Ecotourism in Ogasawara Islands

抄録

　Recently, people of isolated islands worldwide, especially those at low latitudes, have begun to take an interest in ecotourism. The Ogasawara Islands have good potential for ecotourism because of their unique ecology and great distance from the mainland. I therefore studied the situation regarding the islands’ nature, history, culture, lifestyle, industry, environmental disruption and conservation, research, sightseeing and ecotourism, and hereby present my discussion on the perspective of ecotourism in the Ogasawara Islands. Five colonizations occurred historically in the Ogasawaras (Conventional, Old, New and New New Islanders and the ‘Shimakko’). Each of these waves of people added in various ways to the cultural heritage. There is unique nature such as many endemic species and karsts. Ecological disruptions, however, have proceeded rapidly. The introduction of an express ship in 2005 will increase environmental disruption. Despite its small size, Chichijima Island is home to eight institutes. In addition, 24 universities, institutions and museums have visited Chichijima and Hahajima in the Ogasawaras. Three guide training systems were established in 2001 and 2002. About 6%-7% of the local people participated in each guide training system. In 2002, the Bonin Ecotourism Commission was also established. I suggest that it will be necessary to establish a Guide Center for promoting ecotourism to the Ogasawaras, making use of the three guide training systems, and an Institute of Natural Science for Sightseeing, making use of much available information from studies for sightseeing. I believe it would also be desirable to aim for registry with the World Heritage (Natural Heritage) in order to obtain a consensus of opinion on ecotourism among the five colonies.