Category: Research Activity

From March 4^th to March 18^th , 2025, Hiromu Okazawa and Hiroko Gono visited Malawi.
Conducted a vegetation survey of farmland and maintenance of installed equipment. Able to collect information on resource management methods through dialogue with farmers and obtain images of farmland using a UAV.
Held a research meeting with Lameck Fiwa and Chisomo Haswell of Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Resource Sciences to discuss our research plans for the 2025 fiscal year (5th term) and their visit to Japan.

From February 22nd to March 15th, 2025, Tamano Hayashi visited Malawi.
Exchanged opinions with VNRC and Sustainable Cape Maclear, who is an innovator working on seedling production in the enclaves and neighboring villages of Lake Malawi National Park, and established an activity plan for future collaboration.
Also measured the weight of the collected bundles of firewood during the rainy season and investigated the population and number of households in the enclaves and neighboring villages of Lake Malawi National Park.

From February 27th to March 8th, 2025, Talandila Kasapila, a long-term researcher at Ehime University, conducted research in Yakushima.
Following on from his on-site research in Yakushima in October last year, he returned to conduct research for his master’s thesis. He was able to conduct academic research and discussions on sustainable environmental management, focusing on how the relationship between humans and nature affects the management, conservation, and sustainability of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and the role of community activities in transforming and conserving Yakushima’s ecosystem.

From December 11th to 24th, 2024, Tetsu Sato visited Malawi.
Discussed the details of the schedule and content of Nicholas Chanza’s short-term research program in Japan, scheduled for 2025, and planned an effective collaborative research.
Encouraged future progress in the development of new tour programs and community-based Sato-umi management through discussions with Phillip Kapulula and Oscar Mwenyedawo and stakeholders in Chembe village.

From November 15th, 2024 to January 3rd, 2025, Hopeson Kasiya, a long-term research fellow at the University of Tokyo, conducted research in Malawi.
He conducted face-to-face interviews and questionnaires with local residents and fishermen to grasp and evaluate the current situation regarding resource management activities in three fishing villages on Lake Malawi (Musaka, Mazeze, and Malembo). He also surveyed on awareness of changes in the social-ecological system, and from these results, he was able to collect a huge amount of data that was enough to compile recommendations for improving resource management activities in the future.

From October 30th to November 2nd, 2024, Tetsu Sato and Phillip Kapulula
From October 30th to November 4th, 2024, Rupprecht Christoph and Talandila Kasapila
We had a meeting with key stakeholders for Talandila Kasapila’s master’s thesis. We conducted a joint research project with Phillip Kapulula on tourism resource management. Through dialogue with many stakeholders on the transformation of the relationship between people and nature in Yakushima and through site visits, we were able to accumulate knowledge on the relationship between the World Heritage Site and people’s lives. In particular, we gained new knowledge on the synergy between tourism resource management and other natural resources.

From October 12th to 25th, 2024, Masato Nikaido and Mitsuto Aibara visited Malawi. Conducted environmental DNA experiments with local researchers and technicians at the DNA lab at Chancellor College, University of Malawi. Successfully transferred technology to local researchers and technicians by jointly carrying out almost all steps of environmental DNA analysis and sharing manuals. Shared knowledge about fish species that are likely to be included in environmental DNA by visiting Chirundu in Chembe village and conducting a fish layer survey.

From October 11th to 28th, 2024, Tetsu Sato visited Malawi.
Held the 4th JCC and technical meetings, signed MOU renewal, established DNA lab, conducted joint research with Sustainable Cape Maclear and Cape Maclear Tourguide associations, and held meetings regarding community-based conservation area management.　

From October 1st to November 15th, Oscar Mwenyedawo from the Department of Fisheries was accepted as a short-term foreign researcher at the University of Tokyo.
He visited Kumejima and Ishigakijima in Okinawa Prefecture, Hinase in Okayama Prefecture, and Kochi Prefecture. He summarized his experience in resource management along the shores of Lake Malawi. At the same time, he investigated the approach of Japanese fisheries cooperatives and developed a community-based resource management approach that can be applied in Malawi. In addition, he examined the form of governance that supports community-based resource management and proliferation from both the perspective of policy and on-site support for communities.

From September 22nd to November 15th, Phillip Kapulula from the University of Malawi was accepted as a short-term foreign researcher at the Tokyo University of Agriculture.
He visited Yakushima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture and Saku City in Nagano Prefecture. In order to contribute to the realization of landscape monitoring using UAVs, which is one of the core elements of the integrated natural resource management system in Malawi, we gained knowledge about automatic waste identification technology using UAV images, which is essential for managing village landscapes as a tourism resource. In addition, in order to help promote community-based tourism in Malawi, we acquired knowledge and techniques about tourism that utilize livelihoods such as agriculture and fisheries based on a survey of advanced examples of community-based tourism, especially agritourism.