Charter

The islands of Okinawa where we live are founded upon coral reefs. For typhoon-prone Okinawa, these coral reefs not only play the important role of a natural breakwater, they are also as much of a treasure trove of biodiversity like tropical forests and provide us with various benefits such as fishing resources and tourism resources.

At one time in Okinawa, people used the islands' limited land and coral reefs to live a life of half farming and half fishing in harmony with the environment. Facing the richly diverse coral reefs and the vast oceans beyond, Okinawans inherited an ancient custom of intimate respect for the sea, and created a unique Okinawan culture including the Niraikanai belief in a paradise across the ocean and its related rituals, the folk customs of Hamauri festivals, distinctive arts, as well as historical heritage sites. However, this picture has dramatically changed in recent years.

When Okinawa was returned to the Japanese administration in 1972, several industrial promotion measures were taken in various sectors in accordance with the Okinawa Promotion Plan under the slogan hondo nami, or "parity with the mainland," without dealing with the issue of U.S. military bases, and there was steady improvement in people's living environment including urban infrastructure, healthcare and welfare, and education.

Meanwhile, coral reefs were becoming an important social asset in the tourism sector, which had entered the limelight as a new economic and industrial base. At the same time, however, the commercial media was hungry for advertising campaigns repeatedly conveying a stereotype image of "blue sea and white sand," resulting in the loss of various traditional values in the shadow of the economic development that Okinawans themselves wanted, and the pervasion of a monotonousimage disconnected from reality. The opportunity to properly understand the state of the coral reefs was lost.

The way we live, our so-called development and the activities of industries such as agriculture, tourism and fishing, has directly or indirectly caused the degradationof our coral reef ecosystems. Valuable coral reefs that took many years to be formed has disappeared due to successive landfill and intense coastal devepment. Even the remained coral reefs are under threat as they lose their excellent resource value due to the continuousdischarge of red soil and wastewater, outbreaks of the crown-of-thorns starfishe, coral disease, and overuse.

In addition, rising seawater temperatures and ocean acidification due to global-scale climate change have a significant impact on coral reefs, such as frequent coral bleaching, making the problem increasingly widespread and complex. Improved conservation and management are urgently required on a global level for us toinherit our valuable Okinawan coral reefs to thefuture generations.

Researchers and governments have launched efforts to preserve coral reefs, including the Okinawa Declaration at the 2004 International Coral Reef Symposium held in Okinawa, and the 2007 Basic Act on Ocean Policy and other Japanese legislation. Various activities are being carried out by local governments, NPOs and private sectors in Okinawa, such as shoreline cleanups, crown-of-thorns starfish control, ocean observation groups, coral reef regeneration trials, and the establishment of rules for the use of marine areas by tourist operators and fishermen. For these activities to be effective and lead to real conservation outcomes, it is important that we coordinate them and implement them continuously based on a full understanding of the special characteristics and diverse values concerning the nature, culture, communities and economics surrounding coral reefs.

To do so, an organization is needed that will promote community planning through the sustainable use of coral reefs and to connect all kinds of people and entities, including local residents, fishermen, tourism operators, farmers, private companies in and outside Okinawa, educators, researchers, NPOs, and government bodies. To manage such an organization comprehensively and continuously, we need to create a forum that many people with different perspectives can freely exchange information and opinions, and to provide a system for them all to participate and collaborate.

We will establish the Okinawa Coral Reef Conservation Consortium to be such an organization.

• May 18, 2008
• (Provisional) Okinawa Coral Reef Conservation/Regeneration Consortium Preparatory Committee members list
• Aki Goto, Kazuya Hirai, Harukichi Hirata, Kenji Kajiwara, Takenobu Kakinohana, Shinichiro Kakuma, Yasuhide Kobayashi, Toshihiko Miyagi, Yoshikatsu Nakano, Seiji Nakaya, Kyoko Nakayama, Moritaka Nishihira, Ken Okaji, Kunitoshi Sakurai, Reiko Terada, Kunitaro Ueda, Yukihide Uezato, Akira Urazaki, Shigeki Yasumura, Hitoshi Yokoi, Minoru Yoshida
  (In alphabetical order)