General manager of the HAB Laboratory/Visiting professor, Liaison Center/

Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences. Faculty of Agriculture, the University of Tokyo

　

　

 I remember playing with dolphins in the Bay of Kinko, Kagoshima Prefecture, in my boyhood. My love for dolphins made me establish the "HAB21 Dolphin Association (HAB stands for Human Animal Bond and 21 is the 21st century) with the support of my high school alumni in spring 1991 when I was working for a loan and trust company.

 We opened "Dolphin School" in Yokohama, Kagoshima, and Mikurajima, listened to dolphin researchers and specialists working for aquariums, swam with children and dolphins in Mikurajima, and learned how man should associate with dolphins. We continued to emphasize the importance of protecting the habitat of dolphins, while at the same time revitalizing villages and promoting sightseeing. As we were gradually expanding the scope of the HAB21 activities, we knew that dolphins called Irrawaddy dolphins inhabit the Mekong River in Cambodia. These dolphins were on the verge of extinction, due to the long protracted civil war. No research was conducted nor did anyone try to protect them. Starting in 1996 when there were still exchanges of fire in Phnom Penh, I began conducting site surveys.

 We gave meetings and told the local people the importance of protecting the dolphins. We appealed to them by saying that if dolphins are shown to tourists, the community gains tourism revenues, they can revitalize the economy of the village, and the dolphin project will become a symbol of the activity for protecting the environment of the Mekong River, like Mikurajima.

 At the end of 1997, the International Dolphin Conference was held in Cambodia, and the Campi district was designated as a dolphin sanctuary. After that, we provided the community with a patrol boat to control the boat traffic and to police against dolphin poaching. Making posters and signboards and putting them up, we worked together with the local people. I published a picture book "Wishes of Odeko-chan and Dolphins" to campaign against the dynamite fishing method and poaching. In this book, I described the experience of swimming with dolphins for the first time when I was over 40 years old and the sad feeling I have when I see the sea being polluted more and more every year. (After I published this book, I entered the graduate school of the Tokyo University of Fisheries while working to learn the relation between man and dolphins, and acquired a master's degree in resource management science. I still continue to study as a researcher of the Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, The University of Tokyo. )

 On June 30 2001, we established the "HAB21 Center," or a dolphin school, in Krache, which faces the Mekong River. After the Center was completed, the action program named "2002 moi moi" started. ('Moi moi" means slowly in Khmer.)

　

 Although Japan achieved economic growth during the period of high economic growth by increasing productivity and production scale, stock prices declined after the economic bubbles collapsed. As that period of decline is referred to as the "lost 10 years," banking reforms are still incomplete and bad debts remain unsettled; the state of the current economy is a record low deflationary situation. On the other hand, many difficult environment-related problems remain to be solved: garbage war, combined pollution, endocrine disrupting chemicals, mad cow disease, acid rain, global warming, organic tin compound, formalin, antibiotics, chlorinated organic compound, and so forth.

 The "toki," or a Japanese crested ibis, and certain dolphin species became extinct. This shows that it is difficult to achieve successive breeding in zoos and aquariums for wildlife, although efforts are being made. If they are raised outdoors, it is not enough to protect only the breeding area. The whole environment in which the breeding area is included should be protected. I believe that people go out of their own fields, work together with the local people, work out good practicable ideas, and put them to practice in order to protect dolphins and other wildlife.

 I established the HAB21 Citizen Group with my friends while working for a bank. I continued to work as one citizen volunteer for local revitalization. My philosophy is the "coexistence and coprosperity of man and creatures" based on the education of children.

 In the majority of cases, high economic values sought after by those who produce products contravene the protection of the natural environment. In the case of dolphins, the benefit of the fishery operators contravenes the protection of dolphins and the activity conducted to prevent water pollution. If it is possible to demonstrate that protection of the natural environment brings economic benefits, we may be able to persuade those who produce products or destroy the environment into cooperating with us to protect the environment. In writing a graduate school paper, I introduced the concept regarding investments for public interest, which I learned as a bank clerk, so that I would be able to prove my concept and activity theoretically, to build a local development model, and thereby to contribute to the development of local economic activities. To protect dolphins, we must first think of how we can revitalize the local community and bring economical benefits to it.

　

　

　

　

 Consideration for others is an impediment to a frantic mind seeking for higher productivity. It is pointed out that the pursuit for higher productivity resulted in the aggravation and destruction of the environment. I agree with this view. Before we talk about protecting dolphins and the environment of the Mekong River, we should have a caring mind for other people and nature. Caring for other lives must be the basis on which we develop activity for protecting the environment. I was able to make my long-cherished dream come true in Krache because I always cared for people and all lives on the earth in conducting activities.

 The HAB21 activity was given the award for civil activities conducted to improve the global environment from Yokohama City and the award for activities conducted to improve the global environment from Kanagawa Prefecture. It was also given the prize for contribution to the improvement of the global environment from the Cambodian government and a letter of appreciation from Prime Minister Hun Sen. I provide part of the capital required to establish the center. The success of our activity was made possible by the people in Japan and Cambodia who love dolphins and support our activity and dolphin specialists who provide us with appropriate guidance. I am very grateful to them all.

 Another project that I would like to carry out is the "dolphin sanctuary river museum project" of using the Mekong River as an aquarium museum and having people come for all parts of the world to rediscover the charms of the Mekong River. In carrying out this project, we plan to improve the HAB Center as the base of local information, to share the values of the Mekong River, to build a system in which we can learn together, and to establish more bases of local information, and to collect and provide information by making the most of information technology. There is along way to go, but we will walk "moi moi" or slowly. In spring last year, I resigned from the bank to devote myself more to volunteer activities. I will make surveys to assess the conditions of the environment and dolphins, work out a practical strategy for promoting eco-tourism, and in the "Dolphin School," I will devote myself to the education of children in Cambodia and Japan, while keeping in mind the root philosophy of protecting the Mekong River and educating people in Cambodia.

 I wrote a book "We built a dolphin school" and it was published at the end of January. In this book, I described the citizen activities conducted with many cooperating people, the things that we learned in the process, and the dolphins. I keep in mind the following:

 Based on this philosophy, I will work for people and dolphins to accomplish the coexistence and coprosperity of man and dolphins.