北部、西表を世界自然遺産に正式推薦 2017/01/21

Biodiverse island areas in northern Okinawa nominated for UNESCO World Natural Heritage

January 20, 2017 Ryukyu Shimpo

On January 19 at a meeting of the Inter-Ministerial/Agency Co-ordination Committee (IMACC) for World Natural Heritage, the Japanese government decided to formally nominate an area that spans parts of Kagoshima and Okinawa Prefectures as a Natural Heritage candidate site with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Centre. This site is comprised of Amami Oshima, Tokuno Island, a northern part of Okinawa Island, and Iriomote Island.


Now, the nomination file must be submitted to UNESCO through a Cabinet decision by February 1. After that, advisory bodies to UNESCO will carry out examinations around autumn this year, and the World Heritage Committee will make a decision on whether to include the site on the World Heritage List at earliest in summer 2018. An official of the Ministry of the Environment said that the IMACC believes that all the conditions for UNESCO registration have been satisfied.

The candidate site is about 37,946 hectares in total. Regarding the region’s “remarkable universal value” as a World Heritage site, the IMACC says that the candidate site is home to unique biological development that occurred during the process of island formation, and that it is an area in which it is important to conserve biodiversity represented by endemic species that are rare worldwide.

As of 2015 the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species included 86 endangered species of flora and fauna (70 of which are endemic to the area) living and breeding on the candidate site, such as the Iriomote cat, Amami rabbit, and Yambaru-kuina (Okinawa rail). As measures for protection [of these endangered species], the government is promoting countermeasures against mongoose and other nonnative species, promotion of ecotourism, appropriate monitoring and use of information, and the like.
In addition to the Natural Heritage candidate site, the IMACC decided to formally nominate areas of Nagasaki and Amakusa as a Cultural Heritage candidate site. These areas harbored early Japanese Christianity back when Christians had to conceal their beliefs.

(English translation by T&CT and Erin Jones)
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北部、西表を世界自然遺産に正式推薦

琉球新報　2017年1月20日 07:30 

 

　【東京】政府は１９日、世界遺産条約の関係省庁連絡会議を開き、自然遺産候補として「奄美大島、徳之島、沖縄島北部および西表島」（鹿児島、沖縄）を国連教育科学文化機関（ユネスコ）世界遺産センターへ正式に推薦することを決めた。今後、閣議決定を経て２月１日までにユネスコへ推薦書を提出する。その後、ユネスコは諮問機関による調査を今年の秋ごろに実施し、早ければ２０１８年夏の世界遺産委員会で登録の可否を決める。環境省の担当者は「関係省庁は登録できる条件はそろったとの認識だ」と話している。

　推薦区域は計３万７９４６ヘクタール。「世界遺産としての顕著な普遍的価値」について、島々が成立する過程で独自の生物進化がみられることや、国際的にも希少な固有種に代表される生物多様性を保全する上で重要な地域であるとしている。

　推薦地は、イリオモテヤマネコやアマミノクロウサギ、ヤンバルクイナなど国際自然保護連合のレッドリスト（２０１５）に登録された絶滅危惧種８６種（うち７０種は固有種）を含む動植物の生息・生育地となっている。政府は保護管理の施策としてマングースなどの外来種対策やエコツーリズムの推進、適切なモニタリングと情報の活用などをうたっている。

　関係省庁連絡会議ではこのほか、文化遺産候補として「長崎と天草地方の潜伏キリシタン関連遺産」（長崎、熊本）を正式に推薦することも決めた。