Category: Information

From October 15th to December 28th, McPhillip Mwithokona from Lake Malawi National Parks was accepted as a short-term foreign researcher at the Yokohama National University.
He visited Aya Town, Miyazaki Prefecture and Yakushima Island. He conducted joint research on the methods and impact of participatory nature conservation area management, focusing on Japan’s biosphere reserves. He also conducted training with the goal of acquiring theories and methodologies for adapting the knowledge to the actual situation in Malawi and utilizing it in the field of protected area management.

From September 29th to December 28th, Lameck Fiwa from Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources was accepted as a short-term foreign researcher at the Tokyo University of Agriculture.
He visited Miyakojima and Nagano prefectures and conducted joint research on sustainable environmental conservation agriculture through the use of small-scale irrigation in villages along Lake Malawi, utilizing the principles and advanced technology of small-scale irrigation research in Japan. After returning to Malawi, he will promote research on the effective use of small-scale irrigation technology and contribute to realizing integrated resource management, which is the goal of the future project.

From August 25th to September 7th, 2022, Atsushi Maruyama and Hiroki Yamanaka visited Malawi.
Set up the laboratory facilities, prepare for the installation of experimental equipment, and held DNA-related meetings at the University of Malawi.

From August 23rd to September 10th, 2022, Tamano Hayashi and Shiegeru Yanaka visited Malawi.
Conducted site visit and meetings with Placid Mpeketula, Patrick Chinguwo, McPhillip Mwithokona, Rajab Janah, Marlene Chikuni, Yasuko Kusakari, John Matewere, Brighten Ndawala, Hiromu Okazawa, Sarveth Maskey, and Hiroko Gono to plan future work and to conduct a household survey of residents living in six beach villages in Chembe. Conducted individual interviews and dialogues regarding forest resource use and management, and surveyed the Nanondwe area and Mbiewe hill in Lake Malawi National Park to observe vegetation.

From August 19th to September 3rd, 2022, Hiromu Okazawa, Maskey Sarvesh, and Hiroko Gono visited Malawi.
Held research meetings with members of the agricultural resource management group, Patrick Kambewa, Daud Kassam, and Lameck Fiwa. Also held meetings with members of the forest resource management group, Placid Mpeketula, and Weston Mwase. Installed a weather station and began measuring wind direction, speed, and solar radiation. Set up RTK-GNSS surveying equipment, confirmed reference points in the target area, and obtained location information. Observed the cropping status of farmland in the target research area, surveyed prices at the market, and conducted soil sampling and analysis using measuring equipment.

From August 5th to 21st, 2022, Tetsu Sato and Kazuaki Takahashi visited Malawi.
Observed the fruiting status of various trees in Lake Malawi National Park, collected seeds, and prepared for on-site germination experiments. Able to determine the direction of future research, through comparative observations of the newly constructed artificial fishing reef (Chirundu) by Madothi BVC and the Chirundu that had been in operation until then. Able to inform related organizations of the JST mid-term evaluation scheduled from November to December.

From May 18th to June 5th, 2022, Shinichiro Kakuma visited Malawi.
Conducted physical observations in Chirundu and had detailed discussions on the specific methods of conducting research on fisheries resource management　in collaboration with the Malawian leaders of the fisheries resource management group. In addition, he was able to establish a system in which the Malawian researchers can monitor the physical environment on their own by teaching the Malawian researchers how to operate the electromagnetic current meter and the vertical profiler for water temperature, fluorescence intensity, and turbidity that we brought from Japan.

From May 17th to June 5th, 2022, Tetsu Sato visited Malawi.
A final agreement was reached with the University of Malawi Research Ethics Committee regarding the procedure for the research ethics review and the cost burden, and a full-scale research system was established. The direction of future research was confirmed as physical environment measurement of the artificial fishing reef (Chirundu). A meeting was held with McPhillip Mwithokona and Marlene Chikuni, short-term foreign researchers scheduled for this term, regarding their visit to Japan. In addition, as a result of final coordination with candidates for studying at a Japanese graduate school from 2023 onwards, four people have submitted applications for MEXT Scholarship (Embassy Recommendation) for foreign students.

From February 15th to March 6th, 2022, Tetsu Sato visited Malawi.
From February 24th to March 25th, 2022, Tamano Hayashi visited Malawi.
Able to have detailed discussions on the strategy for field research and specific steps to take with Malawian researchers who had not been able to communicate sufficiently until then by attempting to meet individually.
Conducted activities such as observing the effectiveness and future management of the artificial fishing reefs (Chirundu), visiting forest resource utilization in Chembe village, gathering information on firewood collection in Lake Malawi National Park, and visiting the forests and forest resource utilization on Thumbi West Island and in the surrounding villages.
Held detailed discussions with Japanese supervisors and candidates for study abroad at graduate schools in Japan from 2023 onwards, and formulated strategies for research content at graduate schools and applications for MEXT Scholarship student programs.