International Conference on Biology Held in Kenya

The “2010 Kenya’s International Conference on Biodiversity, Land Use and Climate Change: Towards a National Conservation Framework” was held in Nairobi on 15-17 September. It was sponsored by 18 organizations including the JSPS Nairobi Research Station, African Conservation Centre (ACC), Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), United Nations Environment Programme, and Ministry of Environment and Mineral Resources of Kenya. The conference was attended by some 500 participants.

Unlike industrialized nations, Kenya depends more on renewable energy from sunlight than on fossil fuels. It is used to support farming, ranching, fisheries, forestry, wildlife, tourism and domestic utilities. Biodiversity gives innumerable benefits to Kenyans. This wealth of Kenya’s biological diversity was reviewed in the conference, which also looked at challenges of growing population, expanding land use, and changing climate. Discussed also was how to improve the people’s livelihood and sustain the country’s economic growth through more effective conservation policies and practices. These discussions highlighted a need for training to hone new technical skills and collaboration between government agencies and, by extension, a new public-private partnership to include conservation bodies, landowners and businesses. The conference also marked Kenya’s participation in the United Nations International Year of Biodiversity.

Mr. Julius Kipng’etich, director of KWS, and Mr. Ali D. Mohamed, permanent secretary of Ministry of Environment and Mineral Resources, attended the conference’s opening ceremony, where Dr. David Western, chairman of ACC, offered welcome remarks. Preceding the conference, public lectures were delivered in the Louis Leakey Auditorium, Nairobi National Museum on 13 and 14 September. Mr. Toshio Meguro, University of Tokyo, was invited there as a lecturer and gave a presentation entitled “Between the Past Discord and the Future Collaboration,” focusing on the relationship between wildlife and the local people around Amboseli National Park, located at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro.

― JSPS Nairobi Research Station