tidal Flat is on the East Asia- Australia flyway, so it is important for them to take a rest and secure food. Hence, the Fujimae Tidal Flat was inscribed as a registered wetland under the Ramsar Convention in November 2002. According to experts, the number of migrant birds that stop at the Fujimae Tidal Flat is decreasing today and their flyway is changing although it is not clear whether global warming brings about the situation. In order to save the migrant birds, we need to keep the flyway clear and that is why we cooperate with all countries to preserve the environment.
  As a first step, Nagoya made a wetland alliance with Geelong on May 22, 2007. Geelong is located in southwestern Australia and has a population of twenty three million people. It has more than one hundred wetlands and a portion of them is inscribed as registered wetlands under the Ramsar Convention as well as Nagoya. Every year, six million migratory birds fly over, with some possibly from the Fujimae Tidal Flat. In order to preserve the migratory birds, we should preserve not only the Fujimae Tidal Flat but also the wetlands in Geelong. That is the reason Nagoya and Geelong concludes the treaty.
  Today, Nagoya city carries out two projects as a wetland alliance with Geelong. First of all, Nagoya city has sent middle school students to Geelong every other year since 2007. They stay for four nights and six days to study how to preserve the marshes in Geelong. They also study about the Fujimae Tidal Flat and the marshes in Geelong beforehand. When they arrive, they observe the marshes by riding the canoe, pay a courtesy visit to the mayor of Geelong, and deliver a presentation on the Fujimae Tidal Flat. Nagoya city longs for young people to acknowledge the Fujimae Tidal Flat and to become international leaders for the next generation through the program. By joining the organization, students realized how little they knew about the Fujimae Tidal Flat and it reminded them to refrain littering. Moreover, they make an effort to tell their friends how important the Fujimae Tidal Flat and the swamps in Geelong are. Secondly, the real-time images of the Fujimae Tidal Flat and the swamps in Geelong are delivered by both Nagoya and Geelong websites. Live cameras are placed in both wetlands for one to see both images whenever they want. If you visit the website for wetlands in Nagoya, click the control button and youfll have control of the live camera for 60 seconds. In the meantime, you can operate freely and look at the images. Of course, the best way is to actually go to the swamps, but this allows people who find it too difficult to make time to take a further look at both wetlands. Furthermore, Nagoya city is planning on utilizing Skype as a new project to conduct conference calls with students of Geelong to exchange more frequently within the limited times of dispatching. Skyping with dispatched middle school students will allow Nagoya and Geelong to exchange more information to preserve wetlands and enhance mutual understanding.
  The wetland alliance between Nagoya and Geelong is just getting started. Migratory birds cross the border as if they connect the world and they may teach us how essential it is to cooperate to protect the natural environment.
The Fujimae Tidal Flat
inserted by FC2 system