Category: Research Activity

Ms. Kusakari, who was stationed in Malawi as a long-term expert from June 5th, 2021, to June 5th, 2025, has returned to Japan.
The international collaborative research project by JICA, which had been delayed due to the spread of COVID-19, has officially begun, and she finally arrived in Chembe Village, the research site, on June 6, 2021.
For the next four years, as a resident researcher, she acted as a “two-way knowledge translator” promoting knowledge sharing between Japanese and Malawian research members and local innovators.
She collaborated with all research groups and built trusting relationships with diverse stakeholders both within and outside the community. Without her, this project would not have been possible.
Thank you so much for your hard work over the years!

From April 29th to May 13th, 2025, Shinichiro Kakuma visited Malawi.
The electromagnetic current meter installed to observe the flow near Chirundu was retrieved and reinstalled after data was retrieved. In addition, observations of water temperature, fluorescence intensity, and turbidity were conducted, as well as a survey of the lake bottom topography.
Based on these results, we dialogued with members of the resource management organization, Madothi BVC of Chembe Village. In consultation with Sustainable Cape Maclear, the resource management organization of Chembe Village, we designed a tool to evaluate the integrated management of fishery, forest, agricultural, and tourism resources.

From April 18th to May 3rd, 2025, Hiroyuki Matsuda visited Malawi.
Visited Malawi to plan the progress of the Community-based Natural Resource Use Guideline (C-RUG), as a Protected Area Team Leader.
Worked with government DNPW and LNMP officials, as well as village officials, to create a guidelines led by the private sector. Sustainable Cape Maclear officials participated in the dialogue and deepened their understanding.

Visiting the village water tank at Nkhundi Hill (Photo on the left is Mantis and Oscar)

 

From April 11th to 22nd, 2025, Masato Nikaido and Aibara Mitsuto visited Malawi.　
Conducted environmental DNA experiments with local researchers and technical officers at the DNA lab of the University of Malawi. Installed the environmental DNA analysis software on the PC for analysis and checked its operation, then used the local researcher’s PC to carry out the procedures from creating the analysis environment to installing the software, created a manual, and then extracted DNA from environmental water samples collected from Lake Malawi. A power outage prevented us from carrying out the final step, but since the local researcher had already acquired the know-how, we decided to have them carry out the remaining steps locally.
Able to successfully transfer the technology to the local researchers and technical officers, by carrying out almost all steps related to environmental DNA analysis together and sharing the manual.

Environmental DNA extraction experiment and environmental DNA PCR experiment

Experiment with DNA at University of Malawi together with Dyson Kwenda，Sullamite Manduwa，Bashir Merico. Thank you！

 

From April 4th to 18th, 2025, Tetsu Sato visited Malawi.
The project’s key issues of community-based Satoumi fisheries resource management, the formulation of community-based resource management guidelines, and the development and dissemination of new tour programs by tour guide associations were discussed in depth, leading to significant progress and great results.

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.