The Municipality of Arakan in southern Mindanao is an important breeding ground for the Philippine eagle, the world's most endangered bird of prey. Despite this, it is not designated as a national protected area (NPA), and fledglings are dying due to electrocution, poaching, and other causes. In the third year of this activity, we will implement measures to prevent electric shock over 1.5 km of three areas and further strengthen forest patrols by local residents. By doing so, we will prevent poaching and illegal deforestation, promote reforestation, and restore the Philippines' biodiversity-rich forests.

■Activity locations: Mindanao, Philippines
■Grant amount: 2,000 thousand yen

Our organization is engaged in national trust activities for tropical rainforests and biodiversity conservation in the Kinabatangan River basin on the island of Borneo. In 2024, we will work with local organizations to create and install nest boxes designed to replicate hornbill nesting environments, and to improve the birds’ nesting environments by restoring natural tree cavities. The nest boxes and tree cavities will be monitored with automated cameras to collect behavioral data on the hornbills and other animals for future research.

■Activity locations: Borneo, Malaysia
■Grant amount: 2,000 thousand yen

The white-bellied heron is an endangered bird species that inhabits freshwater river ecosystems in the Himalayas. With only 24 individuals left alive in Bhutan, their survival is extremely critical. Our society will invite a Japanese captive breeding specialist to our ex situ conservation site in Bhutan and conduct outdoor hatching and captive breeding of the white-bellied heron. We also aim to achieve reliable captive breeding of the birds through training in Japan and to increase their population through captive-bred releases.

■Activity locations: Kingdom of Bhutan and Sado City, Niigata Prefecture
■Grant amount: 2,000 thousand yen

We initiated brown shrike captive breeding conservation efforts in 2023 to avoid the extinction of the subspecies’ rapidly declining population. To date, we have succeeded in artificially hatching and brooding abandoned eggs. In 2024, we will enhance our breeding environment and make captive breeding efforts using the mature individuals bred in 2023 as founders. In the future, we hope to establish ex situ populations capable of augmenting wild populations.

■Activity locations: Toyohashi City, Aichi Prefecture
■Grant amount: 2,000 thousand yen

Our organization focuses on research and surveys for the conservation of rare birds that inhabit the Amami Islands, disseminating the results of these efforts, and raising public awareness. The Amami woodcock breeds on Amami Oshima Island and Tokunoshima Island, and has also been seen on Okinawa Island and other islands in winter. In FY2023, the migration of GPS tracker-equipped individuals from Okinawa Island to Amami Oshima Island was confirmed for the first time through a cooperative survey with the Japanese Society for Preservation of Birds (JSPB). In FY2024, we will conduct a more detailed study of the migration ecology of the Amami woodcock and accumulate data for conservation purposes.

■Activity locations: Kagoshima Prefecture (Amami Islands), Okinawa Prefecture
■Grant amount: 2,000 thousand yen

The short-tailed albatross, a threatened species, was previously considered to be a single population by conservationists. Recently, it has become clear that there are two distinct subpopulations nearly as different as two separate species. As such, there is an urgent need to consider conservation measures to preserve the uniqueness of each subpopulation. In this activity, we will employ GPS tracking to identify areas used by the birds outside of their breeding season and to track their movement around the year, using the results to examine marine threats to both populations, such as fishery bycatch and marine pollution.

■Activity locations: Hokkaido, Aomori Prefecture, Nagasaki Prefecture, etc.
■Grant amount: 2,000 thousand yen

High demand for gray parrots as pets has put the species in danger of extinction in its native Africa due to poaching and other factors. We aim to developing breeding techniques in order to eventually release captive-bred gray parrots into the wild. To that end, we began breeding a flock of gray parrots in 2022. While none of the birds mated in 2023, some eggs were laid. We also confirmed the activity of reproductive hormones in both the females and males at this time. We will aim to successful breed the birds by creating an environment more conductive to mating.

■Activity locations: Toyama Prefecture
■Grant amount: 2,000 thousand yen

Since the first release of captive-bred individuals in 2005, storks have gradually expanded their breeding grounds throughout Japan, with nests confirmed in 12 prefectures by 2023. Our panel will continue the detailed monitoring the wild population. At the same time, we will develop a new stork conservation policy to guide our activities. In this way, we will promote comprehensive conservation activities both inside and outside the habitat area.

■Activity locations: All over Japan
■Grant amount: 2,000 thousand yen

On Luzon Island in the Philippines, where many of Japan’s summer birds spend their winters, there is an area where coffee is produced using agroforestry methods with a low impact on bird habitats. We will conduct a survey using mist nets in the area from December to January to examine the inhabitation of wintering summer birds and resident birds in order to visualize the effects of bird conservation. We hope that this will lead to creating a unique brand for the coffee grown here, and promoting its sale in the Philippines and Japan.

■Activity locations: Luzon, Philippines
■Grant amount: 1,570 thousand yen

Two storks left the nest for the first time in Kyushu in 2023. In 2024, we will continue our activities to support the reproduction of storks while creating an environment that can be used and expanded indefinitely. After the first pair successful reproduced, several new storks began to frequent the area. Moving forward, we will create an environment that can continue to be used by new mating pairs and the individuals that left the nest last year. At the same time, we will work to deepen the understanding of the local community.

■Activity locations: Saga Prefecture Ariake Sea Coast
■Grant amount: 1,540 thousand yen

Building on top of what we achieved with grant support in FY2023, in FY2024, we will continue working to preserve the region’s rich ecosystem, utilizing the crested kingfisher as an indicator species. As before, we will do this through (1) conservation activities for of the crested kingfisher and (2) conservation activities involving the local community. In the former, we will continue to monitor the birds’ population, track their reproduction and build improved artificial burrows. In the latter, a group of local bird fanciers will create a picture show about the crested kingfisher to be read to local audiences.

■Activity locations: Hiroshima Prefecture
■Grant amount: 890 thousand yen