JICA Experts Tadashi Kimura and Akira Shintani join PICRC for New Coastal Management Project 

JICA Experts Tadashi Kimura and Akira Shintani recently joined the Palau International Coral Reef Center to support a new coastal management project, titled “Project for Enhancement of Integrated Management of Coastal Ecosystems in Palau for Strengthening their Resilience to Climate Change”.   

The project aims to increase Palau’s ability to manage its coastal ecosystems by focusing on the ways the land and ocean resources are connected. It consists of four key components: an integrated coastal ecosystem management system, mangrove monitoring and management, soil run-off and sedimentation monitoring, and communication, education and public awareness programs. 

This work will contribute to efforts to sustain coastal ecosystems and the livelihoods they support, in the face of worsening climate change.

Mr. Kimura serves as the project’s Chief Advisor. Before joining the project, he worked to develop a national coral reef monitoring program with Japan’s Ministry of Environment and coordinated reef conservation efforts with the International Coral Reef Initiative. He also serves a regional coordinator for the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network, working with reef monitoring programs throughout East Asia.  Mr. Kimura is no stranger to Palau as he has supported PICRC on many different programs over the years.

Mr. Shintani joins the project as Project Coordinator / Communication, Education and Public Awareness (CEPA). In this role, he will provide clerical support for the project’s team and lead public engagement programs to promote coastal conservation. He has previously worked as a forestry lecturer at Copperbelt University in Zambia and as a member of a regional development planning study of the Lake Victoria watershed in Kenya. He has also served as a natural resources management advisor to the Bureau of Agriculture in Ethiopia’s Amhara region. 

The three-year coastal management project is a collaboration between the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Palau International Coral Reef Center, The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Environment, the Environmental Quality Protection Board and the Cooperative Research & Extension of Palau Community College.