OEJP's New Year Message for 2024

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 Okinawa Environmental Justice Project's New Year Message for 2024

Happy New Year!

We at the OEJP want to start the year 2024 by saying "Thank You" to those individuals and organizations who supported and worked with the Okinawa Environmental Justice Project throughout 2023. With your support and collaboration, we were able to continue our fight to protect Henoko-Oura Bay and the UNESCO World Natural Heritage Yambaru forest from the militarization by the Japanese and the U.S. governments of these areas. 

Stopping the Japanese government’s construction of a U.S. military base at Henoko-Oura Bay and the U.S. military’s training in the Yambaru forest is undoubtedly an enormous challenge, and we are still far from meeting the challenge. The destruction of Henoko-Oura Bay continued last year and is likely to be intensified this year. The impacts of the U.S. military’s training on the Yambaru forest have remained unexamined. However, we saw critical developments in 2023; we can build our subsequent actions on these developments in 2024.

New Year's Day Hachiukuchi (First Rising or First Working )at Henoko

Henoko Base Construction
In November, responding to media reporters' questions, a top official of the U.S. military in Okinawa publicly expressed for the first time the military’s concerns over the operability of the Henoko base on the sinking seafloor (even if it is completed), construction delays, and other related issues. That was a critical development. Now, only the Japanese government boasts confidence in this reckless project. The U.S. Congress and U.S. think tanks have raised questions about the project. Even the Japanese Court, while ruling in favor of the Japanese government over the issue of seafloor reinforcement work for the construction in the execution by proxy lawsuit, acknowledged the possibility that there are likely to be more design changes required for the base construction. 

Since the issues of soft seafloor surfaced in late 2018, the OEJP has repeatedly requested that the U.S. government evaluate the issues by itself (also this link). Relatedly, in September, two months before the U.S. military in Okinawa announced its concerns, the OEJP filed the U.S. FIOA requests with the U.S. military to release its analysis and evaluation of the issues of soft seafloor found at the construction site, impacts of seafloor reinforcement work on the environment, and operability of the base. Local media outlets introduced the OEJP’s FOIA filings, and some media outlets also filled similar FOIA requests with the DoD. While we have not received the requested formal evaluation, we now have the verbal comments from the top official of the U.S. military in Okinawa.

This year, the OEJP continues to take the issues of soft seafloor and environmental destruction to elected officials in the U.S. Congress and officials in the Japanese Diet. Our points are clear. With the extremely soft seafloor at the construction site and its world-class biodiversity, Henoko-Oura Bay is unsuitable for a military facility; it is an area for environmental protection. Protecting the biodiversity of Henoko-Oura Bay will help create a better relationship between Okinawa, the U.S., and Japan.

Yambaru Forest
In July last year, the Japanese and U.S. governments announced a new agreement to enhance the collaborative efforts to protect the Yambaru forest. One agreement component provides a framework for local communities to work directly with the U.S. military in Okinawa. That was a critical development. Accordingly, the Ministry of the Environment will hold a meeting between the U.S. military and “local communities,” including the Okinawa prefectural government, Kunigami, Ogimi, Higashi, other local organizations and NGOs, and NPOs. The OEJP plans to participate in the meeting and hopes to have a frank discussion with the U.S. military.  

The new agreement came into existence in light of the fact the OEJP, in collaboration with local community members and the World Heritage Watch Network, informed the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and IUCN that the previous agreement and collaboration mechanism that the two governments set up for the protection of the World Heritage site were ineffective in many regards. We requested that the World Heritage Centre and IUCN encourage both governments to make the mechanism effective. 

This year, the OEJP continues to engage with the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and IUCN through the World Heritage Watch network and the Japanese and the U.S. governments. Our stance is clear: the World Heritage Yambaru forest is not suitable for military training; it should be a place for environmental protection and a place to demonstrate how the World Heritage Convention can protect its World Heritage site.

Local Fight, International Frameworks, Militarization and Environment, and Our Network
The OEJP has a bold vision for the year 2024 and beyond. First, to protect Henoko-Oura Bay and the Yambaru forest, the OEJP aims to take advantage of mechanisms available to the civil society of international frameworks, including the World Heritage Convention, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the U.N. Human Rights Council. That means we will submit reports, requests, and suggestions to these international bodies while urging the Japanese and the U.S. governments to be exemplary of the visions that these international bodies represent.    

Second, the OEJP strives to help bring the public attention to the relationship between war, militarization, and the environment. With the wars in Ukraine, Gaza, and many parts of the world destroying human lives, humanity, and the environment, and with militarization impacting the people’s lives and environments in many parts of the world, the global society has come to acknowledge that the international community cannot exclude the impacts of wars and militarization from our discussion on climate change, biodiversity and ecosystem lose, and pollution. As a civil society project based in Okinawa, which has been forced to be a part of wars and militarization, the OEJP has a critical role in studying and informing the broader public of the relationship and advocating non-military solutions to international conflicts.

Finally, the OEJP strengthens our organizational capacities and relationships with other civil society members in Japan and beyond. The OEJP is a very small project in terms of human and financial resources. We have been able to do what we have done because of the support and collaboration from civil society members and organizations. To continue working with other civil society members and put our bold vision into practice, the OEJP needs more people on board and secure funding. 

We wish you and our planet a great year ahead!

Henoko Blue's New Year's Day Protest at Henoko





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