TICAD VI(TICAD 6)公式プレ・イベントにて、京都大学山極壽一総長より基調講演を頂戴しました

更新日:2016/08/18

7月21日のTICAD VI(TICAD 6)公式プレ・イベント、50周年記念シンポジウムでは、ナイロビ研究連絡センターの元センター長であられた京都大学山極壽一総長より基調講演を頂戴しました。
基調講演では、今西錦司、伊谷純一郎らによるアフリカ類人猿学術調査隊派遣（1958年）に端を発する初期アフリカ研究やアフリカ学会創立の歴史的展開から、現在にいたるアフリカ研究の可能性について講演頂きました。詳細は、以下のようです。山極先生におかれましては、ご多用の中、基調講演をお引受け頂きましたこと、深く感謝いたします。
今後も変わらぬご教示を賜りたくお願い申し上げます。

Professor Juichi Yamagiwa, President of Kyoto University (former Director JSPS Nairobi Station)
The 50-year history of African Studies:

Introduction:
Good morning everybody, first of all, congratulations for the 50th anniversary of the JSPS Nairobi Center. I am honored to be an alumni of the Nairobi Center and it is my great pleasure to summarize our research history for 50 years in Africa by Japanese people. There is reasonable change from discovery through understanding and now collaboration. Some of the most important students of Kyoto University pioneered a framework in 1931 by AACK which stands for the Academic Alpine Club of Kyoto. It was created by Professor Kinji Imanishi and it’s diversified into many fields of study. One of the studies is primatology in order to link common features of humans and society.

Origins of primatology studies by Japan in Africa:
The first expedition by Japanese people in Africa in 1958 after ten years study on Japanese macaques to dig the roots of social evolution and they started studying the Great Apes. Great apes live in the tropical rainforest which is this greenish area on the African map and the distribution of gorillas here for the first expedition was over 90. The mountainous areas here are in Rwanda, Congo, and Uganda as well as in Cameroon. The first expedition continued until the 1960s by Professors Imanishi, Kawai and Itani and if you remember, the 1960s were the years of independence for several countries in Africa. This brought great confusion and instability. Professor Itani evacuated from Congo to meet Professor J. Goodall and other British researchers who conducted research on chimpanzees in Tanzania. He decided to shift the study subject from gorillas to chimpanzees in this year.

History of Japanese organizations in Africa:
In 1964, the Japanese Association of Africanists was organized for the first time and two years later, JSPS Nairobi office opened in 1966 as already introduced by Professor Katamine. The name of this association of Africanists was changed in 1974 to Japan Association of African Studies. The first conference of Japanese Association of Africanists was held in 1964. It involved a plenary lecture on ﾒBlue Nile: Nature of Ethiopia and Sudanﾓ by Kanenori Suwa followed by four presenters who spoke on the description of Africa, ﾒWhat is Africa?ﾓ At that time, 218 members participated in the association.
The 12th Congress took place in 1975 which I first attended, and 21 presentations were made. You can see different topics and themes that were represented from ﾒLifestyle of Banyaruwandaﾓ, ﾒLife of Tonbwe tribeﾓ in Tanzania, as well as ﾒMine of diamondﾓ and ﾒGut virus in tropical areasﾓ.
I served as the Director of JSPS Nairobi office from 1980 to 1982 when the office looked like that. Then JSPS bought a new land-rover which cost a lot, but unfortunately, a week later, it was stolen probably by Shifta people because it was found in Garissa lodge. We repaired it and used it for a long time, it was very useful to us.
At that time, almost every night we discussed on African studies in JSPS Nairobi office, where there was endless talking. We celebrated many times as newcomers visited the Nairobi office and we were supported by many Japanese people who were staying in Nairobi as well as many Kenyan people.

Studying the Great Apes in the African tropical rainforests:
I had started studying about mountain gorillas in Rwanda and Virunga Mountains with other researchers. Gorillas are divided into two species and four sub-species. My research was on mountain gorillas, and except from mountain gorillas, all other species exist together in the same area with chimpanzees. Mountain gorillas have a different social structure from Eastern lowland gorillas and Western lowland gorillas as well. I concluded after many years of study that from one mountain group to another mountain group, the gorillas were influenced by factors such as diet and social factors such as infanticide.
In 1994, according to my new studies of both gorillas and chimpanzees, we discovered that gorillas tend to range evenly in a large home range and shift the range monthly and annually to avoid overuse of vegetation which is called being folivorous. Chimpanzees on the other hand range in a small area repeatedly and revisit particular areas frequently to harvest fruits efficiently which is being frugivorous. These two do not meet each other.
In those days, there were wars in Rwanda and DRC and so many elephants were killed by poachers. So we organized meetings with the common people to reduce conflict between the park and local people through promotional ecotourism, education, tree nurseries, art centers and monitoring of the world heritage site; and in 2012 celebrated the 20th anniversary of the ﾒPolepole foundationﾓ with local people.

Promoting eco-tourism and training locals:
In 2009, two governments – the Gabonese and Japanese governments – helped to found SATREPS (the Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable development). As can be seen, the Gabonese government created the Moukalaba-Doudou Park in 2002, consisting of a beautiful forest rich in flora and fauna like elephants, leopard and twelve species of primates. This challenged researchers to make policies in sustainable management through making a map of the ecosystem, ensuring security of contacts, policy making of primate ecotourism and developing the capacity of local people.
A camera trap was used to count the frequency of the number and diversity of species within the national park and it filmed many kinds of mammals like elephants, chimpanzees, leopards and warthogs. We also extract DNA for analysis and to monitor parasite frequency. Local people suffered crop raiding by animals such as elephants and gorillas and we discussed with farmers the solution to the crop raiding and JICA constructed a new laboratory in Research Institute for Technology and Ecology in Libreville, the capital city of Gabon as well as a new field research station in PNMD.
Promotional tourism meant the habituation of primates, preparation of nature trails, regulation of ecotourism, guide training and reinforcement of eco-museum capacity. We succeeded in habituation of gorillas in 2005, and because of this we have continued to invite tourists as well as working with locals and young researchers from both Japan and Gabon in Moukalaba. This is a group of gorillas that we have been able to habituate, called Group Gentil. We invited Gabonese researchers to have a training in health monitoring, bacteriology and ecotourism with regards to gorillas as well as invited them to participate in local NGOs activities.
Finally, Gabonese and Japanese researchers jointly made a plan for ecotourism with involvement by both the Gabonese government as well as JICA proposed in conjunction with Kyoto University, an awareness program for tourists. They also collaborated to foster an interpreter and story-based tourism practice.
This year, there was the 53rd Congress of the Japan Association for African Studies which involved 821 members, 109 presentations, 4 forums and one plenary lecture. The plenary lecture was entitled ﾒPresent and future of agriculture and farming villages in Africa: What is possible by Japan?ﾓ This is our common goal of research so researchers, colleges and universities have a very important mission to make protocols between countries, especially with regard to Japan and Africa. Thank you very much.
(2016年7月21日)

京都大学山極壽一総長

東アフリカ、西アフリカ、中央アフリカ、南部アフリカ、北アフリカ、フランス、イギリス、日本より、総勢170名以上の研究者を招聘しました。