Ramsar Senior Regional Advisor for Asia/Oceania reports on the
implementation of the Ramsar Convention in Japan Japan joined
the Ramsar Convention in 1980 and has since listed 37 Ramsar
sites across the country, covering a range of wetland types from
marshes to lakes, streams, rice paddies, mangrove forests and
tidal-flats. In the late 1980s, the GOJ proposed a number of
projects that involved the reclamation of tidal flats for urban
and port development, as well as for agriculture. One recent
sign of the cooperation between the GOJ and NPOS is their work
for the adoption of the COP10 Resolution on rice paddies (Res.
X.31), which recognizes the importance of rice paddies for
biodiversity. Miyagi Prefecture is one of the main areas for
rice cultivation in Japan. Apart from providing food, these
fields provide important wintering habitat for tens of thousands
of ducks, geese and swans in winter that feed on the fallen
grain of rice and other foods. Then the marshes, lakes and
reservoirs around these paddies ser