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Action Plan for the Conservation of Migratory Anatidae
in the East Asian Flyway: 2001-2005

Report of the activities in year 2001

[ in Japanese ] [ Back ]

The Action Plan has been developed under the Asia-Pacific Migratory Waterbird Conservation Strategy: 2001-2005 to achieve long-term conservation of migratory Anatidae (ducks, geese and swans) and their habitats in the East Asian Flyway. In recognition of the need for international cooperation, this Action Plan outlines priority actions to be undertaken in the flyway, in close collaboration with government agencies, site management authorities, researchers, local communities and non-government organisations.

Here we would like to report the activities in the first year of the 5 year period of 2001-2005, under the Action Plan and in the Anatidae Site Network in the East Asian Flyway. The report follows the 13 priority actions that the Action Plan calls for. We tried to evaluate the achievement in the first year:

It seems that more efforts is needed to enhance the conservation of Anatidae and their habitats in the flyway with further co-operation and resouces in the next 4 years.

[ Network of sites ]

[ Threatened Anatidae ]

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[ Capacity building ]

[ Knowledge ]

[ Relationships ]

Action 1
Obtain nominations of sites from countries to the Anatidae Site Network in the East Asian Flyway, that include minimum of 10% of Anatidae key sites.

In various occasions such as meetings and communications between organisations governmental and/or non-governmental, and approaches by Anatidae Working Group members and the Flyway Officer, it has been saught to have further participation from countries in the flyway and additional nomination of Network Site. In January 2001, Mai Po and Inner Deep Bay, the famous Ramsar wetlands in Hong Kong, People's Republic of China, joined the Site Network as 26th site. In the 3rd meeting of Anatidae Working Group in Niigata, November 2001, there were suggested possibilities of near-future nominations from China, Thailand and Japan.

In response to the Ramsar RES VII.11: Strategic Framework and guidelines for the future development of the List of Wetlands of International Importance in 1999, many countries has made their efforts to identify the wetlands of international importance in their country, based on the Ramsar criteria. In Thailand, the Office of Environmental Policy and Planning has identified 61 internationally important wetlands, among which at least 4 wetlands are important for Anatidae populations, as well as 208 nationally important wetlands in 2001 (from the report by Mr. Uthai Treesucon (unpublished) of Anatidae Working Group in Ramsar Symposium Niigata II, Nov. 2001).

In Japan, the Ministry of the Environment launched 500 Important Wetlands in Japan where they listed 500 sites of important wetlands in the country. Most of the wetlands of international importance for Anatidae populations has been listed there. It has raised considerable awareness on those wetlands to the wide audience in the country.

Action 2
Develop of the site-twinning programme in the Site Network.

A joint efforts was made in the summer of 2001 to study ecology and migration of Bewick's Swan Cygnus bewickii breeding in Lena Delta, Yakutia, Russia by the Yonago Waterbird Sanctuary and the Lena-Nordenskiold Biological Station, with financial support from ZENROSAI, Japan. It was the first joint programme of two Network Sites in different countries. It provided not only research efforts but also educational opportunities in the local schools (Pozdnyakov 2001 in Anet Newsletter No.2).

Flyway Officer has been engaged in collection of practices of site-twinning in the world. In 2001, The World Commission on the Protected Areas of IUCN published a reference book of Implementation of an Exchange Programme for Protected Areas in East Asia (Hayes & Shultis 2001). These materials shall help develop site-twinning programmes among the Network Sites and other important sites for Anatidae in the flyway.

Action 3
Encourage the development of management plans for Network Sites.

Action 4
Develop the Site Information Sheet and Database for the management of Network Sites, based on the monitoring of the habitats.

Among the Network Sites, some sites have its management plan for the conservation of their site (e.g. Mai Po and Inner Deep Bay by the Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China, and Lake Sakata by Niigata City Government (2000), Japan) and the others have been in developement (e.g. Naujan Lake National Park, Philippines). It is necessary to encourage and support further development in the Nework Sites and other key sites for Anatidae populations.

In some Network Sites they have been engaged in monitoring of the sites and biodiversity including Anatidae populations by the management authorities, in cooperation with non-governmental organisations, with the participation of local people and students, on the contract with research companies, and so on. Local governments of some sites in Japan have a small fund to support such a study by students (e.g. Akkeshi Township Government for Akkeshi-ko & Bekambeushi-shitsugen, Niigata City Government for Sakata). The Site Information Sheet for the Anatiae Site Network is modelled with Ramsar Information Sheet and some Network Sites use the Information Sheet. It is necessary to encourage and support further for monitoring efforts in the Network Sites, with focusing on the sites insuffiently monitored yet, and other key Anatidae sites in the flyway.

[ Network of sites ]

[ Threatened Anatidae ]

[ Awareness ]

[ Capacity building ]

[ Knowledge ]

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Action 5
Develop Action Plans for two priority populations of threatened Anatidae in the flyway; Priority species in 2001-2005 are Swan Goose and Baikal Teal.

First effort was made for Swan Goose in 2001: with financial support from KNCF, Goose and Swan Study Group of Eastern Europe and North Asia (RGG) and Japanese Association for Wild Geese Protection (JAWGP) jointly collect information of the species in the flyway including survey of breeding condition in the Russian Far East and tracing their migration (Poyarkov & Kurechi 2001). In the scheme they marked breeding flocks with neck-collars in the Udyl Lake, a Ramsar Site in Amur Riverbasin in Russia, and one of them was resighted in the Estuary of Han-gang near Seoul, Korea in early December. It was the first proof of their migration route from Amur to Korea, which may further connect with China. It is planned that the relevant personals from govermental and non-governmental organisations and experts will gather in Beijing, China, in August of 2002 for drafting Action Plan.

[ Network of sites ]

[ Threatened Anatidae ]

[ Awareness ]

[ Capacity building ]

[ Knowledge ]

[ Relationships ]

Action 6
Develop educational materials to promote Anatidae conservation.

Action 7
Develop site-based educational programmes to enhance awareness in the local communities living around the Network Sites.

Many of Network Sites has made efforts to develop educational and awareness materials, and to develop and implement educational programmes, on a site basis. It has not been developed a basic material on Anatidae and their habitats that would be used in everywhere in the flyway (for example biological notes on every species of Anatidae) and in every Asian languages, and it needs further efforts and funds.

[ Network of sites ]

[ Threatened Anatidae ]

[ Awareness ]

[ Capacity building ]

[ Knowledge ]

[ Relationships ]

Action 8
Provide access to personnel of Network Sites to existing training programmes on species monitoring and wetland management, and develop and implement training activities.

The 1^st Conference of the Goose and Swan Study Group of Eastern Europe and North Asia (RGG) was held in Moscow, 25-27 January 2001. A series of reports were presented and discussions were made on "Problems of studying and conservation of Anseriformes of eastern Europe and north Asia". Some Network Sites in Russia joined the conference as well as the Chair of Anatidae Working Group, Mr. Kurechi. In Japan, Ramsar Symposium Niigata II was held in November 2001 (organised by Ministry of the Environment, Japan, Niigata Prefecture Government, Niigata City Government, Niigata NGO Group, Wetlands International - Japan, and Ramsar Center Japan) and many Anatidae Network Sites in Japan and Anatidae Working Group members joined as well as local governments and organisations in other wetland site in Japan. These meetings provided an opportunity for Anatidae Sites to exchange their experiences and discuss conservation issues in their sites.

In an exchange programme between governments of Hunan Province in China and Shiga Prefecture in Japan, a staff of Dong Dongting Hu National Nature Reserve joined a training programme co-ordinated by Shiga Prefecture Lake Biwa Museum. A series of training programmes were held in Lake Biwa-ko (a Ramsar Site and an Anatidae Network Site) and other wetland site in Japan including Lakes Izunuma and Uchinuma (a Ramsar Site) and Lake Kabukurinuma (an Anatidae Network Site) in co-operation with local NGOs and institutions around those sites.

Further efforts and funds are needed to provide access to personnel of Network Sites to existing training programmes and to develop and implement training activities.

[ Network of sites ]

[ Threatened Anatidae ]

[ Awareness ]

[ Capacity building ]

[ Knowledge ]

[ Relationships ]

Action 9
Promote the identification of important sites for Anatidae populations.

Action 10
Promote the monitoring of Anatidae populations in the flyway.

Action 11
Promote the conduct of research projects on migration of selected Anatidae populations through ringing and satellite tracking.

Action 12
Assessment of hunting pressure for understanding conservation needs of Anatidae.

Continuous efforts has been made in Asian Waterbird Census by Wetlands International, national mid-winter waterbird counts (e.g. Ministry of the Environment, Japan), migration studies and ecological studies by each national bird banding centres, research institutions, universities, and NGOs, in some countries.

Such research efforts has been made in the year 2001, for example, as:

• Breeding Condition of Scaly-sided Merganser in the Russian Far-East by Russian study group with financial support from The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, United Kingdom;
• Effects of Global Warming to the Anatidae Populations in the East Asia by RGG and JAWGP, with financial support from JFGE;
• "Amur 2001" by WWF Russia Programme, Tokyo University and others.

The Ministry of the Environment, Japan, launched a website to report the survey of Anatidae populations in the country (in Japanese language), where any observers such as scientists, students, and bird-watchers can input the record of observation of Anatidae flocks and marked birds in each wetland sites on-line and can immediately confirm the records in a table and on a map.

[ Network of sites ]

[ Threatened Anatidae ]

[ Awareness ]

[ Capacity building ]

[ Knowledge ]

[ Relationships ]

Action 13
Establish links among and/or co-ordinate with concerned organisations and experts to assist in the activities of the Network Sites, and enhance the exchange of information on the conservation of Anatidae populations and their habitat.

The RGG has covered Anatidae issues, mainly in Russia, in the East Asian Flyway and staff from some Network Sites joined the group. It has published annual bulletin Casarca (mainly in Russian but some in English) to report their studies, conservation discussion, and other Anatidae information. In China, the China Ornithological Society has established Crane and Waterbird Specialist Group to cover all waterbird issues and it published newsletters bilingual in Chinese and in English. Some Japanese ornithologists (JOGA) have been engaged in the review of Anatidae studies in the country and discussion on the perspective of future studies, along with holding annual meeting on their review works and for discussion.

The JAWGP has hosted a list-server to connect Anatidae researchers, bird-watchers, conservationists and Network Sites in Japan for dissemination of Anatidae information and discussion on the conservation of Anatidae sites. It has also hosted the official website for Anatidae Site Network that has been managed by the Flyway Officer. The Anatidae Working Group (2001) published 2nd issue of the Anet Newsletter in November with financial support from the Ministry of the Environment, Japan. It printed 1,000 copies to disseminate the activities under the Action Plan and from Anatidae Site Network to the world. It is planned to publish its 3rd issue in 2002 in time with the next Conference of the Contracting Parties of Convention on Wetlands.

Some wetland scientists in Japan launched an awareness project on Ramsar tools as a portal site to learn guidelines and other tools that Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar, Iran, 1971) has provided (and will provide). They have collated introduction documents in Japanese language to some of guidelines and other Ramsar tools and provided links to the Ramsar documents of them translated into Japanese language by the Government of Japan, and they intend to cover all the documents in future. The project has been on the worldwide web hosted by Biwa-ko Waterbird and Wetland Centre (that is established by the Ministry of the Environment and managed by Kohoku Township Government), as well as in the booklet, in order for many wetland managers and relevant personals in the country to access easily. In time with 9th International Conference on the Conservation and Management of Lakes, Otsu, Japan, in November 2001, they published the first preliminary edition of the booklet with financial support from Shiga Prefecture Government on its "21st Century Project" (Murakami 2001).

[ Summary ]

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The "Action Plan for the Conservation of Migratory Anatidae in the East Asian Flyway" is a component of the "Asia-Pacific Migratory Waterbird Conservation Strategy", and the "Anatidae Site Network in the East Asian Flyway" is a programme of international co-operation to enhance the conservation of the wetlands of international importance for Anatidae (ducks, geese and swans) in the flyway under the "Action Plan". The "Anatidae Working Group" of Asia-Pacific Migratory Waterbird Conservation Committee oversees the implementation of these programmes with technical support from Anatidae Flyway Officer.

For further information, please contact the Anatidae Flyway Officer. Posted 9 April 2002, updated 29 May 2004.