Okinawa Environmental Justice Project

Media's Attention to the World Heritage Watch Report 2022 （日本語は下にあります） On November 8, 2022, the World Heritage Watch Report 2022 made  the headline of The Ryukyu Shimpo , a leading newspaper in Okinawa, Japan. Our report, “The Northern Part of Okinawa Island under the Impact of the U.S. Military’s Northern Training Area,” is introduced in an article by The Ryukyu Shimpo reporter Shugo Asato.    The 47 NEWS , a newsfeed network based in mainland Japan, has picked up and distributed the Shimpo article.  Image Source: The Ryukyu Shimpo The Ryukyu Shimpo also ran an editorial explaining the context in which our report was produced. It calls for cleaning up the U.S. military’s waste in the World Heritage site and stopping environmentally damaging military exercises and the Henoko base construction.    The Ryukyu Broadcasting Corporation (RBC) also aired a news report on the  WHW Report 2022 , showing an interview clip of Akino Miyagi, one of the authors of our report.    Last week, Th

Please click here for the English version. 2022 年 10 月 31 日、ユネスコ世界遺産の保全保護に取り組む NGO, World Heritage Watch が『 World Heritage Watch Report 2022 』 ( 『 WHW Report 2022 』 ) をリリースした。 2021 年に世界自然遺産に登録された「沖縄島北部（やんばるの森）」についての私たちの報告「 The Northern Part of Okinawa Island under the Impact of the U.S. Military’s Northern Training Area 」も含まれている 。           2017 年から毎年リリースされている『 WHW Report 』は、 1100 以上ある世界遺産のなかでも、問題を抱える世界遺産について、市民社会のメンバーがその現状と問題解決のための提案を示す重要な報告書である。『 WHW Report 』は、ユネスコ世界遺産センター、 IUCN などの関係国際機関に送られ、 市民社会による関係政府へのロビーイングの材料として重要な役割を果たしてきた。   『 WHW Report 2022 』では、 57 の世界遺産について報告があり、やんばるの森についての報告では、やんばるの森が直面する北部訓練場や訓練の問題、遺産地内で発見され続ける米軍廃棄物の問題が取り上げられ、問題解決のための提案が示されている（資料 1 ）。同報告の著者は、 Okinawa Environmental Justice Project 代表の吉川秀樹、 The Informed Public Project 代表の河村雅美、チョウ類研究者の宮城秋乃、そして、辺野古・高江を守ろう！ NGO ネットワークの花輪伸一の 4 人である。 私たちは、やんばるの森の世界自然遺産登録の過程を通して、一貫して、日本政府が隠そうとしてきた北部訓練場の問題と北部訓練場跡地における米軍廃棄物の問題と、その解決の必要性を世界遺産センターと IUCN に訴えてきた。市民社会のその訴えは、環境省の 2019 年の世界遺産登録推薦書における北部訓練場の存在の明記や、世界自然遺産に関わる問題解決に取り組むため

日本語バージョンは ここをクリック We are pleased to announce that, on October 31, 2022, World Heritage Watch , an NGO dedicated to protecting UNESCO World Heritage sites, released the  World Heritage Watch Report 2022  (WHW Report 2022). It includes our report "The Northern Part of Okinawa Island under the Impact of the U.S. Military's Northern Training Area" (p.69-72). “The Northern Part of Okinawa Island” (locally referred to as the Yambaru forest) was inscribed on the World Heritage List in July 2021.            The  WHW Reports , released annually since 2017, have been a critical tool for members of civil society to bring international attention to the status of troubled World Heritage sites and present suggestions and recommendations to solve these problems. The  WHW Reports  are shared with the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, IUCN, and other relevant international organizations. Its series has played a significant role in civil society's lobbying of relevant governments.  The  WH

日本語のプレスリリースは下にあります。               October 19, 2022  PRESS RELEASE  Stop Henoko! Close Futenma!: 100 civil society organizations and 32 U.S. elected officials join the Letter of Request to U.S. Congress members   Critical momentum has been building up in the civil society's movement against the Japanese and U.S. government's plans to build a U.S. military base at Henoko-Oura Bay, Okinawa, Japan. As of October 19, 100 civil society groups and organizations and 32 U.S. elected officials at state and municipal levels have joined our Letter of Request to U.S. Congress members. We expect that more organizations and elected officials will join the Letter. Sit-in protest and blokade under Okinawa's Autumn Sky  at the Gate of Capm Schwab (Sep. 22, 2022) The Letter urges the U.S. federal legislators to take the initiative to stop the base construction at Henoko-Oura Bay and close the dangerous U.S. Futenma Air Station for which the Henoko base is being built as its replacement.   Eig

日本語記事と書簡の和訳は下にあります。 On September 7, 2022, 87 groups and organizations from Okinawa, Japan, and beyond sent a letter of request to 32 legislators selected from the U.S. Senate and House Armed Service Committees.  The Letter asks the legislators to take the initiative to stop the military base construction in Henoko-Oura Bay, close the dangerous U.S. Futenma Air Station in Ginowan City, and draw up a new realignment plan.  Encouragingly, The Intercept has published an article , which discusses the Letter in some detail and the increasingly tense East Asian context in which the Letter was created and sent.  The 15 page Letter is embedded in the article! The Letter supports and provides complementary information to Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki’s decision to disapprove the Japanese government’s application for seafloor reinforcement work, which would be necessary for the Japanese government to continue the military base construction.   It highlights the Japanese government’s misleading inf

日本語は下にあります. In April this year, the article " Trajectory to local extinction of an isolated dugong population near Okinawa Island " was published in Scientific Reports. The article is a revised version of the article " Local extinction of an isolated dugong population near Okinawa Island ," submitted to Scientific Reports and uploaded to the Research Square site for comments in April 2021. Five Japanese scholars wrote it, and four of them have a close relationship with the construction of a U.S. military base at Henoko-Oura Bay.  While I appreciate that the authors have incorporated into the revised version the references that I had suggested for inclusion in my comments on the original version, I find that the revised version is still peculiar in many respects.  So, like I did with their original article , I have submitted my comments on the revised version to Scientific Reports.  Let's see how Scientific Reports and the authors react to my comments. Hideki Yos

More update (March 30, 2022) (日本語は下です） Thanks to your attention and support, we were able to get the Okinawa prefectural government to upload information regarding Governor Denny Tamaki's disapproval of the Okinawa Defense Bureau's application for changes in the design and work of Henoko base construction on its Washington D.C. office's website. https://dc-office.org/post/1606 We still don't know and are puzzled why it took the prefectural government such a long time. Anyway this is a critical tool to challenge and stop the Henoko base construction project. Share and spread the information! Hideki Yoshikawa Director Update information March 25, 2022 I am happy to update my last post with a positive note. In my last post, I raised concerns about the lack of information on the Okinawa Prefectural Government Washington D.C. Office’s website about Governor Denny Tamaki’s decision to reject the Okinawa Defense’s application for changes in the design and work of the U.S. mil