MOE home > Nature and Parks > EBSA home > EBSAs identification process in Japan
EBSAs identification process in Japan
Overview
The Ministry of the Environment of Japan (MOEJ) started to identify marine areas that meet EBSA criteria through a three-year project that began in the fiscal year of 2011 within the area of national jurisdiction.
To start this project, “the scientific committee for identifying EBSAs of Japan” was established consisting of five experts from universities and government research agencies with broad-ranging knowledge of marine biodiversity. The scientific committee had developed and adopted the “principles” and the “criteria” referring to internationally recommended standards, processes, etc. Based on these, a wide range of scientific data including biological and physical data was collected and analyzed for identification of areas that meet the criteria.
Furthermore, the opinions of numerous scientific experts were collected in order to fill the gaps in scientific data.
All collected opinions and data from the experts were complied, and drafts of EBSAs were formulated. These drafts were submitted to relevant government ministries and agencies, local government (prefectures, municipalities), and other related parties to collect additional opinions. Then, finalized EBSAs were decided by the committee, which convened in March 2014.
Godochosha No. 5, Kasumigaseki 1-2-2, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8975, Japan.
Tel: +81-(0)3-3581-3351