Tokyo Park, Miyagi Bay Registered under Ramsar Convention

October 19, 2018

Tokyo- Kasai Marine Park in Tokyo and Shizugawa Bay in Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, have been newly designated as internationally important wetlands for conservation under the Ramsar convention, according to Japan's Environment Ministry.

The ministry was informed of the designation of the two sites by the secretariat for the international treaty on Thursday, ministry officials said.

Certificates for the registration will be given to relevant local municipalities on Tuesday in Dubai, where a meeting among signatories to the treaty is set to be held.

Kasai Marine Park, a brackish wetland, is the first site in Tokyo to have been designated under the Ramsar convention. Greater scaups and many other birds winter at the park, which is located in Edogawa Ward in the Japanese capital and faces Tokyo Bay.

Shizugawa Bay, in the town of Minamisanriku, is a habitat for more than 500 species of marine creatures.

With the addition of Kasai Marine Park and Shizugawa Bay, the number of designated sites in Japan now stands at 52.

For the Lower Maruyama River and the Surrounding Rice Paddies, in the city of Toyooka, Hyogo Prefecture, western Japan, the area for preservation under the Ramsar convention was extended to 1,094 hectares from 560 hectares, because the habitat for white storks there increased, according to the ministry.

The site was registered under the treaty in 2012. Jiji Press