The Pan-Okhotsk Region International Symposium was held at Hokkaido University, Japan on 23 January, 2007. 
It was the second time for HU to host the Symposium, following the year 2006. With the subtitle “Toward Sustainable Development of the Regions Surrounding the Ice Bound Sea,” this symposium was organized by HU; the Hokkaido Regional Development Bureau of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport; and the executive committee for the symposium. During the symposium, the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (HELCOM) presented, as pioneering examples, some of its multilateral activities intended to conserve the marine environment of the Baltic Sea. And prominent figures involved in regional development in Japan and Russia discussed the feasibility of similar activities in the Okhotsk rim region. (Image: provided by The Pan-Okhotsk Research Center)
The detailed program is as follows:
Background: Important Sea for Global Environment
The Sea of Okhotsk is one of the world’s leading fishing grounds – and fish is a valuable resource for both Japan and Russia. Recent research revealed that viability of the Sea of Okhotsk is based on its close relations with the Amur River and other neighboring areas. It has also become evident that the freezing of the Sea of Okhotsk during winter, which has been deemed as an economic handicap, is a natural phenomenon indispensable for the mechanism that makes the sea fertile. The Sea of Okhotsk is the world’s lowest-latitude sea that freezes over and is thus blessed with an invaluable natural environment. To pass the fruits of the area on to future generations, the region is now called on to formulate a comprehensive long-term environmental policy that encompasses surrounding areas. (Photo: The Sea of Okhotsk with drift ice)
The “Hokkaido Comprehensive Development Plan: Review of the 6th-Term Plan and Deliberation of the New Plan – Interim Report,” devised by the Hokkaido Development Subcouncil’s Basic Policy Division, the National Land Development Council, in September 2006 maintains that strengthening the partnerships with the neighboring Russian Far East through a host of activities is important and it is necessary to expand exchanges and promote economic cooperation between Japan and Russia.
Taking the aforementioned report into account, those engaged in regional development in Japan and Russia discussed deliberations on the feasibility of activities with the aim of promoting sustainable development in the regions surrounding the Sea of Okhotsk.
Program
- - - - Opening Addresses - - - -
1. Hokkaido Comprehensive Development Plan and Sustainable Development
by Yasushi MORITA, Deputy Director of the Development Administration Division of the Hokkaido Regional Development Bureau, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Japan
2. Activities toward Sustainable Development by Hokkaido University
by Takeo HONDOH, Global Manager of the Hokkaido University Initiative for Sustainable Development
3. Organization of the Far Eastern National University, Russia, and Scientific Research
by Aleksandr ABRAMOV, Professor, Far Eastern National University, Russia
- - - - Keynote Speeches - - - -
1. Activities toward Sustainable Development with Russia in the Baltic Sea Region
by Kaj FORSIUS, Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission
2. Sustainable Development Activities in the Russian Far East
by Anatoly BURY, Interregional Association “Far East and Zabaikalie”
3. New Way of Symbiotic Relations between Japan and Russia
by Nobuo SHIMOTOMAI, Professor, Hosei University (Member of the former Japan-Russia Eminent Persons’ Council)
4. Mathematical modelling of the economic space and the strategic planning of territorial development in the Far East Russia
by Aleksandr ABRAMOV, Professor, Far Eastern National University, Russia
* Coordinator: Kan SUGIMOTO, Representative of the General Research Institute for Europe and Asia
For more info about research activities on environmental studies in the Pan-Okhotsk, please visit the Hokkaido University collection of Scholarly and Academic Papers
The Pan-Okhotsk Research Center
Institute of Low Temperature Science
Hokkaido University
N19W8, Sapporo 060-0819, Japan
TEL: +81-11-706-5445
FAX: +81-11-706-7142
URL: http://wwwoc.lowtem.hokudai.ac.jp/en/index.html
Director: Professor Naoto EBUCHI
