WWF and Panasonic Start Yalu River Coastal Area Ecosystem

WWF and Panasonic Start Yalu River Coastal Area Ecosystem
Based Management Demonstration Project

The project aims for sustainable use and conservation of marine resources in the
Yellow Sea

World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Panasonic Corporation
announced that they started working together on the Yalu River Coastal Area
Ecosystem Based Management Demonstration Project (the “Coastal Area
Management Project”) in January 2010. This project is in the second stage of the
seven-year Yellow Sea Ecoregion Support Project, which Panasonic has been
supporting since its launch in 2007. The seven-year project aims for environmental
conservation of the coastal areas surrounding the Yellow Sea which is located between
China and the Korean Peninsula.
The Coastal Area Management Project has officially started today with the signing
ceremony taking place in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, between the WWF, the
world’s leading conservation organization, the Ocean and Fishery Bureau of Liaoning
Province Government, and the UNDP/GEF Yellow Sea Large Marine Ecosystem
Project Management Office1).
In the Coastal Area Management Project, scientific surveys will be carried out at the
estuary on the Yalu River2) in Dandong City, Liaoning Province, over three years
roughly from January 2010 to March 2013. These surveys are expected to produce
scientific data that help analyze the ecological linkages of the coastal ecosystem,
especially between the fishery, migratory birds and benthic community including
fishery resources in the coastal area, eventually aiming at a stage where necessary
measures for sustainable use and conservation of the environment can be achieved in
collaboration with the divisions concerned in the local government (ocean and fisheries,
environmental divisions, government affiliated research institute).

It is anticipated that through collaboration among the Liaoning Province Government,
the UNDP/GEF Yellow Sea Project, WWF and Panasonic, which is working to
promote environmental conservation as a corporation, an ecosystem-based
management will be introduced to China and a good practice of sustainable
development will be created.

1) The UNDP/GEF Yellow Sea Project works with coastal states of the Yellow Sea (China,
Republic of Korea and DPR Korea) to develop and implement regional and national
environmental strategies and action plans. UNDP is one of the implementing agencies
of the GEF (the Global Environmental Facility) that funds projects that protect the global
environment, and the project is coordinated by the UNDP/GEF Yellow Sea Project
Management Office.

2) The Yalu River estuary has a vast expanse of wetland that is blessed with a richness of
benthic organisms -- including crustaceans such as blue crab, and shellfish such as
Manila clam. Hundreds of thousands of migratory birds use this wetland, and the site is
also used as a rich fishing ground.

<Reference>
■Yellow Sea EcoregionOutline of Project
1) Name
Yalu River Coastal Area Ecosystem Base Management Demonstration Project

2) Project Site
Yalu River estuary, Dandong City, Liaoning Province, China

3) Signing Ceremony
Date: February 2, 2010 (Tuesday) 9:30AM-11:30AM (local time)
Place: Conference Room, Building A,
Ocean and Fishery Bureau of Liaoning Province
Signatories:

WWF
Ocean and Fishery Bureau of Liaoning Province
UNDP/GEF Yellow Sea Large Marine Ecosystem ProjectManagement Office (YSLME Project Management Office)

4) Project related organizations

WWF: Management and promotion of project in general, technical assistance
Panasonic Corporation: Provision of funds for project
Ocean and Fishery Bureau of Liaoning Province: Coordination among the
divisions concerned in China
YSLME Project Management Office: technical advice
Ocean and Fishery Office of Dandong City: surveys, analysis and publication
of scientific data
Liaoning Ocean and Fisheries Science Research Institute: surveys, analysis,
and publication of scientific data
Management Bureau of Yalu River Wetland National Nature Reserve of
Dandong City: Provision of data on birds

5) Project funding
Approx. 30,000,000 Japanese yen in total:
Panasonic Corporation (15,000,000 Japanese yen) and Ocean and Fishery
Bureau of Liaoning Province (equivalent to 15,000,000 Japanese yen)

■Yellow Sea Ecoregion
The Yellow Sea is the ocean area surrounding China and Korean Peninsula. Having
one of the world’s largest continental shelves, the Yellow Sea boasts an extremely
large variety of living creatures, and, at the same time, has from ancient times been
used as a rich fishing area. In cooperation with environmental related organizations
from China and Korea, WWF has compiled data on mammals, birds, shellfish, fishes,
coastal plants, and seaweeds in 2006, and selected 23 areas that should be given
priority in conservation.
■ Yellow Sea Ecoregion Support Project
The Yellow Sea Ecoregion Support Project is a project that aims at preserving the
diversity of life in the Yellow Sea Ecoregion, and its sustainable development,
through cooperation by China, Korea and Japan. With support from Panasonic
Corporation, the Project is being promoted in a 7-year Plan from 2007 to 2014. The
Project is in progress in the priority conservation areas selected in 2006.
・First Stage (2007.8-2010.3)
Open recruitment for dissemination and awareness promotion activities and
habitat conservation activities to be primarily performed by local communities is
being carried out in China and Korea, and subsidies of funding for activities and
opportunities for study, and exchanges of experience and information, are being
provided.
・Second Stage (2010.1-2013.3)
Model areas will be established in both China and Korea, one for each, and
conservation efforts corresponding to the characteristics of the area and making
use of international standard habitat management methods will be carried out
over three years in collaboration with local communities.
・Third Stage (2013.4-2014.9)
Examples from first stage subsidy operations and examples of results in model
areas in the second stage will be compiled, and “Asian Satoumi Co-existence
Model” will be issued to China, Korea and then to the world, in a call for building
up similar efforts over a broader region.

■World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)
WWF, an organization for global environmental conservation that aims to create a
future where mankind and nature can live in harmony, was established in
Switzerland in 1961. Currently, much of its work focuses on the conservation of
biodiversity in forests and oceans, etc., making the use of natural resources
sustainable, such as lumber, fish and shellfish, and the prevention of global
warming.
■Panasonic Corporation
Giving its approval to the main purpose of WWF, Panasonic Corporation has
determined to give its support, since the Project aims at conservation of biodiversity
in the environment and is also an activity covering Japan, China, and Korea. As for
its efforts as a corporate citizen, under the theme of “education and coexistence,”
with the key areas of next generation education and the environment, Panasonic’s
global efforts are ongoing activities. With this concept, Panasonic will be supporting
the Project over a period of as long as seven years.
In addition, as the first company in the Asia region, including Japan, to be a
Corporate Supporter under WWF International’s international corporate partnership
scheme, Panasonic has been supporting the Yellow Sea Ecoregion Support Project.
Currently, not merely through its joint promotion of the Yellow Sea Ecoregion Support
Project, Panasonic has been making efforts in cooperation in such comprehensive
environmental conservation activities as exchanging views with WWF on green
purchasing policy for paper for the entire Panasonic Group from the viewpoint of
forestry conservation, and reflecting this in its policies.