Storks were abundant all over Japan before 1950s, but since then, due to rapid economic development and adverse impact by heavy use of agricultural chemicals, they have become extinct in the wild. Maruyama River area, where was the last habitat of wild storks lived, suffered tremendous damage by a great fl ood in 2004. After the flood, the stakeholders pursued restoration of the habitats for storks as well as enhancement of the safety against floods. While dredging the bottom of river to increase the fl ow rate, we created wetland areas with shallow water,increasing the size of wetland areas by about 50%. We have been providing precious feeding sites for storks since they were released in the wild through the Stork Recovery Program in 2005.

The site of Showa Kinen Park was originally Tachikawa US Military Base moved from old Japanese Military and returned to Japan in 1977. The picture in 1981 looks wild land with little natural environment. A vast green space has been created in about 20 years. This example of nature restoration in big cities is unusual effort.

Despite the fact that Nagoya City created 420ha of new park and planted trees in public spaces from 1990 to 2005, the city as a whole lost 1,643ha of total greenery during the same period, due to land being converted into residential areas and other private undertakings. The city decided to designate 93% of the city area into a "greening area". By October 2009, about a year after measures began, more than 50ha had been recovered. At present, there are green spaces such as roof gardens made with biodiversity in mind, and greenery on places one wouldn’t usually think of, such as small shops with lawns, etc. By requiring greenery in this new system, there are great expectations that the greening of cities can contribute to conservation of biodiversity.

During Japan’s rapid economic development period, water pollution in public water areas such as rivers, lakes and coastal seas drastically worsened due to incremental inflows from both domestic and industrial discharges together with the continues concentration of population and industries into large cities such as Tokyo.

Surrounded by Chita and Atsumi Peninsulas, Mikawa Bay is an enclosed area with a small mouth. This means the poor water fl ow to and from the open sea makes it easier for pollutants to accumulate, causing concerns.

Centrair, opened in February 2005 as an airport with the capacity for aroundthe-clock operations on a man-made island in Aichi prefecture, is one of main gateway for the sky connecting domestic network to international network.

Central Nippon Expressway Company Limited (NEXCO-Central) is currently constructing the New Tomei and New Meishin Expressways to alleviate the traffi c congestion on the existing Tomei and Meishin Expressways and make a signifi cant contribution to Japan’s industrial, cultural and socioeconomic activities. From the planning and design stages to full-scale operation, we strive to conserve biodiversity along expressways based on the concept that is “Eco-Road”. Also we avoid and reduce negative impacts on the ecosystem while creating a new natural habitat for wildlife as such.

Global Map is basic geospatial datasets covering the whole land area of the globe with consistent specifi cations. Global Map consists of 8 thematic layers (transportation, boundary, drainage, population center, elevation, vegetation,land cover, land use), which shows natural environment and human activities.