The 5th Conference of the Conservation Society for Japanese Black Bears in the East Chugoku Mountain Range will be held on October 8th and 9th, 2006. The main themes of the conference are: management of Japanese black bears (Ursus thibetanus japonicus) in the East Chugoku Mountain Range, and the roles that environmental education may play in the preservation of wildlife, especially Japanese black bears.
We have coexisted with wildlife for centuries while making active use of what we can acquire from their habitats. However, as our lifestyles have gone through a great deal of change in the last several decades, the situations surrounding wild animals have also changed. This means that the characteristics of the relationships between humans and animals have changed. It also means that the balance that has long existed between the two has been breaking down. In particular, Japanese black bears (Ursus thibetanus japonicus), which epitomize forest-dwelling wild animals, have been having difficulty living side by side with humans. They often damage farm products and planted trees and sometimes harm humans. These bears, especially those living in western Japan, have been fragmented into isolated small groups, put on the red lists compiled by local governments, and are in danger of becoming extinct in the near future unless something is done. Because forests inhabited by these animals are not so deep and thus exist right next to human communities, bears often come out into such communities and inadvertently threaten the peace of the residents living there or even cause injuries to them. These bears also cause heavy damage to forests. Japanese black bears usually inhabit forests of deciduous broadleaf trees. However, such forests have been dwindling because they have been replaced with plantations of coniferous trees such as cedars and Japanese cypresses. Not having enough to eat, the bears living in these changing forests have no choice but to eat the bark of the planted trees, thus causing a great deal of damage.
It is against this background that prefectures with black bears have drawn up management plans for the black bear populations and put them into practice. The 17th IBA Conference on Bear Research and Management will be held early in October this year, in Karuizawa, Nagano. This is the first IBA Conference in Asia. Bear scholars and researchers from all over the world will gather in Nagano to exchange information and opinions. We feel it is of great importance to inform the public about the unprecedented bear management issues that prefectures in western Japan are being faced with, and to discuss how they can be handled.Since numerous human-bear encounters received a great deal of attention and became a social issue in 2004, concern for the protection and management of Japanese black bears has been growing. In fact, more and more requests are being made of local governments to devise effective measures for managing bear populations and preventing bear damage. There are also more and more citizen groups involved in these efforts.
In the meantime, the role environmental education may play in creating better relationships between humans and wildlife has been gaining recognition among those who are involved in wildlife conservation issues. However, the significance of the role has not been sufficiently recognized. In the last few years, the Japanese Black Bear Society has conducted a good many educational workshops targeted at school children, particularly elementary school students, as well as the general public. The workshops teach about these animals and the issues they are faced with. Similar workshops have been conducted in other areas in Japan and abroad. If environmental education is to have a role to play in the conservation and management of wildlife, as we believe it will, its value should be properly recognized. For that to happen, there should be a great increase in the exchange of information and opinions about how it is best to implement environmental education.
Our society, the Conservation Society for Japanese Black Bears in the East Chugoku Mountain Range, hopes the coming conference will be a place where issues concerning the management of Japanese black bears, the values of environmental education, and the effective techniques of environmental education will be fully clarified, recognized and explored.
【Place】W-322 Lecture Room on the third floor of Faculty of Agriculture main Building in Kyoto University Yoshida North Campus
See the campus map and access map on the faculty of agriculture web site
【How get to Kyoto from Karuizawa be held IBA】
「[By Bullet train]
Karuizawa station
↓ Shinkansen bullet train(68min)
Tokyo station
↓Shinkansen bullet train(138min)
cost=18330Japanese Yen(Shinkansen bullet
train)+220Yen(Buss)
[By Night Buss]
Karuizawa (Departure:20:10)
↓ night buss
cost=9000 Japanese Yen+220Yen(Buss)
【Host】
| The Japanese Black Bear Conservation Society in the East Chugoku Mountain
Range Laboratory of Forest Biology Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University |
Roles that environmental education can play in promoting the conservation and protection of black bears and their coexistence with humans.
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| Any questions about the Symposium or our society are appriciated. Please contact us by e-mail. |
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