From 17th till 18th May, ESRI Japan has hosted the 13th GIS Community Forum in Tokyo. On Day 2, the Biodiversity and Conservation GIS Session was held inviting speakers from national government, academics and local NGOs. Each presenter shared their conservation challenges using GIS technique and discussed about its role for social development.

As one of the guest presenter, Yasumura Shigeki (WWF Japan) introduced WWF’s conservation strategy including its theory of change and one planet perspective in terms of 6 practices 3 drivers. Also, announced launch of WWF-SIGHT new, easy-to-use mapping tool and approach hosted on GLOBIL.

Thanks to the kind cooperation of Paolo Tibaldeschi, environment and development adviser of WWF-Norway, Yasu could share their case example highlighting the role of institutional investors in protecting high conservation value habitats from extractives activity.

At the end of Yasumura Shigeki’s presentation, WWF-Japan asked the audience for the near future collaboration with WWF Japan to develop Story Maps on GLOBIL in Japanese language, focusing on Japanese footprint reduction of key commodities such as palm oil, timber and sea food sourcing from overseas. Yasu had some positive responses from the floor and WWF-Japan looks forward to the continuing growth of WWF-SIGHT map and the GLOBIL platform.