October, 1995. Japan, the world's largest official aid donor, has increased its contribution to ICARDA from $US 371,000 in 1994 to ¥56,950,000-about US$ 575,000-for fiscal year 1995.
In recent years Japan has contributed, on average, about US$ 370,000 directly to ICARDA's core funding annually. However, it also gives support to specific projects as well as considerable aid in kind, including scientific equipment and the secondment of Japanese scientists to work with ICARDA.
"We warmly welcome Japan's generous contribution to ICARDA's work," says ICARDA's Director General, Prof. Dr Adel El Beltagy. "The extra funding is clearly useful. And Japan has also taken a direct interest in, and been closely involved with, ICARDA's work and the problems of the region; we greatly appreciate it.
"Some US$ 280,000 of Japan's contribution for the fiscal year 1995 is directed towards two specific projects-on the nutrition and management of small ruminants, and on improvement of native pastures and rangelands. This is crucial to the region's future; not only because sheep and goats are important to the economy, but because it will help us fight the degradation of pasture through overgrazing, which has a direct bearing on soil erosion. Japan is helping in a direct way to keep soil where it is needed."
The balance of the contribution will go to ICARDA's unrestricted core budget and will help support a diverse range of activities that includes crop improvement, resource management, socioeconomic research and the development of sustainable agronomic practices.
Ever since ICARDA's foundation in 1977, Japan has been a supportive partner of the Center. In that year, Dr Giro Orita of JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) moved to the Center's headquarters in Aleppo, Syria to establish a laboratory for the study of sheep and goat diseases and parasites. Dr Orita has now retired, but retains an advisory role in ICARDA's affairs. To date, 11 Japanese scientists have worked at ICARDA and there have also been a number of shorter visits.
ICARDA and JIRCAS - the Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences - cooperate closely; for example, on a project to record changing distribution of rangeland, for which cameras were floated above the ground on a balloon and the photographs used to construct vegetation maps indicating species distribution, as well as monitoring damage from overgrazing.
ICARDA is also fortunate to have the assistance of Dr Tomio Yoshida, Professor of Soil Science at Chiba University in Japan, on the ICARDA Board of Trustees. Through Dr Yoshida Japan also has a role in designing the Center's long-term strategy and participating in its governance.
Japanese scientists have also made a contribution to the preservation of biodiversity in WANA. In the 1950s, before the foundation of ICARDA, a team under Dr Kihara toured the region, establishing the importance of conserving and using wild relatives of bread and durum wheat. The germplasm collected on that mission is now held by the University of Kyoto and shared with ICARDA (the Center itself holds 110,000 accessions at its Aleppo headquarters).
"Japan's commitment to sustainable development in the WANA region has been long-term," says Prof Dr El Beltagy. "We hope that this active cooperation with Japan will continue for many years to come."