The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands has so far two significant COPs in Asia: COP5 in Kushiro, Japan in 1993 and COP10 in Changwon, South Korea, in 2008. The Convention itself is an intergovernmental mechanism. 　 However, the mission of the Convention – conservation of wetlands and wetland resources – can only be achieved by participation of local municipalities and people. Besides, the Ramsar Convention has another unique aspect compared with other biodiversity-related treaties/conventions: it is created by NGOs and still located within an international NGO, namely IUCN. Therefore, it is crucial for wetland conservation to promote partnerships between the central government and local government as well as among people, NGOs and private sectors. Experiences of the Ramsar Kushiro Conference tell us that two factors are important to make real local participation possible: 1) CEPA; and 2) sense of meaningfulness. If you don’t know the purpose of the Convention and the COP, you are hardly interested in its preparation. So somebody should prepare some handy promotional kits for people to understand the purpose of conservation. We compiled various materials, requested experts/scientists to deliver lectures for teachers, taxi drivers, restaurants owners and waiters, hotel receptionists and kids. If possible, it is desirable to have a series of articles on local and national newspapers. You did attend the Conference, but once it’s over you tend to forget everything? If you feel you did contribute to something meaningful, you would like to continue doing something for it. In case of Kushiro City, it established the Kushiro International Wetland Center in early 1995. KIWC functions as a network of various wetland centers in the Kushiro region. JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) and KIWC have organized many international training courses not only for wetland managers but also for other conservation-related personnel. JICA has signed an MoU with the Ramsar Secretariat, and KIWC will host the EAAFP (East Asia - Australasian Flyway Partnership) meeting early next year. These efforts have been carried out for twenty years and will continue for future generations.

• Satoshi KOBAYASHI, Ph.D.(Environmental Geography in the Kushiro Public University)